Julius Drewe

Julius Charles Drewe was born on 4 April 1856 at Pulloxhill in Bedfordshire and died at Drewsteignton on 10 November 1931. He founded the Home and Colonial Stores with John Musker in 1883 and retired in 1889, aged 33. The chain had 500 shops by 1903, and the partners sold their shares in 1919 for 3.5 million pounds.

He was born Drew and added the "e" later. A genealogist then told him he descended from Drogo, a Norman who held the manor of Teignton, and he bought land near Drewsteignton in 1910 with that in mind. Wikipedia points out that the records show the manor had left that family by 1242, so the descent looks doubtful. The "Drew" in Drewsteignton comes from an earlier owner from the time of Henry II.

He hired Sir Edwin Lutyens to build Castle Drogo, and the foundation stone was laid on 4 April 1911, his 55th birthday. His eldest son Adrian was killed near Ypres on 12 July 1917. The National Trust says it devastated Drewe, who later had a stroke, and his second son Basil carried on with the work under higher post-war costs. The family moved in at Christmas 1926 and the building was finished in 1930, a year before Julius died.

The castle went to the National Trust in 1974, though three sources disagree on who gave it. In the village, The Drewe Arms carries the family name. Wikipedia says it was renamed from the Druids' Arms in the 1920s.