Thomas Andrews (1844-1921)

THOMAS ANDREWS (1844-1921) was born in Armagh City on 9 February 1844, the son of Jeremiah and Martha Andrews. He was baptized on 20 April 1844 at St Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh.

He was in Waterford in 1872. By 1874, he was an accountant there, living at 10 Barker Street. Barker Street ran below the walls of Ballybricken Prison, Waterford's main gaol until it was abandoned in 1939. (There is only a Michael Andrews, in Doyles Lane, Waterford, in that county in 1851 at the time of Griffiths' Valuation, and there are no Andrews in County Waterford twenty years earlier in the Tithe Applotment Books. Moreover, no Andrews appears in Harvey's Waterford Directory for 1866.)

On 10 February 1874, Thomas married Annie Sidwell Watts at Monksland parish church. The witnesses were Samuel Henry Perry and a name transcribed as Gio Gordania. (Samuel's father William had been an overseer at Waterford Gaol and a police constable. Samuel himself married a couple of years later and moved to England. He appears in the 1881 census for Lancashire as a 29-year-old dealer and provision agent.) The notice in the Waterford Chronicle for Wednesday 11 February reads: On the 10th inst at Bonmahon (sic) Church, County Waterford, by the Rev. Mr. Cooper, Mr. Thomas Andrews of Waterford to Annie Sidwell, third daughter of Mr. J. Watts, of Bonmahon. (Alfred William Francis Cooper was curate of Stradbally from 1873 to 1877. He was in his twenties.)

By the end of 1874, Thomas had entered the prison service, and described himself on his daughter Martha's birth certificate as Deputy Governor of Waterford Gaol. In Harvey's Directory for 1877, he is listed as living at 17 Barker Street, a smaller house than number 10 (which was occupied by James Pryde, an engineer), and his profession is listed as "Deputy Governor of Gaols". The government directory, however, describes him only as "Chief Warder and Accountant" between 1879 and 1885, and Slater's Directory for 1881 describes him as "Clerk and Chief Warder". According to the Valuation List, he occupied 17 Barker Street from 1873 to 1882.

The General Prisons Board was established in 1877, and took over administration of the 38 county prisons, 96 bridewells and four convict prisons in Ireland. This led to a centralized system of appointments and inspection. There was correspondence from the Governor of Waterford Prison to the Board in 1878, shortly after this, seeking permission for the Chief Warder to live out.

On 1 May 1885, Waterford's Governor forwarded a letter from Thomas applying for the Deputy Governorship of Kilmainham, which had become vacant. (He had made an unsuccessful earlier application for a governorship in August 1878.) After confidential police reports had been gathered, Thomas was appointed three weeks later. The Waterford News of 12 June 1885 records his promotion.
PROMOTION - We are informed that Mr Thomas Andrews, who has been deputy governor of our gaol for a number of years past, is about to be promoted to a higher position, and will shortly leave Waterford. During his lengthened stay in this city, Mr Andrews has made many friends who will learn with pleasure of his deserved promotion.

Certainly by 1886, Thomas was appointed to the Deputy Governorship of the prison at Kilmainham, in Dublin, and was there from 1886 to the end of 1887. His daughter Clara remembered taking walks round nearby Phoenix Park in the company of a policeman "owing to the political nature of the prisoners." (The Phoenix Park Murders - the assassination of Lord Cavendish, Irish Secretary, and his deputy - had occurred on 6 May 1882.)

