Drury

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Dru Drury

Dru Drury (4 February 1725 – 15 December 1803) was a British entomologist.

He was born in Wood Lane, London. His father was a silversmith, and Dru took over the business in 1748. He retired as a silversmith in 1789 to devote his time entirely to entomology. Drury had a keen interest in entomology already, and was the president of the Society of Entomologists of London from 1780 to 1782. He became ill and moved in 1801 to Turnham Green hoping to improve his heath, but died of stone two years later and was buried at St. Martin-in-the-Fields. He was a personal friend of the Danish entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius.

From 1770 to 1787, he published the three-volume Illustrations of Natural History, wherein are exhibited upwards of 240 figures of Exotic Insects, which was later revised and republished under the title Illustrations of Exotic Entomology in 1837.

Drury convention

The Drury convention is a bridge convention, used to show a game-invitational major suit raise by a passed hand while guarding against a light opening by partner in third or fourth seat. It is initiated by an artificial and forcing 2♣ response by the passed hand to a 1♥ or 1♠ opening by partner. The 2♣ bid shows at least 3-card support for opener's suit with 10-12 support points and asks opener to clarify the strength of his opening hand. The convention is also known in Europe as "Toronto".

Origins and purpose

The convention was developed by Canadian Douglas Drury (1914-1967) and his then playing partner Eric Murray (b1928) to manage Murray's propensity to open light in third seat. Opening light (i.e. with marginally less than normal values) in the third seat is a common and effective bidding tactic because the player in the fourth seat may well have the best hand at the table and be poised to open the bidding given the opportunity. A third seat light opening, especially in a major suit, will act preemptively to make it harder for that player to enter the bidding. However, this creates two problems: