Charles Andrews - a notable resident of Hothfield

Charles Andrews' life celebrated in the local paper in 1951

Charles supported the school, church and the village as a whole

Postcard by E W Sweetman

Charles Andrews had an office in the basement of Hothfield Place when he was Estate Manager

George Sainsbury (jnr) remembers delivering newspapers to him below stairs

This blotter (book of pages of blotting paper) was donated in June 2014 by Barbara Lewis

Did Charles Andrews use it?

Estate Manager, Borough Councillor, Parish Council Chairman, school manager, organist and more

By Chris Rogers

In 2010 the History Society had an email from a Somerset man wanting to know about his great uncle, Charles Andrews, who lived in Hothfield in the 1950s.  This began a fascinating few weeks for History Society member Karen Brock delving into the Andrews family.  Karen is our expert on family history and she has access to national census and family history websites.

Karen found that Charles Andrews was born in Bude Cornwall in 1884, the only son of James Carter Andrews and Jessie Elizabeth Davis.  The 1901 census showed Charles still living at home in Bude with his parents and younger sister May when he was described as an accountant.

In 1909, aged 25, he came to Hothfield employed as an estate clerk to Lord Hothfield, having an office in the basement of the Manor.  By the 1911 census he was living at High House, The Street as a boarder, in the house of William Luckhurst, the farm bailiff, his wife Amelia and their son Frank William who is described as a professional cricketer which may be another interesting area for future research.

By 1914 Charles had become part of the village community, on the death of Lady Hothfield he took over as organist and choirmaster at Hothfield church.  In April 1915 the records show him receiving £3 15s salary.  By this time he was also secretary for the Hothfield parish institute.

During these years he met Winifred Whiterose Amos whose family ran the Woolpack Inn on the A20.  Census records show that her family had moved to the area from Wye sometime between 1871 and 1881.

Winifred was born in the Dover area in 1893 only three months after her parents’ marriage there.  Winifred’s mother, Rose Annie Henneker from Lenham Heath was taken on by the Amos family as a domestic servant and obviously caught the eye of their eldest son, William Wellard Amos.  Rose and William were eventually forgiven and came back to the Woolpack where they had a son, William in 1896 and another daughter, Jessie in 1900.  How happy their marriage was though, I’m not so sure. William Wellard died in May 1906 and in his will left his estate (£3,421 14s 9d) to his sister Mary Ann Grace Fowler and her husband Robert, a mantle manufacturer.  His wife and children were left with nothing; Rose continued to work in the Woolpack for board and lodgings.

However Winifred had the last laugh as in 1937 Mary Fowler, now a widow, having inherited yet more money on the death of her spinster sister in 1931, left her estate of £10,411 14s 5d to Grace Nellie Johnston and Charles Andrews.  That was a large amount of money in those days.

In the 1930s and 40s Charles Andrews continued to play a full and active part in village life, according to his obituary in the Kentish Express in November 1951 he became a West Ashford councillor representing Lord Hothfield; was secretary to the Church Council and Thanet Charities; and Treasurer of the Parish Council.

Charles Andrews and Winifred had married in 1915 though not at Hothfield.  During the next eight years they had four boys, Robert William Charles, Maxwell Amos, John, and James Alfred who were all baptised in Hothfield church.

In February 1931 Alexander Brown, the estate manager for Lord Hothfield died and Charles Andrews was given the job of estate manager along with that of chairman of the school managers, a role that Alexander Brown had also held.

In October 2010, Mike Whitaker (Charles Andrews’ great nephew) and his wife came to visit Hothfield.  History Society committee members spent a lovely Sunday showing them around Charles’ old stomping ground, even hearing the organ played in the church (thanks to Malcolm Wood).  George Sainsbury paid us a visit in the afternoon and told Mike his memories of that time.  Karen was able to present Mike with these findings about his family, most of which was totally new information to him.

My thanks to Karen, Simon and Sheila for entertaining and feeding our visitors.  Can you help? Mike would like to trace the family of Charles Andrews' four sons.  If you know of them, if the sons married and had children of their own, we would like to hear from you at hothfieldmemories@hotmail.com.

Mike wrote: 'If the website or any other publicity flushes out descendants or people  who knew the family, then I’m more than interested, as is Bruce Andrews, a cousin in Canada who said to me – “I know what happened to the Andrewses who  came to Canada – I want to know about the ones who stayed behind.” '