From December 1887 to 1 February 1888, he was acting as deputy-governor of Tullamore Gaol. William O'Brien, M.P., and John Mandeville, two Nationalists imprisoned under the 1887 Crimes ("Coercion") Act in the aftermath of the Mitchelstown Massacre, were notable prisoners, "subjected to cruel treatment by Balfour's Tullamore gaolers, exceeding in savagery all acts in the remotest ages of barbarism", in the words of the Rathkeale branch of the National League. O'Brien and Mandeville were released on 20 January 1888. Mandeville died, aged 38, on 7 July, as a result, it was claimed, of his treatment in prison, which had included being kept naked in his cell for refusing to wear prison clothing. There was an inquest which confirmed the allegations. During this, the visiting physician at Tullamore, Dr Ridley, committed suicide in Sheriff's Royal Hotel, Fermoy on 20 July 1888. Thomas was in the room underneath at the time, and Dr M'Cabe of the Prisons Board, Captain Featherstone, Governor of Tullamore, Mr Goodbody, J.P., the Visiting Justice at Tullamore and Mr Morphy, who represented the Prisons Board at the Mandeville inquest, were also present.

In February 1888, Thomas was appointed to his first full governorship, at Downpatrick Gaol. Shortly after this, under circumstances which were related to the 1888 Special Commission, he was transferred to Clonmel in County Tipperary. His service here began on 5 January 1889, at a salary of £250 per annum, increasing by £10 annually until it reached £300. He also received free quarters, water and medical attention. William O'Brien, M.P., was one of his early inmates.

One of his first tasks was to attend a Special Commission meeting in London. His term of probation at Clonmel ended on 20 July 1889, three days after a satisfactory report from Inspector Joyce, Chief Inspector of Irish Prisons.

A notice in the Waterford News of 9 January 1892 records Thomas' further promotion.
GOVERNOR ANDREWS: We are happy to hear that Mr Thomas Andrews, who was well known and respected in Waterford for many years as an officer of Waterford Jail - and latterly Governor of Clonmel Jail - has just been appointed governor of Kilmainham Prison. This is about the very best appointment of the kind in Ireland. It is rather a strange coincidence that when the late Mr Parnell and Mr Wm O'Brien were prisoners in Kilmainham, Mr Andrews was an officer in said prison, and constantly in attendance on both gentlemen. He was also there the very morning that the greatly lamented Mr Parnell was discharged.

(Charles Parnell, however, was in Kilmainham from October 1881 to 2 May 1882. He had died, aged 45, in October 1891.)

As a preliminary to this, Thomas had been promoted to First Class governorship (on 8 December 1891), and the appointment to Kilmainham was made on 26 December 1891. He continued to be paid a second-class governor's salary, with an additional allowance of £50.

This appointment was, however, short-lived. On 13 July 1892, Thomas was offered the governorship of Cork Male Prison. He replied the next day, accepting the post. It is unclear whether the move was at his request - there is no correspondence on file about this. The £50 special allowance was relinquished, and the salary was raised to that of a First Class Governor: £320 a year. Governor McManus of Tralee replaced Thomas at Kilmainham.

On 20 July 1892, the family of eleven moved to Cork. The prison was in Western Road. On Census Night, 1 April 1901, Thomas and Annie, now 57 and 47, were living with their children Henry, Clara, Emily, Edwin, Martha, Isabella, Sarah and Arthur. The family also had a 36-year-old servant, Maggie Mahoney, Catholic and illiterate. On that night, the prison had 13 warders resident, and 142 inmates, in for a range of crimes from larceny, forgery and wounding, to 'insubordination in workhouse', child neglect, naval offences and abetting truancy.

Thomas remained Governor of Cork Prison for eighteen years. The family lived in "a fine house within the prison wall, with a lovely garden." Under the 1909 Prisons Act, he sought to remain as governor after his 65th birthday on grounds of "good behaviour", but was turned down. On 19 February 1910 his superannuation terms were settled, and on 1 March he was asked to hand over the prison to "Mr McGann" from Kilmainham. He finally retired on 7 March 1910, and was made a Justice of the Peace.

