Thomas Andrews' family

[Serena]

Does anyone know what became of the wife and daughter of Thomas Andrews after the Titanic disaster ?

 

[Phillip Gowan]

Mrs. Andrews married Henry Peirson Harland (of the Harland/Wolff family) and died August 22, 1966 in Northern Ireland at the age of 85. Elizabeth Law Barbour Andrews, the daughter, never married and died in a traffic accident on November 1, 1973 in Ireland. There are no living descendants of Thomas Andrews. His wife and her second husband did have 4 children of their own and there are living descendants of those children.

 

[Jan C. Nielsen]

Do anyone know what became of Thomas Andrews' architect colleague at Harland & Wolff, Edward Wilding? He traveled from Belfast to Southampton on Titanic, but then, apparently did not continue with the voyage. After Titanic sank and Wilding testified at the British Board of Trade hearings, H&W's chairman, Lord Pirrie, summarily fired him. Pirrie gave Wilding only one hour to pack his things and get off H&W's premises. Allegedly, Pirrie held Wilding responsible for the Titanic disaster, including the death of his beloved nephew, Andrews. Did that end Wilding's career as a naval architect? Others, like Captain Stanley Lord, were fired, but managed to re-establish themselves in their respective fields of endeavor, and have successful careers.

 

[Serena]

Phililip,where do you have this information from ?

 

[Phillip Gowan]

I have Helen's death certificate, obituary, and will from Northern Ireland. I got the details on the daughter from my friend Senan Molony, a fellow researcher in Dublin.

 

[Serena]

Is it possible to get this certificate and the will ?

 

[Phillip Gowan]

I've given copies to this website--keep an eye out and they should show up before long under Thomas Andrews' biography.

 

[Philip Hind]

I'll do it ASAP.

All I need is a nudge now and then

Phil

 

[Stacy McClure]

Speaking of the family of Thomas Andrews....


I know that his older brother was the wartime Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, and his younger brother was Lord Chancellor ( I think that's the right title ) and that his sister was married to a man named Hind.... but I have no idea what her name was.

My copy of Bullock's biography hasn't arrived yet, so I'm at a loss on this one.


(It is interesting too, that Andrews' niece Edith was the first woman senator in Northern Ireland )

 

[Serena]

Is it true that Elizabeth Andrews went to Kenya ?

 

[Phillip Gowan]

Yes.

 

[Stacy McClure]

Ran some kind of 'no kill' safaris, didn't she?

 

[Serena]

Have you any idea how long she stayed there ?

 

[Dave Gittins]

I'm afraid Joe's wrong about Wilding's sacking. It's an old fiction that he was sacked soon after the sinking. Actually he was "stood down due to ill health" in 1923 for reasons that had nothing to do with Titanic.

Pirrie dumped him because he had lost money for H & W. It was really Pirrie's fault because he had not informed Wilding of the terms under which certain ships were built. The financial story of H & W is not a pretty one. When Pirrie died he was broke and his properties were sold. Friends set up a fund to support his widow.

It's also not true that Wilding was given an hour to leave H & W. The dirty deed was done in London. When Wilding's desk in Belfast was searched any incriminating evidence was gone. Wilding had guessed what Pirrie was up to when he called him to London.

 

[Serena]

I think Wilding took over Thomas Andrews´ job in Harland and Wolff.Is that right ?

 

[David Huffaker]

Per Bulloch's book: Thomas' parents Thomas Andrews and Eliza Pirrie were married in 1870. He had four siblings - John Miller Andrews born in 1871 in Dunallen, James born in 1877, William born in 1886 and Eliza born between James and William. Eliza married Lawrence Arhutr Hind in 1906. There is no birthdate listed for her - how Edwardian! David Huffaker

 

[Jan C. Nielsen]

Dave:
Thanks for the feedback on Edward Wilding. My source for Wilding was "Titanic and Her Sisters," which I recently purchased.

Where did you come across your information? Do you know what ever happened to Wilding? I was impressed by Wilding's candor at the Board of Trade hearings, and thought that perhaps his testimony got him into trouble. For example, he more or less admits (what we all know was true about Titanic) that "commercial experience," i.e., money and profits, directly constrained incorporating measures of safety in the ship's design, as follows:

W.: ". . . a good deal more time and labour is available for the upkeep of His Majesty's ships than there is for most commerical ships."

Q.: "Then, does it mean that if more money were spent you would be able to look after these inaccessible parts of the ship, and therefore make them stronger than you do?"

W.: "More money, and more careful supervision and more pains taken. It is a practical, mechanical thing. Our commerical experience of such structures where they have been tried is not encouraging . . ."

 

[Serena]

What kind of book are you working on ?

 

[Roselle Zubey]

To Serena-I'm working on a historical novel about the building of the Titanic and the disaster from the point of view of the people in Ulster who built her. The reason that I'm asking about Edward Wilding is because my leading male fictional character holds Edward Wilding's position at Harland and Wolff or is the counterpart to him and along with his wife is a close friend of Thomas and Helen Andrews. I need as much information about Edward Wilding as I can get because I want to put an afterward or disclaimer in my book in which I tell people the he was a real executive or architect at Harland and Wolff and that my character has taken his place. I'm striving to be historically accurate and slot my characters into events as they actually happened so that's why I need this information. I almost want to be a history teacher and say that this is what it was like in Belfast while the Titanic was being built.
Thanks for asking Serena

To Dave-Is that the Moss and Hume book about Harland and Wolff? Should I use that book for the information that I need?

Roselle Zubey

 

[Dave Gittins]

G'day, Roselle!

Shipbuilders to the World will help you a little. It's actually a rather boring book, being very much about H & W's dismal financial history. There's not a lot about the personalities and there is very little on the technical developments in the ships.

There's a new book about that I only know of vaguely. I think it's called "Belfast's Own" and it looks at the tale of the building and sinking from a Belfast perspective.