Charles Andrews

Charles Andrews (1829-1893)

1829 Baptised in Kennington, son of James and Dorothy Andrews

brother of John Orme Andrews and Arthur Thomas Andrews

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1893 Obituary

CHARLES ANDREWS was born at Kennington, Surrey, on the 2nd of January, 1829, and was educated at a private school in that neighbourhood.

At an early age he entered the office of Herman and Wontner, Architects and Surveyors, London, where he acquired that skill as a draughtsman and knowledge of architecture which were of much service to him in after life.

In 1845 he joined his brother, Mr. A. T. Andrews, who was then acting as Agent for Grissell and Peto on the construction of part of the Eastern Counties Railway between Ely and Cambridge. Towards the end of the same year he followed his brother to Lowestoft, that gentleman having been appointed Resident Engineer to the Lowestoft Harbour and Railway Co.

Three years later the works of this company were partially suspended and he then joined the staff of James Hodges, who was constructing the Great Northern Railway between Boston and Gainsborough. On the completion of that work he was appointed by the late Joseph Cubitt an Assistant Engineer on the London district of the same railway.

In 1850 Mr. Andrews entered the office of the late Thomas Page, under whom he was engaged in the preparation of the working drawings for the Victoria and Albert Bridges across the Thames at Windsor, and for the Chelsea Suspension and new Westminster Bridges.

Four years later he was appointed an Assistant Engineer on the Staines and Wokingham Railway, under John Gardner, and was subsequently engaged as Agent for George Bolton and Co, contractors, of Leeds, on the construction of the Bradford, Wakefield and Leeds, and the South Durham and Lancaster Railways. At the expiration of his engagement with that firm which lasted some four years, Mr. Andrews commenced to practise on his own account in London about 1860.

His work consisted chiefly in preparing and depositing Parliamentary plans and estimates in connection with various projected railways in the neighbourhood of London - schemes which he gladly abandoned in 1864 to enter the service of the Admiralty as Resident Engineer on new docks and other works at Malta.

During his residence of some seven years in that island he carried out several important works, including a naval barrack and the Somerset Dock, for a description of which he obtained from the Institution a Manby Premium. He also investigated in 1869 the question of water-supply and proposed a scheme for obtaining a better supply from the interior of the island which was subsequently adopted with some modifications.

On the completion of the works at Malta in 1873 Mr. Andrews was directed by the Lords of the Admiralty to proceed to Queens- town, Ireland, to take charge of the extension of Haulbowline Naval Yard which consisted of two large graving docks and a basin with deep-water quays. He introduced a method of constructing the foundations of the quay-walls of the basin by sinking rectangular caissons of brickwork or concrete through the mud until the underlying rock was reached, when the wall was built on arches spanning the spaces between the caissons. These works - carried out without the intervention of a contractor and mainly by convict labour - were so far advanced in 1880 that Mr. Andrews felt justified in resigning his post. He once more established himself in London where he practised until his death. He designed and prepared plans for a dock at East Greenwich. Supported by the South Eastern Railway Company, the Bill passed both Houses, but a fall in the value of dock property prevented the works from being carried out. He was associated with Mr. John Gardner in preparing plans and estimates for the Windsor and Ascot Railway and took part in the Parliamentary contest on that work.

Shortly before his death he obtained a concession for a large commercial graving dock at Malta and was about to visit that island to make arrangements for the works when he found it necessary to go to Queenstown in connection with some property he owned there. This journey, undertaken in the depth of winter and at a time when he was in delicate health, was followed by an attack of bronchitis, to which he succumbed at Queenstown on the 4th of March, 1893.

Mr. Andrews was an able and energetic Engineer, capable of managing with tact and judgment large bodies of men. These qualities, combined with some skill as an artist and a kind and amiable disposition, made him generally esteemed and respected. He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 1st of March, 1864.

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