Sir James Andrews, 1st Baronet, PC (NI) (3 January 1877 – 18 February 1951) was

Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is a judge who presides over the courts of Northern Ireland and is the head of the Northern Ireland, Northern Irish judiciary. The present Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland is Siobhan Keegan, Dame ...

and brother of

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

J. M. Andrews and

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

, builder of the

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that Sinking of the Titanic, sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking Iceberg that struck the Titanic, an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York Ci ...

Early life

Andrews was born in

Comber 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 Cas ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

, the third son of Thomas Andrews, flax spinner, of Ardara, Comber, and his wife, Eliza, daughter of James Alexander Pirrie and Eliza Swan and sister of

William Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie William James Pirrie, 1st Viscount Pirrie, KP, PC, PC (Ire) (31 May 1847 – 7 June 1924) was a leading British shipbuilder and businessman. He was chairman of Harland & Wolff, shipbuilders, between 1895 and 1924, and also served as Lord Ma ...

. He was a great-grandson of the United Irishman leader

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 ...

. He was educated at the

Royal Belfast Academical Institution The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today ...

, and then at Stephen's Green School,

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. At

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

, he had a distinguished career: he became a senior exhibitioner (1897) and a prizeman in civil and international law (1898), and graduated in 1899 with honours in ethics and logic. He was also a gold medallist and auditor of the

College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund ...

. A sports fan Andrews had passions for shooting, golf, cricket and sailing (mainly on

Strangford Lough Strangford Lough () is a large sea lough or inlet in County Down, in the east of Northern Ireland. It is the largest inlet in Ireland and the wider British Isles, covering . The lough is almost fully enclosed by the Ards Peninsula and is linke ...

). In 1922 Andrews married Jane Lawson Ormrod (d. 1964), daughter of Joseph Ormrod, of

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, and widow of Captain Cyril Gerald Haselden RE. From her first marriage, Jane had three children, Alexander Gerrard Haselden, Mick Haselden and Joyce Haselden.

Career

Although he came from a family of industrialists, Andrews chose to

read law Reading law was the primary method used in common law countries, particularly the United States, for people to prepare for and enter the legal profession before the advent of law schools. It consisted of an extended internship or apprenticeship un ...

(his uncle,

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

, had been a barrister and Judge of 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 ...

). In 1900 he was called to the

Bar of Ireland The Bar of Ireland () 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 Bar of Ireland, commonly c ...

following graduation from the

King's Inns The Honorable Society of King's Inns () is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environments. The Benchers of King's Inns aw ...

. He built up a lucrative practice and soon established himself as an advocate; his uncle William the judge did everything he could to further his career. In 1918 Andrews took silk, becoming a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(KC); in 1920 he was elected a bencher of King's Inns; and in 1921 he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in the new Supreme Court of Northern Ireland, established under the

Government of Ireland Act 1920 The Government of Ireland Act 1920 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 5. c. 67) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act's long title was "An Act to provide for the better government of Ireland"; it is also known as the Fourth Home Rule Bi ...

. The barrister and memoirist

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 the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great ...

, who admired both James and his uncle William, thought that on balance James was the better judge, as he did not have his uncle's fondness for handing down prison sentences of exceptional severity. In 1924, he became a member of the

Privy Council of Northern Ireland The Privy Council of Northern Ireland is a dormant privy council formerly advising the Governor of Northern Ireland in his role as viceroy of the British Crown, in particular in the exercise of the monarch's prerogative powers. The council wa ...

and, in 1926, a bencher at the Inn of Court of Northern Ireland. He sat on the senate of the

Queen's University of Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

and on many of its committees from 1924 and he was a pro-chancellor from 1929. In 1937 he succeeded

Sir William Moore, 1st Baronet Sir William Moore, 1st Baronet, PC (NI), DL (22 November 1864 – 28 November 1944) was a Unionist member of the British House of Commons from Ireland and a Judge of Ireland, and subsequently of Northern Ireland. He was created a Baronet (o ...

as Lord Chief Justice, an office which he held until his death. In 1938 an honorary LLD from his old university and, on 6 July 1942, he was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in the

County of Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 552,261. It borders County Antrim to the ...

. He died in Comber in 1951, his estate valued at £40,142 1s. 3d. in England; Northern Irish probate sealed in England, 30 June 1951. The baronetcy died with him. The School of Law at

named its building on University Square Sir James Andrews House in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Andrews Sir James 1877 births 1951 deaths Auditors of the College Historical Society Members of the Privy Council of Northern Ireland Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Irish barristers People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution People associated with Queen's University Belfast People from Comber Ulster Scots people Lord chief justices of Northern Ireland Lords Justice of Appeal of Northern Ireland Alumni of King's Inns Lawyers from County Down 20th-century Irish lawyers