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Captain Christopher Andrews RMLI, officer commanding No. 2 Company, photographed during training at Tavistock, Devon circa 1914 (© Trustees of the
Royal Marines Museum) |
Christopher Boyd
ANDREWS
Died
11th May 1915
Date of Birth: 20th
May 1880
Place of Birth: St Jude’s
Vicarage, King’s Cross, London
Christopher Boyd was the youngest son of the late
Rev. John Marshall and Lucy Anne Andrews. He had seven surviving siblings: Mary Agnes (b.
1868), Cecil Rollo Payton (1870-1951), Henry Russell (1871-1942), Archibald
McLagan (c1875-1920), Ernest Lancelot (1877-1918), Clement Osborne (1878-1944)
and Dorothy Lucy (b. 1883). A third sister, Helen Langford Andrews, had died,
aged 2, in 1875. In 1891, the census shows Chris (as he was known) living at home in The
Vicarage, Hampstead Lane with his father, the Vicar of St Michael’s Church, Highgate, his
mother, five siblings, four boarders, a cook, a house maid and a parlour maid.
Chris and Lance Andrews' father, Rev. John Marshall Andrews, died in 1896, long before the onset of war. The Guardian newspaper published an
obituary on 5 February 1896 (p. 7):
JOHN MARSHALL
ANDREWS. On Monday week passed away, at the age of seventy-two, a parish priest
well known in the north of London— John Marshall Andrews. He was one of those
clergy who, as the late Dr. Evans said, " make no noise in the world, and
would not be heard if they did," and who yet serve to keep the Church of
England green and make her presence felt in the parish in which the providence
of God has called them to minister. Educated at King's College, London, he took
his title with Canon Dale, of St. Pancras, in 1853, and became one of the
curates of the poor district of St. Jude, Gray's-inn-road, carved out of the
larger district of St. Peter, Regent-square. In 1858 he was given the charge of
this same district. There was neither permanent church, school,
parsonage-house, nor endowment. In a few years, by indomitable perseverance, by
personally pleading the cause of his charge, as we have been told, in every
banking-house in Lombard- street, and wherever he thought he could obtain
assistance, he cleared off a debt of 1.000J., and was appointed vicar of the
new parish which was formed on the consecration of the permanent church on St.
Jude’s Day, 1863. Four years later a vicarage- house, and, in 1871, parish
schools, were secured, and for thirty- five years he laboured quietly and
unobtrusively amongst his people, loved and respected by all with whom he came
into contact. Endowed with no brilliant gifts, he was, as the writer of this
brief memoir had ample opportunities of judging, one of the best parish priests
and systematic visitors in the Church of England. We have known him to sit up
night after night with a sick parishioner who never attended his church. In
rescue work —of all work the least attractive—he was for many years
indefatigable. Many a poor and degraded woman owes her changed life to the
midnight meetings held in St. Jude's Church and schoolroom, in the
Gray's-inn-road. After thirty-five years spent in the most uninviting portion of
London, Bishop Temple promoted him to the less exacting duties of the parish
church of Highgate; but his health had already given way, and on Monday week
" the labourer's task was o'er," and he was laid to his rest in
Finchley Cemetery on the following Thursday. The funeral service was held in
St. Michael's Church, Highgate, which was
crowded; and a large number of clergy from Highgate, and from the rural deanery
of St. Pancras, of which he was the oldest member, were present in the chancel,
to testify their respect and affection for one whose blameless life and
unaffected piety endeared him to all with whom he came in contact.
In 1901 Chris was serving in the Royal Marine Light Infantry and in 1911 he was
farming with his brother Ernest Lancelot (Lance) at Margaret River, Western Australia.
Service Details: Captain –
Commission 2nd Lieutenant Royal Marine Light Infantry 1st
January 1898; appointed Captain 3 Oct 1906; resigned commission 1910; rejoined
Royal Marines 30th December 1914, appointed Officer Commanding No. 4
Company Plymouth Bn. MEF 6th February 1915
The full story of Chris and Lance's farming life in Australia and wartime experiences are told by Penelope Ransby in her excellent book, Dream of Margaret River: A story of love and loss from the Great War (Centennial, 2008). Details of the book and how to order a copy can be found at http://www.dreamofmargaretriver.com/index.html We are very grateful to Penny for sharing her knowledge with this project and for sourcing the images used here.
Place
of Death: near Krithia, Dardanelles
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Grave of Captain Christopher Andrews, Plymouth Battalion,
Gallipoli, 1915. Photograph taken by 2nd Lt. Charles Lamplough.
© Trustees of the
Royal Marines Museum
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Place
of Burial: No Known Grave.
Chris’s grave at Gallipoli (pictured above) could not be located after war. He is
commemorated in perpetuity on the Helles Memorial. (69)
Commemorated: Helles
Memorial, Turkey Panel 4
The Marquis de
Ruvigny, A Biographical Record of all
Members of His Majesty’s Naval and Military Forces who have Fallen in the War
(London: The Standard Art Book Co., Ltd.)
. . . educ. Cholmeley School, Highgate. . . . His Commanding Officer wrote of him:
"His men revered and respected him; he met his death solely in serving
their interests and actively .seeking their welfare." His older brother.
E. Lancelot
Andrews, of the 2nd Australian Contingent, was severely wounded at the
Dardanelles.
Jack Marshall, comp.. Great Britain, Royal Naval
Division Casualties of The Great War, 1914-1924
Private Horace Bruckshaw, No.4 Company Plymouth Bn.
recorded in his diary, p.38:- "Tuesday May 11th 1915. Poor Captain Andrews
killed by a sniper just after dinner. We have lost our best friend."
Penelope Ransby,
Gallipoli Dead from Western Australia (sponsored
by the Western Australian Genealogical Society Inc.)
Chris’s troops were devastated by his death. In their diaries Private
Horace Bruckshaw wrote ‘A mound, a small wooden cross and a few pebbles
alone mark the last resting place of as brave a gentleman as ever walked.’
And Second-Lieutenant Charles Lamplough wrote ‘We are all awfully fed up. He
was awfully popular with the men’.
C. B. Andrews and his brother, L. E. Andrews, are both also commemorated on the Margaret River Roll of Honour in the south-west of Western Australia.
The Margaret River Progress Association recorded ‘We, the residents
of the Margaret River district, desire to place on record for the benefit of
present and future settlers for all time, the fact that Captain Andrews (Royal
Reserve of Officers) met his death while defending the Empire, and fighting for
his King and country in the Dardanelles.