William Drennan Andrews PC (18321924) was an Irish judge who served for many years as the Probate Judge. He was the uncle of Sir James Andrews, 1st Baronet, the

Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is a judge who is the appointed official holding office as President of the Courts of Northern Ireland and is head of the Judiciary of Northern Ireland. The present Lord Chief Justice of Northern Irel ...

, (whose career he did much to foster), J. M. Andrews,

Prime Minister of Northern Ireland The prime minister of Northern Ireland was the head of the Government of Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. No such office was provided for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920; however, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, as with governo ...

and

Thomas Andrews Thomas Andrews Jr. (7 February 1873 – 15 April 1912) was a British businessman and shipbuilder. He was managing director and head of the drafting department of the shipbuilding company Harland and Wolff in Belfast, Ireland. He was the nava ...

, architect of the ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, Unit ...

''. There is a sympathetic sketch of his character in ''The Old Munster Circuit'' by

Maurice Healy Maurice Healy (3 January 1859 – 9 November 1923) was an Irish nationalist politician, lawyer and Member of Parliament (MP). As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party, he was returned to in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Gre ...

. He was a grandson of

William Drennan William Drennan (23 May 1754 – 5 February 1820) was an Irish physician and writer who moved the formation in Belfast and Dublin of the Society of United Irishmen. He was the author of the Society's original "test" which, in the cause of ...

, the

United Irishman ''The United Irishman'' was an Irish nationalist newspaper co-founded by Arthur Griffith and William Rooney.Arthur Griffith ...

leader, and his wife Sarah Swanwick.

Biography

He was born in

Comber, County Down Comber ( , , locally ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies south of Newtownards, at the northern end of Strangford Lough. It is situated in the townland of Town Parks, the civil parish of Comber and the historic barony of C ...

, second son of John Andrews, a wealthy flax spinner, and Sarah, daughter of William and Sarah Drennan; his elder brother Thomas, the father of three eminent sons, inherited the family business. William was educated at the University of Dublin and the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

. He was called to the

Irish Bar The Bar of Ireland ( ga, Barra na hÉireann) is the professional association of barristers for Ireland, with over 2,000 members. It is based in the Law Library, with premises in Dublin and Cork. It is governed by the General Council of the Ba ...

in 1855,

Queen's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister o ...

in 1872. He married Elizabeth Galloway, daughter of John Galloway of

Monkstown, County Dublin Monkstown (), historically known as ''Carrickbrennan'' ( gle, Carraig Bhraonáin), is a suburb in south Dublin, located in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. It is on the coast, between Blackrock and Dún Laoghaire. The lands of the Carrickb ...

in 1857; she died in 1901. They had no children. He practised mainly on the North-Eastern Circuit, where his skill in persuading juries of the merits of his client's case became renowned. Maurice Healy quotes the remark: "Once Andrews has stated his client's case to the jury, the only uncertain thing is how great the award of

damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

will be". He was appointed to the

High Court of Justice in Ireland The High Court of Justice in Ireland was the court created by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Ireland) 1877 to replace the existing court structure in Ireland. Its creation mirrored the reform of the courts of England and Wales five years e ...

in 1882, first to the Exchequer Division, and on its abolition in 1897 to the King's Bench Division. He was the Probate Judge for many years, and Healy praises his efficiency in dealing with probate cases"dealing out the orders like a pack of cards". In criminal cases he was known for his scrupulous fairness in summing up, but also for his exceptionally severe sentences: it was said that where another judge would think three years imprisonment a sufficient punishment, Andrews would often impose a sentence of ten years. He was made a member of the Privy Council of Ireland in 1897. He retired in 1909 and died in 1924.

Character

Maurice Healy's portrayal of Andrews in ''The Old Munster Circuit'' is valuable but largely second-hand, since he apparently only met him once. He describes Andrews as a quiet, precise, modest and courteous man, diligent, upright, and with a great fund of legal knowledge. Despite the severity of the sentences he handed down in criminal cases, he was esteemed by all who knew him. V.T.H Delaney in his biography of

Christopher Palles Christopher Palles (25 December 1831 – 14 February 1920) was an Irish barrister, Solicitor-General, Attorney-General and a judge for over 40 years. His biographer, Vincent Thomas Hyginus Delany, described him as "the greatest of the Irish judg ...

gives a similar view of Andrews's character. Serjeant Sullivan ranked Andrews as a judge as one of the four greatest he had known, whether in Ireland or England, together with

, Sir Andrew Porter and Gerald FitzGibbon "men whose superiors I have yet to meet".

Arms

References

*Ball. F. Elrington ''The Judges in Ireland 12211921'' John Murray London 1926 *Healy, Maurice ''The Old Munster Circuit'' Michael Joseph Ltd. London 1939 *Delaney, V.T.H. ''Christopher Palles'' Alan Figgis and Co. Dublin 1960 *Sullivan, A.M. ''Old Ireland'' London 1927 {{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, William Drennan 1832 births 1924 deaths Members of the Middle Temple Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People from Comber Judges of the High Court of Justice in Ireland