[2][3] Drumm was born in Dundrum, County Down, in 1897, and initially attended a national school where his mother taught.

[2] His secondary education was at St Macartan's College, Monaghan, where he won a county council scholarship.

[2] From 1914 to 1917 he studied at the Chemistry School of University College Dublin (UCD) and then worked in England at the Continuous Reaction Company.

He modernized various processing methods, such as the conservation of peas, to keep their natural green colour in tin cans.

Drumm created his first battery at UCD Merrion street and negotiation with the Government led to a prototype conversion of petrol railcar 386 in July 1930.