Born at Middlewich, near Chester.
Enlisted at Coventry on the 2nd of October 1837.
Age: 22.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Miller.
Appearance: Fresh complexion. Grey eyes. Brown hair.
Wounded in action at Balaclava. Sent to Scutari on the 26th of October 1854 and invalided to England aboard the "Harbinger" on the 10th of January 1855.
Sent "On furlo, pending discharge" to Winford Taporly on the 30th of June 1855.
Discharged from Chatham Invalid Depot on the 11th of July 1855, as "Deemed unfit for further service from contraction of the left elbow joint resulting from a shell wound received at Balaclava."
Conduct and character: "Indifferent."
Not in possession of any Good Conduct badges.
Tried by a Garrison Court-martial at Portsmouth on the 15th of February 1853 for "being habitually drunk. Five times within twelve months". Sentenced to 84 days' imprisonment, with hard labour.
Served 17 years 102 days
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Received help from the Patriotic Fund, but no other details are known of this.
Died from "Disease of the heart" in the parish of Over, Cheshire (Liverpool Pension District), on the 7th of September 1864. A Robert Andrews was present at his death. (There is a copy of his death certificate in the "Certificates" file.")
In 1978 a Mr. Andrews wrote to the then Regimental Secretary of the 17th/21st Lancers saying that, following a family death, he had been left a Crimean medal with clasps for Alma and Balaclava only, named to "Private Jn. Andrews. 17th Lancs". He wished to know if the word "Lancs." stood for Lancashire or Lancers, and also if anything more was known of John Andrews.
Subsequent information came from Mr. Andrews:
"My great-great-grandfather, Robert Andrews, married Martha Jackson at Clive (a village near Middlewich) on the 31st of July 1811. His occupation was given as that of a "Farmer". Two sons were born into the family: Thomas, born on the 20th of May 1813, and John, on the 17th of January 1815. Both were born at Clive. Thomas became a farmer at Kingsley, a village near Frodsham, in the 1850s. He had three children, including Robert, my grandfather. My great-great-grandfather was not farming at Clive during the 1860s, so if John's father was the R. Andrews shown as being present at the death of John Andrews was his father, then the latter would have been in his 70s.
The medal I have was passed on to my grand-father, Robert, nephew of John, so I can only presume that John was not married. In the 1861 Census the birthplace of Thomas Andrews is given as Rilshaw (a district adjacent to Clive). Thomas married Ellen [maiden surname illegible] and in 1861 he was farming at Bridge Lane. The three children born into the family were Robert, Martha and James. Thomas Andrews died in 1885 and his wife in 1891. Both were buried in Overton Parish churchyard, Frodsham.
All five churchyards in Winsford have been checked but no trace can be found of the three children, nor of the burial, of John Andrews, the church records being very sketchy. Again from the 1861 Census, John Andrews was living with his father, Robert, in the parish of Over and gives his occupation as "Agricultural Labourer". His father showed the same, and was present at, and the informant of, his death.
Martha must have died before 1861, or moved away, as she is not shown on the Census and John must have remained single, unless he married before 1864."