A newspaper article of the time, headed "Cork Male Prison - Retirement of the Governor" reads:
The retirement of Mr Thomas Andrews, Governor of the Cork Male Prison, after a service of 18 years, was marked by the presentation to him yesterday of a silver salver by the officers and staff who had served under him - many of them for most of that period. A man with a wide knowledge of human nature, he had sympathetic feelings for those in trouble, and displayed it in the discharge of his onerous and, at times, difficult duties, a character in which kindness and amiability were not the least distinguishing features.
The regret which the officers and the staff felt at the severance of his connection with them was suitably expressed yesterday when they all assembled in the Boardroom of the Prison to bid their chief farewell. Brigade-Surgeon Moriarty, the medical officers of the Prison, and the chaplains - the Rev Father O'Toole, Rev Canon Nicholson, and Rev M M'Keown - were present, and spoke in terms of praise of Mr Andrews' good qualities as Governor - firm but kind - and, as a man, considerate for all those placed under his authority. Other officers spoke in similar terms, and assured Mr Andrews of their best wishes for a long and happy life in his retirement. They then presented him with a handsome silver salver, bearing a suitable inscription. Mr Andrews suitably replied.
The vacant post will be filled by Mr M'Gann, lately Governor of Kilmainham Prison.

An article in the Waterford News of 10 June 1910 recounts his application for a pension to Waterford City Council.
Applications were read from Mr Thomas Andrews, formerly Governor of Waterford Prison, applying for payment by the Council of their portion of the pension awarded to him in respect of the time he served in Waterford.
Mayor - Are we bound to pay these?
Law Adviser - I think they are compulsory.
Referred back to Finance and Law Committee.

The following year, the Waterford pension was commuted by the General Prisons Board to a lump sum.

Thomas and Annie went to live at Sunday's Well, at 1 Home Ville, 90 Sunday's Well Road, calling his home Sidwell House. The house had eight rooms. The lease had cost £390. (The origin of the name Sidwell is obscure.) In 1911, Edwin and Isabella were living at home, and the servant was Lizzie Crowley, 28, a Catholic.

Thomas and Annie lived at Sidwell House until their deaths. (The Valuation List records Thomas as occupier from 1911 to 1934 (sic), after which Bella Andrews is recorded.) Family friends, the Hilsers lived next door at number 91, the central of the three houses that made up Home Ville. Henry Hilser was a jeweller, and Amelie, his wife, was German.

Thomas joined Masonic Lodge No. 32 in Waterford in 1872. He got his Entered Apprentice Degree on 7 August 1872, his Fellow Craft Degree on 11 September 1872 and his Master Mason Degree on 26 November 1872. He was Worshipful Master of the Lodge in 1876. He took part in Lodge activities at Clonmel (Lodge 44), presumably while he was there between 1889 and 1891. He formally joined Lodge No. 3, Cork, on 2 October 1897. (There was also a James Wilson Andrews, who joined Lodge 32 in 1874.)

Thomas died on 7 October 1921 at the Bon Secours Convent Hospital in Western Road, Cork, close to the prison where he had worked for so long.

His wife, Annie Sidwell Andrews, lived on until 17 March 1930. When she died, Edwin inherited her billiard table and gramophone, Martha her American organ, Clara her shares in the Provincial Bank and the Midland and South Western Railway, Sarah further shares, Emily £20, and Bella, who had lived with her, inherited the residue.

Thomas and Annie Andrews had eleven children, of whom nine survived childhood:

1 MARTHA JANE ANDREWS (1874-1875) was born in Barker Street, Waterford on 28 December 1874. She died in infancy .

2 HENRY ANDREWS (1876-1944) was born in Waterford on 4 May 1876. He joined the Royal Munster Fusiliers, and was promoted to Second Lieutenant on 2 March 1900 and transferred to the Lancashire Fusiliers on 21 April. He was serving in the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1901, when he held the rank of Lieutenant. Henry married Ethel Dewey Gribble at Liskeard in the third quarter of 1903. (She had been born at Ulverston in 1876.) They arrived in New York, possibly for their honeymoon, on the SS Cedric, leaving Queenstown on 23 October 1903, and stayed with a friend, John E Cummins from Waterford, at 31 East 17th Street. (John had emigrated the previous year, heading for Grand Rapids.) Henry described himself as an accountant.

