Maurice O'Connor Drury (known as 'Con Drury' to his friends) (3 July 1907 – 25 December 1976) was a

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

and follower of

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian- British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is consi ...

born in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

parents. He grew up in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, where his father, Henry D'Olier Drury, who had been a teacher in Marlborough college, retired.

Education

Drury was educated at Exeter Grammar School. He then studied

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. His tutors included G. E. Moore,

C. D. Broad Charlie Dunbar Broad (30 December 1887 – 11 March 1971), usually cited as C. D. Broad, was an English people, English epistemology, epistemologist, history of philosophy, historian of philosophy, philosophy of science, philosopher of sc ...

and

. Drury became Wittgenstein's friend for many years to come, until the latter's death in 1951. After graduation Drury entered the Cambridge theological college Westcott House, leaving after one year. He then enrolled in the medical school in

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, graduating in 1939.

Medical career

Drury joined the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps ...

, serving in

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and taking part in the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

. After his demobilisation, Drury worked as a House Physician in a hospital in Taunton. In 1947 he was appointed Resident

Psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

at St Patrick's Hospital Dublin. From 1951 he also worked in a subsidiary nursing home, St Edmundbury,

Lucan, Dublin Lucan ( ; ga, Leamhcán) is a town in Ireland, located 12 km west of Dublin city centre on the River Liffey. It is near the Strawberry Beds and Lucan Weir, and at the confluence of the River Griffeen. It is mostly under the jurisdiction o ...

. He lectured medical students on psychology in

and the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

. He is described as relating to his student audience as "quite an intellectual man, who was very much speaking and relating to an audience as an intellectual." He was promoted to Senior Consultant Psychiatrist in 1969. In 1970 due to anginal pain he moved to a private residence in Dublin.

Personal life

He married the matron of St Patrick's Hospital, Eileen Herbert, in 1951. One of his children, Luke Drury a

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, was elected president of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...

in 2011. His second son Paul was one of Ireland's most prominent newspaper editors, editing The Star, Evening Herald, Irish Daily Mail, and Ireland on Sunday. He was also deputy editor of the Irish Independent. He died in 2015.

Writings

Drury was the author of ''"The danger of words and writings on Wittgenstein"'' (also published as ''"The Danger of Words"'' and, in French, as ''"Conversations avec Ludwig Wittgenstein"'' as translated by Jean-Pierre Cometti). A volume collecting many of his writings has been edited by John Hayes and published by

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest ...

in 2017. His papers are on deposit in the library of Mary Immaculate College Limerick.

Philosophy

Drury's book, "The Danger of Words" has been described by Ray Monk as 'the most truly Wittgensteinian book published by any of Wittgenstein's students'. Drury brought Wittgenstein's "critique of language" to bear on the practice of medicine, and particularly psychology that promised the same control over the mind that physics achieved with matter. This promise, pointed out Drury, was one where the delivery date was always being pushed into the future.

References

External links

Mention of Maurice O'Connor Drury in a correspondence of the British Journal of PsychiatryDr Silvia Lanzetta "Maurice O’Connor Drury: the inheritance of Wittgenstein"
*
Con Drury, Wittgenstein’s Irish interpreter
' 2017 article by John Hayes for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''
Entries on Drury
at the ''Irish Philosophy'' site of Cathy M. Barry. {{DEFAULTSORT:Drury, Maurice Oconnor 1907 births 1976 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II British psychiatrists English people of Irish descent Irish philosophers Irish psychiatrists Medical doctors from Exeter Royal Army Medical Corps officers Wittgensteinian philosophers