Charles Freer Andrews (12 February 1871 – 5 April 1940) was an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

priest and Christian missionary, educator and social reformer, and an activist for Indian independence. He became a close friend of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

and

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

and identified with the Indian liberation struggle. He was instrumental in convincing Gandhi to return to India from South Africa, where Gandhi had been a leading light in the Indian civil rights struggle. C. F. Andrews was affectionately dubbed ''Christ's Faithful Apostle'' by Gandhi, based on his initials, C.F.A. For his contributions to the Indian independence movement, Gandhi and his students at

St. Stephen's College, Delhi St. Stephen's College is a constituent college of the University of Delhi, widely regarded as one of the oldest and most prestigious colleges for arts and sciences in India. It was established in 1881 by the Cambridge Mission to Delhi. The college ...

, named him '' Deenabandhu'', or "Friend of the Poor".

Early life

Charles Freer Andrews 1971 stamp of India

Charles Freer Andrews was born on 12 February 1871 at 14 Brunel Terrace,

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, United Kingdom. His father, John Edwin Andrews, was the "Angel" (

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

) of the

Catholic Apostolic Church The Catholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as the Irvingian Church, is a Christian denomination and Protestant sect which originated in Scotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. Charles was one of 14 children. The family had suffered financial misfortune because of the duplicity of a friend, and had to work hard to make ends meet. Andrews was a pupil at

King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent day school for boys in the British public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by King Edward VI in 1552, it is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Bir ...

, and afterwards read ''

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

'' at Pembroke College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. During this period he moved away from his family's church and was accepted for ordination in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

. In 1896 Andrews became a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

, and took over the Pembroke College Mission in south

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. A year later he was made priest, and became Vice-Principal of Westcott House Theological College in Cambridge.

In India

Andrews had been involved in the Christian Social Union since university, and was interested in exploring the relationship between a commitment to the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

and a commitment to justice, through which he was attracted to struggles for justice throughout the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

, especially in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. In 1904 he joined the Cambridge Mission to Delhi and arrived there to teach philosophy at St. Stephen's College, where he grew close to many of his Indian colleagues and students. Increasingly dismayed by the racist behaviour and treatment of Indians by some British officials and civilians, he supported Indian political aspirations, and wrote a letter in the ''Civil and Military Gazette'' in 1906 voicing these sentiments. Andrews soon became involved in the activities of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

, and he helped to resolve the 1913 cotton workers' strike in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

With Gandhi in South Africa

Known for his persuasiveness, intellect and moral rectitude, he was asked by senior Indian political leader

Gopal Krishna Gokhale Gopal Krishna Gokhale ( �ɡoːpaːl ˈkrɪʂɳə ˈɡoːkʰleː9 May 1866 – 19 February 1915) was an Indian 'moderate' political leader and a social reformer during the Indian independence movement. Gokhale was a senior leader of the India ...

to visit South Africa and help the Indian community there to resolve their political disputes with the Government. Arriving in January 1914, he met the 44-year-old

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...

lawyer,

Mohandas Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

, who was leading the Indian community's efforts against the

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...

and police legislation that infringed their civil liberties. Andrews was deeply impressed with Gandhi's knowledge of

Christian values Christian values historically refers to values derived from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The term has various applications and meanings, and specific definitions can vary widely between denominations, geographical locations and different schools ...

and his espousal of the concept of

ahimsa Ahimsa (, IAST: ''ahiṃsā'', ) is the ancient Indian principle of nonviolence which applies to all living beings. It is a key virtue in most Indian religions: Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.Bajpai, Shiva (2011). The History of India � ...

(

nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...

) – something that Gandhi mixed with inspiration from elements of

Christian anarchism Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately ans ...

. Andrews served as Gandhi's aide in his negotiations with

General Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

and was responsible for finalizing some of the finer details of their interactions. Following the advice of several Indian Congress leaders and of Principal Susil Kumar Rudra, of St. Stephen's College, Andrews was instrumental in persuading Gandhi to return to India with him in 1915.

