George Augustus Drevar
(1828-1895)
2 October 1861
Volume 5, page 124, sitting number 5992.
Born in Dublin in or about 1828, George Augustus Drevar was the second son of merchant George Drevar and his wife Eliza Mary Drevar.
On 22 February 1853 at Aston in Warwickshire he married Clara Eliza Francis, the fourth daughter of engraver Thomas Francis of Birmingham. He gave ‘Banker’s Clerk’ as his profession on his marriage certificate.
The couple appear on the 1861 census living at Freelands near Snodland in Kent.
George gave ‘Clerk, Bank of England’ as his profession. Living with them was George’s father, who gave ‘Marine Insurance Agent’ as his profession.
When the 1891 census was taken Gorge still gave ‘Clerk in Bank of England’ as his profession but he and Clara were now living at a house called ‘Fernwood’ at Chislehurst in Kent.
‘On the 23rd inst. Mr George Augustus Drevar, after forty-eight years’ service in the Bank of England, resigns his position of principal of the discount department, over which he has presided for many years’ (Railway News, 21 May 1892).
He died at his residence in Chislehurst on 4 March 1895 at the age of 67, leaving an estate valued at £6901.
‘We regret to learn of the death of Mr George Augustus Drevar, the late chief of the discount department of the Bank of England. Mr Drevar entered the service of the Bank at the age of seventeen. He became deputy principal of the discount office in 1878, and six years later was appointed successor to Mr Elsey and principal of the department, his retirement from office only taking place the year before last’ (Railway News, 9 March 1895).
Several other obituaries spoke of ‘his suave courtesy and gentle manner’ (Morning Leader, 7 March 1895).
His widow Clara died three months later on 2 June 1895.
‘We regret to record that Mrs Drevar died at her residence, Fernbank, Camden Wood, Chislehurst, on Sunday morning last, after a lingering and painful illness, at the age of 76 years. The deceased lady […] was the widow of the late Mr G. A. Drevar, and has survived her husband by but a few weeks’ (Bromley & District Times, 7 June 1895).