The Drewe family of Devon were for many generations owners and inhabitants of The Grange, Broadhembury, Devon, in the west of England, from the sixteenth- to the nineteenth-centuries. Prior to this members of the family were recorded at various locations in the county: Sharpham, "Kene", "St Lennards", Killerton, Wolborough and Exeter, and also elsewhere: Grays Inn in Middlesex, Hinde in Somerset. The main branch at The Grange descended from Edward Drew who lived at Sharpham in the 16th century.^[1]

Early

William Drewe of Sharpham

He married Joan, daughter and heiress of Sir John Prideaux (fl. 1433) of Adeston or Orcharden.^[2] His third son, William Drewe (d.1548), lived in Kenn, Devon.^[1]

John Drewe

Son of William of Kenn, he was a lawyer of Grays Inn, who married Joane Cruwys a daughter of a member of the Cruwys family of Cruwys Morchard, Devon.

John Drewe (d.1574) of St Leonard's, Devon

Son and heir and heir to his grandfather. He married twice, firstly to Anne Yorke, daughter of Watkyn Yorke of Devon, secondly to a lady of the Bridges family.

Thomas Drewe (b.1519)

Son, of Sharpham, Ashprington in south Devon and Killerton. He married Elinor Hackmore, daughter and co-heiress of William Hackmore.

Edward Drew (c.1542–1598)

Edward was the eldest son of Thomas Drew. He became a member of parliament, Recorder of London and Serjeant-at-Law to Queen Elizabeth I. He bought land in Broadhembury and in Awliscombe, and sold the family's Sharpham estate, probably late in his life, and lived at Killerton.^[4] At Broadhembury he built a mansion house which became The Grange, the seat of the family for many generations.^[5] A portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, known as the "Drewe Portrait" and attributed to George Gower, was acquired by Edward Drew and remained in the ownership of the Drewe family until 2005.^[3]

Resident at The Grange

• Sir Thomas Drew (d.1651), Edward's eldest son and heir, served as Sheriff of Devon in 1612 under King James I, and was knighted at the coronation of King Charles I.^[6] He confirmed his father's contract for the sale of Killerton to Sir Arthur Acland,^[7] and moved his family's residence to Broadhembury, where he completed the construction of The Grange, started by his father.^[5] He married Elizabeth More (d.1635), daughter of Sir Edward More (MP) of Odiham in Hampshire.^[6]

• William Drew (1603-1654), eldest son and heir of Thomas, married five times but left no children,^[6] and the estate passed to his younger brother.

• Francis Drew (1604-1675), second son of Thomas. One of his daughters, Bridget Drew, in 1671 married Francis Fulford (1632-1675) of Great Fulford, Devon.^[8]

• Thomas Drewe (1635-1707), eldest son and heir of Francis, matriculated at Oriel College, Oxford in 1652 and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1655. He was Sheriff of Devon 1688–9 and Tory MP for Devon from 16 May 1699 to 1700.^[9] He left no surviving male children, only two daughters.^[6] The estates passed to his younger brother.

• Francis Drew (d.1710), second son of Francis. He owned the Grange for only three years until his death in 1710 and left only female children.^[6] Again, the estates passed to a younger brother.

• Edward Drew (d.1714), third son of Francis, was a Canon of Exeter Cathedral, who owned The Grange for only 4 years until his death in 1714. He did however leave a son, by his wife Joan Sparrow who was a daughter of Anthony Sparrow, Bishop of Exeter.^[6]

• Francis Drewe (c.1674-1734), son and heir of Edward. He matriculated at Corpus Christi, Oxford on 2 August 1690, entered the Middle Temple in 1691, was called to the bar in 1697, and was appointed a bencher in 1723. In 1695 he married Mary Bidgood, and had two sons and three daughters. He was Member of Parliament for Exeter from 1713 until 1734.^[10]
• Francis Drewe (1712-1773) (son), Sheriff of Devon in 1738. He married twice, firstly in 1737 to Mary Rose, daughter of Thomas Rose of Wooton FitzPaine of Dorset, by whom he had six children. His second marriage was in 1753 to Mary Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson of London, by whom he had five children.^[11] Mary Johnson's portrait dated 1754 survives showing her dressed as a shepherdess, in a gold dress, with flowers in her hair, holding a crook in her left hand.^[12].^[11]

• Francis Rose Drew (1738-1801), eldest son and heir by his father's first wife. He purchased the estate of Leyhill in the parish of Payhembury, formerly the seat of the Willoughby family, also of Molland Champson, Devon. There survives of him a portrait silhouette painted on laid card c.1777, probably by Francis Torond.^[13] In June 1800 he was visited at The Grange by John Swete, who made a watercolour painting of the house and recorded the event in his Travel Journal.^[14] Drew died without children and the estates passed to his younger brother.

Thomas Rose Drew and his wife Betty Incledon, pastels by Lewis Vaslet

• Thomas Rose Drew (1740-1815) of Wooton FitzPaine, second son of Francis (d.1773). In 1782 he married Betty Incledon, daughter of the antiquarian Benjamin Incledon^[15] of Pilton House, Pilton, Devon. Individual oval portraits of Thomas and his wife painted by Lewis Vaslet (1742-1808) survive in the collection of Dunster Castle in Somerset.^[16] He also died without children and the estates again passed to a younger brother.

• William Drewe (1745–?), fourth son of Francis (d.1773) was a lawyer of New Inn, London, who died unmarried.

• John Rose Drewe (1747–1830), fifth son of Francis (d.1773), married Dorothy Bidgood (d.1834), daughter of Charles Bidgood of Rockbeare, but left no surviving male children. The estate passed to his half-nephew.

• Edward Simcoe Drewe (1805–1879) was the only son of Edward Drewe (1756–1810) who had been the seventh son of Francis (d.1773), by his second wife. Edward Simcoe was a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant of Devon and in 1845 served as High Sheriff of Devon. He married Jane Susan Adele Prevost, daughter and heiress of Jean Gaspard Prevost, Conseiler d'Etat of the Canton of Geneva.^[11]

• Francis Edward Drewe (1830–1891), of The Grange and Leyhill, was the eldest son and heir of Edward Simcoe Drewe. He was a Major-General in the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers, a Justice of the Peace for Devon and a Knight of the Legion of Honour. He married twice: firstly to Louisa Anne Vincent, eldest daughter of Sir Frederick Vincent, 11th Baronet; and secondly in 1885 to Katherine Shelley.^[11] On his death in 1891 without children his heir was his sister.^[17]

• Adèle Caroline Locke (d.1895), sister of Francis Edward Drewe, was the widow of John Arthur Locke (d.1888) of Northmoor, near Dulverton in Somerset,^[17] a partner in the lead manufacturing firm of Locke and Blackett of Newcastle upon Tyne.^{[citation needed]}

Later

In the 1930 Kelly's Directory, Cedric Drewe, living at Broadhembury house, and a Mrs. Gundry, Lady of the manor were recorded as the principal landowners.^[18]