DRUITT, ROBERT (1814–1883), medical writer, the son of a medical practitioner at Wimborne, Dorsetshire, was born in December 1814. After four years' pupilage with Mr. Charles Mayo, surgeon to the Winchester Hospital, he entered in 1834 as a medical student at King's College and the Middlesex Hospital, London. He became L.S.A. in 1836, and M.R.C.S. in 1837, and settled in general practice in Bruton Street, Berkeley Square. In 1839 he published the ‘Surgeon's Vade-Mecum,’ by which he is best known. Written in a very clear and simple style, it became a great favourite with students, and the production of successive editions occupied much of the author's time. The eleventh edition appeared in 1878, and in all more than forty thousand copies were sold. It was reprinted in America, and translated into several European languages. In 1845 Druitt became F.R.C.S. by examination, and in 1874 F.R.C.P., later receiving the Lambeth degree of M.D. He practised successfully for many years, and also engaged in much literary work, having for ten years (1862–72) edited the ‘Medical Times and Gazette.’ He was an earnest advocate of improved sanitation, and from 1856 to 1867 was one of the medical officers of health for St. George's, Hanover Square. From 1864 to 1872 he was president of the Metropolitan Association of Medical Officers of Health, before which he delivered numerous valuable addresses. In 1872 his health broke down, and he for some time lived in Madras, whence he wrote some interesting ‘Letters from Madras’ to the ‘Medical Times and Gazette.’ On his retirement 370 medical men and other friends presented him with a cheque for 1,215l. in a silver cup, ‘in evidence of their sympathy with him in a prolonged illness, induced by years of generous and unwearied labours in the cause of humanity, and as a proof of their appreciation of the services rendered by him as an author and sanitary reformer to both the public and the profession.’ After an exhausting illness he died at Kensington on 15 May 1883. In 1845 he married a Miss Hopkinson, who with three sons and four daughters survived him.
Druitt was a man of wide culture, being well versed in languages, as well as in science and theology. Church music was one of his special studies, and as early as 1845 he wrote a ‘Popular Tract on Church Music.’ A man of reserved manners, he was both a wise and a sympathetic friend. Besides his principal work, Druitt wrote a small work on ‘Cheap Wines, their use in Diet and Medicine,’ which appeared first in the ‘Medical Times and Gazette’ in 1863 and 1864, and was twice reprinted in an enlarged form in 1865 and 1873. In 1872 he contributed an important article on ‘Inflammation’ to Cooper's ‘Dictionary of Practical Surgery.’ Among his minor writings may also be mentioned his paper on the ‘Construction and Management of Human Habitations, considered in relation to the Public Health’ (Transactions of the Royal Institute of British Architects, 1859–60).
[Medical Times and Gazette, 19 and 26 May 1883, pp. 561, 600–1.]
DRUMMOND, ALEXANDER (d. 1769), consul, author of ‘Travels through the different Countries of Germany, Italy, Greece, and parts of Asia, as far as the Euphrates, with an Account of what is remarkable in their present State and their Monuments of Antiquity’ (London, 1754, fol.), was son of George Drummond of Newton, and younger brother of George Drummond, lord provost of Edinburgh [q. v.] Of his early years there is no account. He started on his travels, viâ Harwich and Helvoetsluys, in May 1744, reached Venice in August and Smyrna in December that year, and Cyprus in March 1745. His observations by the way, and in excursions, made in the intervals of what appear to have been commercial pursuits, during residence in Cyprus and Asia Minor in 1745–50, are given in his book in the form of letters, mostly addressed to his brother, and accompanied by some curious plates. In one of these excursions he reached Beer, on the Euphrates. Drummond was British consul at Aleppo in 1754–6. He died at Edinburgh on 9 Aug. 1769. A portrait of him is catalogued in Evans's 'Engraved Portraits' (Brit. Mus. Cat., subd. v.), London 1836–53).
[Anderson's Scottish Nation (Edinb. 1859–63), ii. 66; Drummond's Travels, ut supra; Court and City Registers, 1753–7; Scots Mag. 1769, xxxi. 447.]
DRUMMOND, ANNABELLA (1350?–1402), queen of Scotland, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Stobhall, was the wife of Robert III of Scotland and mother of James I. The family of Drummond derive their name from Drymen in Stirlingshire, but trace their descent from Maurice, a Hungarian, who is said to have accompanied Edgar Etheling and his sisters to Scotland from Hungary in 1068, and to have been made, by Malcolm Canmore, after his marriage with Margaret, steward of Lennox. His descendant, Sir John de Drummond of Drymen, taken prisoner by Edward I, but released in 1297, had, by the daughter of the Earl of Menteith, Sir Malcolm de Drummond, who fought with Bruce at Bannockburn. His eldest son, a
