Although he attended a religious academy he chose to make the army his career, rising to the rank of Major General in the First Regiment of Foot Guards.

He was a son of the Huguenot immigrants Theodore Du Ry (born in France in 1661) and Mary-Anne Boulier De Beauregard.

[2] Dury, however, studied languages and belles lettres: his outstanding intellectual abilities had been acclaimed and he was admired for the brilliant exposition of his thesis ‘De Terrae Motu’ [On the Earthquake].

[7] Dury's father, Theodore (naturalised in 1706), was a military engineer in Hugh Mackay’s Foot, designing the fortification of Stirling Castle and elsewhere,[8] and was able to afford commissions for both his sons.

However Saxe argued that the English were already in breach of the agreement by confining at the Round Tower, Windsor Castle, the prestigious Marshal Belle-Isle and his brother, who had been captured in Hanover.

After returning to the Palace of Westminster and the Abbey, and then a good supper, they were taken to see the Doggett's Coat and Badge rowing race on the Thames (and not to see Swan Upping as reported by Whitworth).

The object was a series of “descents” (diversionary raids) which would draw the French forces away from central Europe - in particular Hanover.

One such attack was the raid on Cherbourg in August, in which the French put up little resistance and the port and forts were razed.