COMMANDER EDWARD DUMERGUE DRURY, O.B.E., R.D., R.N.R., late chief inspector of life-boats, died on the 24th of January at the age of 72.

He was the elder son of Dr. Drury, Bishop of Ripon, was educated at Merchant Taylor's School, and at an early age went to sea. He served in sail and steam, and won an American medal for saving life in the St. Lawrence River. He joined the Life-boat Service as a district inspector of life-boats in 1908, at the age of thirty, and as a dis- trict inspector he served until 1928, but his service was interrupted by the war of 1914-18. He was in the first landing- party at Gallipoli, commanded the sea- plane carrier Empress and was awarded the O.B.E. His life-boat work was Again briefly interrupted in the gen- eral strike of 1926, when he worked as a fireman on. a railway engine.

He was appointed deputy chief inspector of life-boats in 1928. Two years later he became chief inspector.

As such he served for over eight years, ret ring at the end of 1938. During his term as chief inspector three new types of motor life-boats were added to the fleet. The 35-feet 6-inches Liver- pool type, the 41-feet Beach type, and the 32-feet Surf type. It was during his term, too, that the full mechanisation of the fleet was decided on, and in those eight years sixty motor life-boats were added to it. He returned to the the Institution on the outbreak of war in September 1939, and served as southern district inspector right through the war, although he was suffering from angina-pectoris and in 1939 had a serious operation..