Tagore and Narayana Guru

In 1918 Andrews disagreed with Gandhi's attempts to recruit combatants for

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, believing that this was inconsistent with their views on nonviolence. In ''Mahatma Gandhi's Ideas'' Andrews wrote about Gandhi's recruitment campaign: "Personally I have never been able to reconcile this with his own conduct in other respects, and it is one of the points where I have found myself in painful disagreement." Andrews was elected President of the ''All India Trade Union'' in 1925 and 1927. Andrews developed a

dialogue Dialogue (sometimes spelled dialog in American and British English spelling differences, American English) is a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people, and a literature, literary and theatrical form that depicts suc ...

between

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ� ...

and

Hindus Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...

. He spent a lot of time at

Santiniketan Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by hi ...

in conversation with the poet and philosopher

. He also supported the movement to ban the ‘untouchability of outcasts’. In 1919 he joined the famous

Vaikom Satyagraha Vaikom Satyagraha, from 30 March 1924 to 23 November 1925, was a Nonviolence, nonviolent agitation for access to the prohibited public environs of the Vaikom Sree Mahadeva Temple, Vaikom Temple in the Travancore, Kingdom of Travancore. Kingdom o ...

, and in 1933 assisted

B.R. Ambedkar Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served ...

in formulating the demands of the ''Dalits''. He and Agatha Harrison arranged for Gandhi's visit to the UK.Agatha Harrison
Open University, Retrieved 20 March 2017 He accompanied Gandhi to the second

Round Table Conference The three Round Table Conferences of 1930–1932 were a series of peace conferences organized by the British Government and Indian political personalities to discuss constitutional reforms in India. These started in November 1930 and ended in Dec ...

, helping him to negotiate with the British government on matters of Indian autonomy and devolution.

In Fiji

When the news reached India, through the writings of Christian missionaries J. W. Burton,

Hannah Dudley Hannah Dudley (1862–1931) was a Methodist mission sister who worked amongst Indians in Fiji, Indo-Fijians in the Suva area of Fiji for 13 years. She had few educational qualifications but was revered for her kind-heartedness and self-sacrifice. ...

, and

R. Piper R. or r. may refer to: * '' Reign'', the period of time during which an Emperor, king, queen, etc., is ruler. * '' Rex'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning King * ''Regina'', abbreviated as R., the Latin word meaning Queen * or , abbrevia ...

and a returned indentured labourer,

Totaram Sanadhya Totaram Sanadhya (1876–1947) was deceitfully recruited as an indentured labourer from India and brought to Fiji in 1893. He spent five years working as a bonded labourer but was never afraid to fight for his rights. After completing his indent ...

, of the mistreatment of Indian indentured labourers in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...

, the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

in September 1915 sent Andrews and William W. Pearson to make inquiries. The two visited numerous plantations and interviewed indentured labourers, overseers and Government officials and on their return to India also interviewed returned labourers. In their "Report on Indentured Labour in Fiji" Andrews and Pearson highlighted the ills of the indenture system; which led to the end of further transportation of Indian labour to the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonies. In 1917 Andrews made a second visit to Fiji, and although he reported some improvements, was still appalled at the moral degradation of indentured labourers. He called for an immediate end to indenture; and the system of Indian indentured labour was formally abolished in 1920. In 1936, while on a visit to Australia and New Zealand, Andrews was invited to and visited Fiji again. The ex-indentured labourers and their descendants wanted him to help them overcome a new type of ''

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

'', by which they were bound to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, which controlled all aspects of their lives. Andrews, however, was delighted with the improvements in conditions since his last visit, and asked Fiji Indians to "remember that Fiji belonged to the Fijians and they were there as guests."

Later life

About this time Gandhi reasoned with Andrews that it was probably best for sympathetic Britons like himself to leave the freedom struggle to Indians. So from 1935 onwards Andrews began to spend more time in Britain, teaching young people all over the country about Christ's call to

radical discipleship In Christianity, disciple primarily refers to a dedicated follower of Jesus. This term is found in the New Testament only in the Gospels and Acts. In the ancient world, a disciple is a follower or adherent of a teacher. Discipleship is not ...

