James Pettit Andrews was an English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 historian and antiquary.

He was the younger son of Joseph Andrews of Shaw House

Shaw House, Berkshire

Shaw House is an important example of an early symmetrical H-plan Elizabethan mansion, located at Shaw, on the north-eastern outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire.-History:...

, near Newbury

Newbury, Berkshire

Newbury is a civil parish and the principal town in the west of the county of Berkshire in England. It is situated on the River Kennet and the Kennet and Avon Canal, and has a town centre containing many 17th century buildings. Newbury is best known for its racecourse and the adjoining former USAF...

 in Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

. He was educated privately, and having taken to the law was one of the magistrates at the police court in Queen Square, Westminster

Westminster

Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...

, from 1792 to his death.

Andrews built himself the Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion of Donnington Grove

Donnington Grove

Donnington Grove is a Strawberry Hill Gothic mansion, now an hotel and country club, and associated Golf Course at Donnington in the civil parish of Shaw-cum-Donnington, near Newbury, in the English county of Berkshire. It is overlooked by Donnington Castle....

, near the family home, in 1763. He developed a taste for literature

Literature

Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...

, and his miscellaneous works include The Savages of Europe (London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, 1764), a satire

Satire

Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...

 on the English which he translated from the French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

, and Anecdotes Ancient and Modern (London, 1789), an amusing collection of gossip. His chief work was a History of Great Britain connected with the Chronology of Europe from Caesar's Invasion

Roman conquest of Britain

The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...

 to Accession of Edward VI

Edward VI of England

Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...

, in 2 volumes (London, 1794–1795). Its plan is somewhat singular, as a portion of the history of England is given on one page, and a general sketch of the contemporaneous history of Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

 on the opposite page. He also wrote a History of Great Britain from Death of Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 to Accession of James VI of Scotland

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

– a continuation of Robert Henry

Robert Henry

Robert Henry was a Scottish historian.Born into a farming family at St. Ninians, Stirlingshire, Henry was educated at Stirling High School and the University of Edinburgh. After teaching at Annan, he entered the Church of Scotland, becoming minister at New Greyfriars in Edinburgh in 1768...

's History of Great Britain, which left off at the death of Henry VIII – published in 1796 and again in 1806. Andrews died at Brompton and was buried in Hampstead Church. He married Anne, daughter of Thomas Penrose, rector of Newbury.

He was a regular participant in the Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor

Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor

The Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was a charitable organization founded in London in 1786 to provide sustenance for distressed people of African and Asian origin...

in the 1780s.