ANDREWES, Theophilus (1623-70), of Evesham, Worcs.

The Andrewes family of Offenham and Evesham were established as minor gentry by the end of the sixteenth century. The grandfather of Theophilus Andrewes, William Andrewes, held extensive property in the town when he made his will in 1595.14PROB11/90, f. 115. The family was associated with the government of the borough from its incorporation in the early seventeenth century. Russell Andrewes, father of Theophilus, was among its first capital burgesses, and Thomas Andrewes, barrister of the Inner Temple, was appointed its first ‘modern town clerk’ in 1609, his role being to deputise for the recorder.15Evesham Borough Records, 3, 7. Thomas was succeeded as town clerk by Russell Andrewes in 1618, and he held the office with his place as capital burgess until his death.16Evesham Borough Records, 19. Thereafter the office of town clerk seems to have lapsed until Theophilus himself acquired the title of ‘deputy recorder’, apparently an informal one, in the mid-1650s, two years or so before he became officially recorder in succession to Robert Atkyns*.

As an attorney in membership at Barnard’s Inn and Gray’s Inn, Theophilus Andrewes must have returned to Evesham to practise law after being called to the bar in 1651. He first came to prominence in August 1655, assisting magistrates Samuel Gardner* and Robert Martin in the examination of two Quakers who had led a meeting in the town.17H. Smith, 'The Sufferings, Tryals and Purgings of the Saints at Evesham' in A Collection of the Several Writings and Faithful Testimonies of that suffering Servant of God and Patient Follower of the Lamb, Humphry Smith (1683), 3-4. In response to the Quakers' assertion that they had come ‘from Egypt’ (meaning from spiritual bondage), Andrewes replied that in that case they should be expelled from the town according to legislation against ‘Egyptians’ or gypsies.18Smith, 'Sufferings', 4. His title deputy-recorder does not seem to have been confirmed in any official documentation by the borough corporation, and he was acting probably by virtue of his family’s standing as legal advisers to the town government.

Under the terms of the Instrument of Government, Evesham had been disenfranchised, the town had been seriously disturbed by the advent of the Quakers in 1655, and the electoral history of the borough immediately prior to 1654 had been troubled by doubts over the franchise.19Vide ‘Evesham’ supra, ‘Samuel Gardner’ infra. When at the end of 1658 the opportunity came to despatch two MPs to Westminster once more, the common council were playing their hand cautiously and perhaps hoping to resolve some problems, when they selected Recorder Atkyns and Theophilus Andrewes as their representatives. They rushed through in one day resolutions bestowing the appropriate civic standing on Andrewes, who, oddly, given his high profile in 1655, was not even an assistant burgess until late 1658. Once in the House of Commons, Andrewes was named to a number of important committees, somewhat surprisingly since he had no parliamentary experience and came from a relatively modest family background. He sat on the committee of privileges and elections (28 Jan.), and committees for Irish and Scottish affairs (1 Apr.).20CJ vii. 594b, 622b, 623ab. His professional skills account for his being named to the committee formed to respond to a petition for more equitable representation of the county palatine of Durham (31 Mar.).21CJ vii. 622b. In March 1659 the Worcestershire Quakers, compiling lists of magistrates they would find helpful in the event of a change of government, noted Andrewes as among the ‘persecutors’, recalling no doubt his role in Evesham in 1655.22Extracts from State Papers Relating to Friends, 1654-72 ed. N. Penney (1913), 111.

After Andrewes had returned to Evesham on the dissolution of Richard Cromwell’s* Parliament, the common council there removed Robert Atkyns and installed him as recorder, a post he held until his death.23Evesham Borough Records, 59-60. Atkyns was removed for absenteeism, a fault which could never be levelled at the resident Andrewes, who attended meetings of the council regularly throughout the 1660s.24Evesham Borough Records, 61-77. The election of Sir Thomas Rous* and John Egioke to the Convention of 1660 was contested by Andrewes, who sought probably to resolve matters relating to the franchise and represent authoritarian puritan elements dissatisfied with the poll. His appeal to the Commons was unsuccessful, and on 19 October 1660 Andrewes voluntarily relinquished his place as alderman to William Sandys*, who represented the borough from 1640 to 1641 and in the Cavalier Parliament.25Evesham Borough Records, 61. He survived easily enough in 1662 the visit of the commissioners for corporations led by Sir John Pakington*, and continued to sit on local assessment commissions until his death. He seems not to have married, and died on 18 Dec. 1670. He was buried on 21 December at All Saints, Evesham.26Nash, Collections i. 417; Evesham All Saints par. reg. At his death the household property at his 12-roomed Evesham house and at Offenham was valued at £85.27Worcs. Archives, inventory of Theophilus Andrewes, consistory ct. of Worcester, 22 Dec. 1671.