. Gandhi's affectionate nickname for Andrews was ''Christ’s Faithful Apostle'', based on the initials of his name, "C.F.A". He was widely known as Gandhi's closest friend and was perhaps the only major figure to address Gandhi by his first name, Mohan. Charlie Andrews died on 5 April 1940, during a visit to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

, and is buried in the 'Christian Burial ground' of

Lower Circular Road cemetery Lower Circular Road Cemetery, also known as General Episcopal Cemetery, is located on the crossing of Mother Teresa Sarani (former Park Street) and Acharya Jagadish Chandra Bose Road (former Lower Circular Road), Kolkata, India, with its entra ...

, Calcutta.

Commemoration

He is widely commemorated and respected in India. Two undergraduate colleges of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every yea ...

, the Dinabandhu Andrews College, and the

Dinabandhu Institution Dinabandhu Institution, also known as Shibpur Dinobundhoo Institution, established in 1948, is a research based undergraduate college in Howrah, India. It is affiliated to University of Calcutta. Departments and courses The college offers di ...

and one High School in Salimpur area of south Kolkata commemorate his name. The Dinabandhu Andrews College was constituted with an aim of disseminating higher education to a huge number of children of the displaced persons from erstwhile

East Pakistan East Pakistan was a Pakistani province established in 1955 by the One Unit Policy, renaming the province as such from East Bengal, which, in modern times, is split between India and Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Myanmar, wit ...

, presently

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mo ...

. Even in South India, he was remembered by naming hospitals as Deenabandhu. One such was Deenabandhu Hospital, Thachampara,

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated munici ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

. In 1948, Joseph John, pastor in Katpadi, was so inspired by Gandhis and C.F. Andrews‘ ideas, that he left his ministry to serve the poor and casteless in a remote area in

Chittoor district Chittoor district () is one of the eight districts in the Rayalaseema region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The district headquarters is located at Chittoor. It has a population of 4,170,468 according to 2011 census of India. It lies in ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and founded a village/ Rural Life Centre, which he called Deenabandupuram. Andrews was a major character, portrayed by British actor

Ian Charleson Ian Charleson (11 August 1949 – 6 January 1990) was a Scottish stage and film actor. He is best known internationally for his starring role as Olympic athlete and missionary Eric Liddell in the Oscar-winning 1981 film '' Chariots of Fire''. ...

, in the 1982 film, ''

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

'', by

Richard Attenborough Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough, (; 29 August 192324 August 2014) was an English actor, filmmaker, and entrepreneur. He was the president of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) and the British Academy of Film and Televisi ...

. He is honored with a Lesser Feast on the

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

February 12 Events Pre-1600 * 1404 – The Italian professor Galeazzo di Santa Sophie performed the first post-mortem autopsy for the purposes of teaching and demonstration at the Heiligen–Geist Spital in Vienna. * 1429 – English forces und ...

. In 1971, India issued a commemorative postage stamp to mark the birth centenary of Andrews.

Publications

* ''Hakim Ajmal Khan A sketch of his life and career. Madras: G. A. Natesan.'' (1922) * ''The Relation of Christianity to the Conflict between Capital and Labour'' (1896) * ''The Renaissance in India: its Missionary Aspect'' (1912) * * ''Christ and Labour'' (1923) * ''Mahatma Gandhi His Life and Works'' (1930) republished by Starlight Paths Publishing (2007) with a foreword by Arun Gandhi * ''What I Owe to Christ'' (1932) * ''The Sermon on the Mount'' (1942)

References

External links

*
Charles Freer Andrews materials in the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews, C. F. 1871 births 1940 deaths Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Alumni of Westcott House, Cambridge Anglican pacifists Anglican saints Anglican socialists British expatriates in Fiji British people in colonial India Christian radicals English Christian pacifists English Christian socialists British social reformers Staff of Westcott House, Cambridge Visva-Bharati University faculty People associated with Santiniketan Founders of Indian schools and colleges Scholars from Kolkata