(Subsequently renamed Girard)
The R.N. Edward Druce was a Cochrane Mersey Class Trawler (one of 120) built in 1918. She was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a Boom Defence Vessel (Pennant No.2186).
The names for all 120 trawlers in this class were taken from the Muster Rolls of the Victory and Royal Sovereign at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Records show that Edward Druce was an ordinary seaman number S950 serving on board the Victory. He was 26 years old at the time of the battle and the record indicates that he was badly wounded in the battle. He was born in Witney, Oxfordshire.
The above information was taken from a booklet entitled 'Warships of World War II (Part 6) covering Trawlers, Drifters and Whalers' written by H. T. Lenton and J.J. Colledge, published by Ian Ailan Ltd. Additional information was supplied by the National Maritime Museum.
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ANNA MARIA DRUCE
In 1896 Mrs Anna Maria Druce, the widow of a Walter Thomas Druce, appealed to the Home Secretary in England for the opening of a coffin deposited in a vault and purported to be that of Thomas Charles Druce, her father-in-law. Mrs Druce claimed that Thomas Charles Druce had not died and been buried at the time (1864) alleged and that the coffin did not contain his body. She claimed that Thomas Charles Druce had merely been a pseudonym for William Cavendish Bentinck-Scott, 5th Duke of Portland [who had lived a double life as TC Druce, shopkeeper]. He wearied of his life in the guise of a London shopkeeper and had staged the "death" to get rid of that side of his dual personality. When the Duke did die in 1879 he was assumed to have died unmarried and the dukedom went to his cousin. Mrs Druce was claiming that as Thomas Charles Druce he did in fact have direct descendants who were entitled to the dukedom.
Mrs Druce's efforts to have the coffin opened were obstructed by Herbert Druce, her husband's elder brother, eldest son of Thomas Charles Druce's second marriage, who had inherited his business - The Baker Street Bazaar - in London. Anna Maria Druce finally went off her head with frustration and spent the rest of her life in a mental asylum.
The matter did not end there. GH Druce, a son from Thomas Charles Druce's first marriage to Elizabeth Crickmer was living in Australia and in 1907 decided to challenge the Portland estate. He sued his half brother Herbert for perjury in stating the coffin contained his father. Eventually, after much legal wrangling the coffin was opened and was found to contain a body conforming without doubt to that of Thomas Charles Druce.
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GEORGE CLARIDGE DRUCE - BOTANIST (1850 - 1932)
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NORMAN FRANK DRUCE - CRICKETER (1875 - 1954)
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DUNCAN DRUCE (COMPOSER AND VIOLINIST)
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EMILY DRUCE (SINGER, GUITARIST AND SONG-WRITER)