Dr. Arthur Drew was a man of great distinction with a very independent mind. It is not too difficult to imagine a more adventurous decision for a man who spent his life as an Oxford physician and in service of his country on the battlefields of France in World War I to chose to live in Negril for the remainder of his life.  His great-grandson, Bob Drew, brought his family to Llantrissant during the summer of 2005 and sent these photos. He also provided more biographical information which helps to clear some of the inaccuracies and myths which have come down through the years.

Circa 1928. Here is the beginning of the lawn tennis court which must have been beach at that time.

Although there are no written accounts of his arrival, he is mentioned in a PhD dissertation written in 1954 about two Jamaican fishing villages as being a retired British army surgeon.

Circa 1954. Here is the lawn tennis court. It appears that he began to put zinc sheeting over the cedar shingles.

Much of the history gained about him came from his former housekeeper, Miss Marie Donaldson, who died several years ago and from Alexander Beck, his one time gardener who died in the late 1980's. Alex was proud to point out that he planted the great almond tree at the north end of the tennis court back in the early 1920's. He also provided an account that when the Queen Alexandra, who may have been a close personal friend of  Dr. Drew's, came to Jamaica on the Royal Yacht, that she sent in a long boat to bring him out to visit her.

According to Marie, he was a very proper man who wore long white pants and white starched shirts. Some of his friends included Jim Harvey who owned the Whitehall property with its great house. Some of his visitors included the Governor General of the day and friends from England. He built an outdoor squash court with the hope that some of his friends from England would visit more often. He was an avid swimmer and dove from a diving board he had installed on the end of the boat landing right up to the end of his life. What many people will tell you of their remembrances is his long white beard which reached his mid-section.

During his nearly forty years of residence in Negril the name of the property was The Hermitage, hence the name of the road which joins the West End Road at one corner of the property across from St. Mary's Church.

In the years, leading up to his death, he had the back staircase constructed because he knew that it would have been next to impossible to carry his body down the living room staircase. He chose to be buried on the property with his head symbolically facing the sea perhaps recognizing it as the source of life.

To this day, his spirit is still present on the property and there are those who claim to have seen his ghost. Jamaican tradition is that cotton trees are home to duppies (ghosts) and there are three giant cotton trees on the property.

Miami, Florida

April 2006