In 1911, the family were at 240 Chillingham Road, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne. Henry described himself as an "artificial teeth manufacturer".

They moved to Ilfracombe, Devonshire. At the time of his brother, Arthur's, death, he was at Northfield Road, Ilfracombe. Under the Dentists Act 1921, he qualified as a dentist by dint of having practised for five of the seven preceding years, registering on 9 August 1922. His practice was at 2 Bath Place, Ilfracombe. He was recorded there until 1941, presumably when he retired. He died at Bath Place on 18 February 1944, leaving £1753/3/-. Ethel survived him, dying on 31 December 1953.

He and Ethel had five children, of whom two died in infancy.

3 CLARA ANDREWS (1877-1955) was born on 18 May 1877 at Barker Street, Waterford. (Martha Andrews was the informant - was this her grandmother?) She was 15 when she moved with the family to Cork. She was working for the firm of Guy and Co. as a photograph retoucher at the time of the 1901 Census. This was how she came to meet Walter Charles Corin, a professional photographer with the same firm. (Another connection was that Walter, like Clara's father, was an active freemason.) Walter was some four years older than Clara. She married him at St Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork on 2 September 1902. At the end of 1905 they moved to England, going first to Sale, Cheshire, and then in April 1907 to Cranleigh, Surrey, where Walter opened his own photographic studio. Clara Corin was widowed in 1934. She lived on in Cranleigh with her daughter and, after 1941, her grandson. They moved away in 1945, however, and around 1951, poor health compelled her to move to a nursing home in Salisbury: the Little Manor, Milford. Clara died at her daughter's house, 3 Cambridge Road, Salisbury, on 4 May 1955.

Clara and Walter Corin had a daughter:

4 EMILY ANDREWS (1879-1978) was born in Waterford on 19 March 1879. In 1901 she was working in Cork as a draper's assistant. She married Percival James Foster at St Fin Barre's Cathedral in Cork on 24 April 1905. He had been born in Wellingborough, Northants, on 23 September 1880, the son of Charles Frederick Foster, a boot manufacturer, and his wife Ann née Clayson. He was living with his mother at Northsyde, North Street, Wellingborough. Percy worked in the family shoe firm. They had met in Cork, and it is said Emily was disowned by her family for marrying an Englishman. (She was staying with her sister Clara in Sale, Cheshire, when Clara's daughter, Enid, was born in February 1906.)

P.J. and Emily set up house at 179 Knox Road, Wellingborough. However, the shoe firm suffered a misfortune. The couple came to the United States in 1910 to join Emily's brother, Thomas. P.J. arrived on 2 June on the SS Teutonic from Southampton. His height was recorded as 6'0", with dark complexion, dark hair and blue eyes. Emilie arrived from Liverpool on 17 August 1910 on the SS Carmania with the two children, who were three and two years old. (The spelling Emilie seems to have originated before the family moved to the United States.) Her height was recorded as 5'4", with dark complexion, dark hair and blue eyes. They came to 500 South Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota, staying there for a couple of years. The family were still in Hennepin County, Minnesota, in 1920. P.J. was a salesman in the tractor and car business, working for Kissel Cars. His work took him all over the country. He and Emilie moved to Iowa for a while. They all settled in Narberth, near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1920's and raised the family. In 1930, they were at 466 Brookhurst Avenue, Lower Merion, Montgomery, Pennsylvania. As the story goes, P.J. went on business to Chicago and Emilie sold the house and furniture and took the children to Develon, Wisconsin for the summer.

When the children married, P.J. and Emilie separated. Emilie lived on Yale Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania during the 1950's, and worked as a nanny for years, especially taking care of babies. She later worked as manager of the Gibbons Nursing Home in Swarthmore. She was musical and played a banjo and the piano.

