Andrews, William Henry Lowry (Lowry)

Lieutenant

No. 143809, 32 Field Regiment, Royal Artillery

Died of wounds on Wednesday 8 July 1942 (aged 23)

Buried:

El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt (Grave XXIX. A. 9)

Commemorated:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Bangor and District War Memorial

Trinity Presbyterian Church Bangor

Ulster Bank War Memorial

Royal Belfast Academical Institution (RBAI)

Bangor Grammar School

BIOGRAPHY

William Henry Lowry Andrews was born on 8 December 1918 at 63 Marlborough Park South, Belfast and he was the only son of Joseph Moody (Joe) Andrews, a merchant, and Levina (Ina) Hatrick Andrews (nee Graham) who lived at 9 College Avenue, Bangor and later at 23 Ashley Park, Bangor.

Joe Andrews and Ina Graham were married on 10 January 1917 in Windsor Presbyterian Church, Belfast.  Joseph Moody (Joe) Andrews from Belfast was a son of William Henry Andrews, a merchant.  Levina (Ina) Hatrick Graham from Bangor was a daughter of David Graham, a merchant.

Joe and Ina Andrews had two children:

Lowry (born 8 December 1918 at 63 Marlborough Park South, Belfast)

Hilda

Lowry Andrews attended Inchmarlo (Royal Belfast Academical Institution Preparatory Department) from 1927 until 1929 and Bangor Grammar School from 1929 until 1936.

At Bangor Grammar School Lowry Andrews won prizes for French, English and Woodwork.  In Sixth Form he won a prize in Bangor Borough Council’s essay competition.  He was a school Prefect and passed the Ulster Bank’s Clerkship Examination.  He played rugby for the school and won the Barker Mitchell Cup for cross-country running.  Of Lowry Andrews, the Headmaster wrote, ‘he had the splendid qualities of energy and decision, and the priceless gift of fluent, clear and well-phrased speech’.

After leaving school Lowry Andrews worked in the Head Office of the Ulster Bank in Belfast and he became a member of the Officers’ Training Corps at Queen’s University Belfast.  At the outbreak of the Second World War he enlisted and was called up in December 1939.  He obtained his commission in August 1940, went first to India and later to Iraq.  Lowry Andrews served as a Lieutenant with the Royal Artillery and his sister Hilda served as a Leading Aircraftwoman in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF).

On 8 July 1942 (aged 23), Lieutenant William Henry Lowry Andrews died of wounds sustained during the Western Desert Campaign and he is commemorated on Bangor and District War Memorial; in Trinity Presbyterian Church, Bangor; on the Ulster Bank War Memorial (this memorial was unveiled on 19 November 1948 and is now located in Ulster Bank Head Office, Donegall Square East, Belfast); in RBAI and in Bangor Grammar School.