BRYSDAI.E IH ST LUCIA These notes are baseâ on varions original documents provided by Mr J.H.V. Drysdale, of London, and on other sources. According to Guppy, Drysdale is a family name in Pife, Stirlingshire and other central covmties of Scotland. It is therefore believed that the ancestors of the St Lucia family belonged to those parts of Scotland, The St Lucian family is descended from John Drysdale, who made his will in America, at Charleston in South Carolina, on 2 March 1810. Prom the contents of this document it seems possible that he had property or other interests in Charleston and in the town of Norfolk in Virginia, He was probably a widower, as his vife is not mentioned in the vill. Apart from a legacy of $1000 to "my mother Jean Drysdale at present living in .Port Glasgow Scotland", he left his property to "my only Son James Vickery Drysdale, now three years old, & at present living in Norfolk, Virginia" subject to the control of his executors (who appear to have been résidents of Norfolk, Virginia). James Vickery Drysdale was therefore bom in 1806 or 1807. We next find him in St Lucia: on 10 November 1834 the lieutenant governor of that colony signed his commission as assistant surgeon of the southern battalion of the St Lucian regiment of militia. He was also assistant protector of slaves. It is not known how.or where Mr Drysdale became a surgeon. He seems to have continued to practise his profession privately until at least 1850, in addition to exercising various public functions. In 1839 Mr Drysdale was appointed provisional special justice (stipendiary magistrate) for Soufrière; a year or two later he was coroner (and no doubt special justice) at Castries:; in 1843 he was special justice at Vieux Port. (St Lucia was at that time divided into four judicial districts, each with its special justice: they had their seats at Castries, Gros Islet, Soufrière and Vieux Port.) Mr Drysdale continued in the post of special justice until 1849, having been transferred back to Castries, where he was appointed inspector of the Royal Gaol in 1845. His conduct during and after a riot in St Lucia in 1849 was favourably mentioned in despatches exchanged between the lieienant governor residing in St Lucia and the governor of the Windward Islands (which included St Lucia) residing in Barbados. A few nionths later, on 6 October 1849, Queen Victoria signed a warrant addressed to the governor of the Windward Islands, authorising him to appoint Doctor James Vickery Drysdale to be a member of "Our Législative Council of Our Island of Saint Lucia", during the temporary absence of the comptroller of customs. Another warrant under the royal sign manual, of 28 December 1850, required letters patent to be passed under the public seal of St Lucia to^appoint Mr Drysdale to the post cf colonial secretary of the colony; thèse letters patent, signed by the lieutenant governor, gave Mr Drysdal permission to use the title of "Honorable" as long as he held the post. As colonial secretary, Mr Drysâale was ex officio a member of both the executive Council and the législative Council of St Lucia, as well as a justice of the peace. He also performed certain other functions of government, as president of the board of health, president of the commissioners of public works and buildings, president of the commissioners of roads and bridges and member of the board of education* The St Lucian militia had been disbanded in 1839, but in 1854 this body was revived on the occasion of the Crimean war, only to be again disbanded in 1857, after that war had ended. On 20 December 1854 the lieutenant governor signed the commission of the Honorable James Vickery Drysdale as aide de camp with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the militia; the commission was countersigned by R.G-o McHugh as acting colonial secretary (perhaps to avoid the real colonial secretary having to countersign his own commission)» However, on the back of the commission is a certificate , signed by the colonial secretary (J.V. Drysdale), that the oath of office was administered to "Aid (sic) de Camp the Honorable James Vickery Drysdale" on 10 March 1855. From 1838 to 1885 St Lucia was included in the government of the Windward Islands which also included Barbados, Grenada, St Vincent and Tobago. The governor resided in Barbados. At first there was a lieutenant governor in each of the other islands. In St Lucia9 the lieutenant governor was replaced by an administrâtor after 1855. .