P.J. lived with his son Jack and his family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a few years until Jack died. Then P.J. worked in a Dairy Laboratory in Philadelphia for years. He tested the dairy products in restaurants and always had bacteria growing in the refrigerator. He had his own apartment in Locust Street, Philadelphia. When he retired he lived with his daughter Shiela at 110 Chestnut Avenue, Narberth, Pennsylvania, and so did Emilie for a while in Narberth. P.J. died on 15 May 1969 in his sleep in a nursing home in Havertown, Pennsylvania.

Emilie celebrated her hundredth birthday in 1978 (sic). At that time, she was living in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, with her granddaughter Evie. She died on 8 November 1978, "aged 101".

P.J. and Emily's children were:

5 THOMAS ANDREWS (1880-19??), known as Tom, was born in Waterford on 12 March 1880. He was not at home on Census Day 1901. In 1906 he was living in Liverpool. In 1907 he migrated to the United States. In 1910, he was living at 10th Street South, Minneapolis, working as a reporter at the Minneapolis Tribune. In the same year, he married Marjorie, or Margaret. She was two years younger than him, from Minnesota, and was of Irish extraction. Using his newspaper experience, Thomas later worked in Chicago in advertising. In 1930, he and Margaret were living in a rented apartment at 306-5033 Winthrop Avenue, Chigaco. The couple are said to have become rich. Thomas and Marjorie died without issue.

6 EDWIN GEORGE ANDREWS (1881-1932), known as Eddie, was born in Waterford on 25 March 1881. In 1901 he was a dentist's assistant, and after a time he qualified as a dentist, and practised in Cork, living at home. He married a cousin, Violet Watts in the first quarter of 1921. She died young and without issue, probably in the last quarter of 1933.

Edwin died in Cork in the first quarter of 1932.

7 MARTHA ANDREWS (1882-19??) was born in Waterford on 18 May 1882. She married the Reverend George Ronaldson Cuming Olden of Cork in the second quarter of 1910. He had graduated from Trinity College, Dublin in 1906, and trained for the Church of Ireland ministry. He had been made deacon in 1909, and in 1910 was serving a curacy at Ballinderry in the diocese of Connor. The couple were at Ballysillan Meeting, Belfast, in 1930, where Canon George Olden was rector of St Columba, Knock, Belfast. He later became a canon of Belfast Cathedral and an archdeacon. The Oldens had two children:

8 SARAH ANN ANDREWS (1883-1954), born in Waterford in the second quarter of 1883, was artistic by nature. She taught Art in Eire, and later moved to a job in Belfast designing traycloths. Later still she moved back to Cork. She was a close companion to her sister Clara. After Bella's death in 1948, she continued to live in the house at Sunday's Well Road until her death at the age of 70 on 14 April 1954. The house passed to a Terence O'Keefe.

9 ISABELLA ANDREWS (1885-1948), born in Waterford on 1 January 1885, was known as Bella. Her birth was announced in the Waterford News of 2 January 1885. On the 1st instant, at No. 10 Bridge-street, (presumably an error) Waterford, the wife of Mr Thomas Andrews of a daughter." She remained single, and taught needlework.

Bella was 36 when her father died. She stayed on at home and looked after her mother. She inherited the house at Sunday's Well from her mother and lived on there alone. He sister Sarah later joined her. She died in the third quarter of 1948.

10 ARTHUR JAMES ANDREWS (1889-1921), born in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary in the last quarter of 1889, was the youngest child. He also became a dentist, and practised at Whitley Bay in Northumberland. He was boarding at 132 Woodbine Avenue, Wallsend on Tyne, in April 1911, and working on his own account, like his brother Henry, as a "maker of artificial teeth."

He married Eleanor Susan Castle (known as Nellie) at St Mark's, Byker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 24 September 1912. He was living at 29 High St East, Wallsend at the time.

Arthur later lived at 137 Heaton Park Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He died there on 4 April 1921 of measles, which he contracted from his daughter Dorothy, complicated by acute pneumonia. His estate was valued at £2368. Nellie was his executrix. Arthur and Nellie had issue: