Andrews; brother-in-law of Lord Pirrie; became Chairman of the Company;
was made a Privy Councillor; a Deputy Lieutenant of Down; High Sheriff of
that County and President of this and that, for he was a man of ability
and character, but simple in mind and manners as the best men mostly are.
Eloquent in speech, warm-hearted and impulsive, he found it difficult to
resist a joke, even at the expense of his friend. In April, 1890, he
wrote me: "I hope you were not at all annoyed at my pleasantries to Mr.
Pinion. I am not exactly one of those men who would rather lose a friend
than a joke, but I find it hard to resist a joke when a good opportunity
presents itself. I am bound to say that I would be sorry to annoy you,
by a jest or in any other way." His temper was lively but though quickly
roused soon subsided, and he never harboured resentment. At the
conclusion of the very first Board meeting I attended as general manager
at the County Down, he followed me into my room, complimented me on the
way I had discussed the business of the day, and added: "I'm sure you'll
be successful in Ireland for you have the _suaviter in modo_ combined
with the _fortiter in re_." It was a pretty compliment, and sincere I
knew, for no one could meet him without recognising his frank outspoken
nature. On the threshold of my new work such encouragement greatly
cheered me and increased my determination to do my best. Until his
death, not long ago, we often corresponded on railway and other matters,
and he was always my staunch friend. He had a taste, too, for poetry
which we sometimes discussed. The _Thomas Andrews_, who went down with
the _Titanic_ in the North Atlantic, on the 14th April, 1912, was his
son, the story of whose short but strenuous life, and its tragic end, is
told in a little book written by Shan F. Bullock. Sir Horace Plunkett
wrote an introduction to it, in which he says: "He was one of the noblest
Irishmen Ulster has produced in modern times, to whom came the supreme
test in circumstances demanding almost superhuman fortitude and
self-control. There was not the wild excitement of battle to sustain