-¦ n In 1856 Mr Drysdale, as colonial secretary, became administrator of the government of St Lucia, and on 14 May 1857 Queen Victoria signed a warrant authorising him to hold this office (subject to the governor*s control) so long as he remained colonial secretary or otherwise during Her Maj esty* s pleasure. However, shortly after, on 1 1857, the Queen signed a commission for Mr Drysdale as lieutenant governor of Tobago, under the authority of the governor of the Windward Islands» He assumed the office of lieutenant governor of Tobago on 8 June 1857, being succeeded by H.H. Breen as administrator of St Lucia. Mr Drysdale later returned to St Lucia, where his home was Chesterfield House at Castries. It had been described, in an agent's puff of the 1840rs, as "that commodious and gonteel residence ... combining all the advantages of a town dwelling with the more attractive pleasures of a country villa". James Vickery Drysdale married twice, both his wives being members of St Lucian families of French descent. His first wixe was a Demoiselle Aquart. They had at least four Children bom at Chesterfield House: two sons, bom on 16 March 1840 and 14 October 1846, and two daughters, bom in 1843 and late in 1847. In 1846 Masters James and John Drysdale sailed from St Lucia in the barque Carmelita bound for London, in the Company of Mr and Mrs Duncan Ferguson; they were presumably older sons of Mr and Mrs Drysdale. One of the daughters was presumably Euphémie Drysdale, vife of Thomas Edward Goodman, a planter at Soufrière where he died childless in 1867 at the age of 30 years. We know nothing more about the Children of the first marriage of James Vickery Drysdale• However, the occunence of the unusual Christian name Vickery makes us wonder whether one of thèse Children might have been the parent of Charles Vickery Drysdale, a noted scientist whose obituary appearéd in the Times newspaper in -1961. According to the reference books, this person was the son of Charles Robert Drysdale, M.D., M.R.C.Po, F.R.C.S., a surgeon of Sackville Street, London W, and of "Dr Alice Drysdale-Vickery". Charles Vickery Drysdale was bom in 1874> was educated in London, became a dorjrtor of science of London University in 1901, was the director of scientif ie research at the Admiralty from 1919 to 1934* and edited the Journal of Scientifie Instruments. He was a fellow of Impérial College, a fellow of the Royal Statistioal Society and a fellow of the Royal Society of Economies. He became an Officer of .the Order of the British Empire in 1920, and a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1932. He died at Bexhill in Sussex on 7 February 1961, bequeathing £2500 to Cambridge University towards the cost of a life-size statue of Malthus.. He was married to Bessie Ingman Edwards (daughter of James G. Edwards, of Peterborough) and they had a son. As mentioned above, James Vickery Drysdale was twice married. His second v,ife was a Demoiselle Dreuil. The marriage took place quité late in his life, and the three Children of this marriage were all bom in the décade after 1870. There were two daughters. Corinne lived unmarried in Castries and died in December 1 968 aged about 96 years. Marie ("Mayotte") married Dr William Boase, from England, a médical practitioner in Demerera, and they had several Children of whom one, Clement Boase, was a planter in St Lucia where he owned Rabot Estate at Soufrière. Thomas Arthur Drysdale (sCon of James Vickery Drysdale by his second wife) entered the government service in St Lucia in 1889 as a clerk in the post office. The next year he became assistant clerk in the magistrate!s court of the first district (Castries) and he soon became clerk to the magistrate. In 1901 his emoluments from this post were £125 and certain fées. He was at the saine time owner of an estate called Inconnue in the second district (Soufrière etc). In 1907 Arthur Drysdale was acting as magistrate of the first district, at the time of riots at Castries and at Cul-de-Sac. The "loyal support and advice" which he gave to the governor were acknov/ledged in a despatch from the secretary of state in London to the governor dated 11 June 1907. Arthur Drysdale vas called to the bar of Lincoln1s Inn on 26 January 1911, and returned to St Lucia, where he became a magistrgte. Later he left the judiciary to become a planter, and for a time he owned the Dennery estate and sugar factory. He died before 1929. Like his father, Arthur Drysdale married twice. His first wife was Madeleine d'Etcheparre de Minvielle. They had an only son, Joseph Henry Vickery Drysdale, bom on 10 June 19U, who seilled in England and who served in the Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 var. Arthur Drysdale became a widower in about 1916. Later he married Norah Duff, of whom he had a daughter living with her husband in Jamaica. /"Xi + <'"'r7~^\ ? Drysdale m. Jean ? (living in Port Glasgow in 1810) i John (ii-?^living in Norfolk, Virginia, in f810) m# ? r James Vickery m. Mlle Dreuil (bom 1806/7, I admin. St Lucia, j lt ogov* Tobago) I -------------1----------------- Mlle Aquart m, 1----1--- John Euphémie '' m. TcE. Goodman (no issue) Others including •perhaps Charles Robert (surgeon in London) m* Dr Alice Drysdale-Vickery i Charles Vickery C.B., O.B.E. 1874-1961 (scientist) T Miss de Minvielle m. Thomas Arthur m. Miss Duff Corinne (magistrate d*1968 in St Lucia) Joseph Henry Vickery 1914- Marie m. Dr Boase (issue