Drewry

This surname derives from a nickname the Old French "druerie" meaning "love" or "friendship" (Middle English "love token" or "sweetheart"). It may also be a personal name composed of the elements "triuwa" meaning "truth" or "trust" plus "ric" power. the name dates back to the early 13th Century (see below). Recordings include Robert Deuerie (1204) "The Pipe Rolls of Lancashire", and Nigel Drury "The Hundred Rolls of Yorkshire" (1273). Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Drewry, Druery, Druery and Drewrye. One Ann Drewery married Rowland Wandforde on the 27th March 1622 at St. Andrews by the Wardrobe, London, and Thomas Errington and Jone Drewyre were married in 1629 at St. James, Clerkenwell, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alexander Druri, which was dated 1200, in the "Curia Regis Rolls of Suffolk", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.