...as the magnificent new Titanic Museum will commemorate the event for all time. Much has been said and written about the Titanic down the years with a plethora of books and films produced to perpetuate its unique interest and nostalgia. Belfast has been slow to step on board the Titanic bandwagon, but all that is about to change as the Titanic Quarter is fully developed. The Titanic Museum will be the centrepiece in this amazing story that started at the beginning of the 20th Century at the Harland and Wolff Shipyard, and which will be preserved forever at the place of its birth. The story has touched thousands of families all over the world, and none more so than in Belfast.
There can be few people in Northern Ireland who don’t know that the Chief Designer of the Titanic was Thomas Andrews (Jun), the hero who went down with his ship in the most tragic of circumstances on the 14 April 1912. What they may not know is that Tommy was a well-known local cricketer in a family full of cricketers, who made a huge contribution to the development of the Northern Cricket Union in its embryonic years. Thomas Andrews may not have been the most famous Irish cricketer of all time, but he was surely the most famous person to play cricket in Ireland, and for that reason alone he should always be remembered.
Tommy Andrews was born at Ardara in Comber in 1873 and almost from birth he was indoctrinated into cricket. The Andrews family of Comber was not only the town’s chief employers, but they were the chief patrons of North Down Cricket Club and at one stage could field a team completely from within their family. Thomas had three cricketing brothers, a cricketing father and a number of uncles and cousins who shared his cricketing passion. He made his 1st XI in 1887, the same year that the NCU Challenge Cup was inaugurated, but even at 14 years old it was clear that his passion for cricket was being rivalled by a similar passion for his other love…ships.
In 1889 Tommy left Royal Belfast Academical Institution with a sporting, if not an academic pedigree, and joined Harland and Wolff Shipyard where his uncle William John Pirrie was Managing Director. He could easily have acquired a privileged position in the management structure with a guarantee of higher status in the years to follow, but he wanted to learn the business and work his way up through the ranks. And over the next five years of apprenticeship he devoted himself entirely to his chosen career, moving to live in digs in Belfast during the week, and returning home to Comber at the weekends. Those weekends were packed full of recreation and fun with his family, his friends, his church and his fellow cricketers. Tommy loved his cricket, but it soon became clear that his sport had to play second fiddle to his work, and that his cricket exploits would be in the less demanding 2nd XI rather the 1st XI at North Down. The Comber club emerged as one of the strongest clubs in Ulster cricket during the 1890s and Tommy became an integral member of the 2nd XI with sporadic appearances for the 1st XI if they were short. In due course he played in four NCU Junior Cup Finals and became a committee member of the NCU and later Vice-President. He chaired some NCU meetings, but declined the Presidency because of his work commitments. He was also a founding member of North Down Hockey Club in 1896 and a regular on the 1st XI.
But it was at Harland and Wolff where he made the biggest impact in his blossoming career and his meteoric rise through the ranks was vindication of his dawn to dusk working hours, numerous evenings of study and voluminous reading on naval architecture, design and construction. His life became consumed with shipbuilding and inevitably it infiltrated into his social life, his weekends and his cricket. At the same time his brothers John Miller, James and Willie orchestrated North Down’s affairs and his cousin Oscar emerged as the best cricketer of his time.
In 1905 Thomas Andrews was promoted to Chief of Design and two years later at the age of 34 he was appointed Managing Director. It was a promotion richly deserved as Tommy Andrews was much loved and respected from the boardroom to boiler room and arguably just as much at home in either. He got married in 1908 by which time his cricket exploits were limited to occasional committee meetings and his trips home to Ardara just as rare. He was consumed by the Titanic construction and spent countless hours working on and off the ship prior to its launch in 1911. When it eventually sailed on its maiden voyage in April 1912 Tommy stood in for Lord Pirrie who was ill. The rest is history.
Thomas Andrews led a full life overshadowed by his shipbuilding career, and certainly to the detriment of his cricket career. He was much loved by everyone and his death was deeply felt throughout the world, especially in Comber and at The Green where he had played with great enthusiasm and endeavour in the early part of his young life. Because of the magnitude of the Titanic disaster we will never forget the name Thomas Andrews, but we should never forget his involvement in cricket and his part in its development during the early part of his life.
The legacy of Thomas Andrews has been preserved in films, books, documentaries, buildings, schools and historic societies all over the world. A special match is held every year at The Green between a North Down XI and the Belfast Titanic Society and this year it will have a special meaning.
It will be a time to remember.
Clarence Hiles
Editor
