Andrews was the son of William Andrews, a drysalter of Watling Street and his wife Catherine Pigou. After helping his father in business in the day time, he was "accustomed to sally forth in the evening with sword and bag to
Ranelagh or some other public place". He gradually made useful social connections and became a constant companion of
Lord Lyttelton. He wrote plays musicals and operas. The first was performed at
Drury Lane in 1774. In 1775 the opera diva
Ann Cargill aged 15 ran away with him and she then had to be restrained at home by a court order. Andrews had several further plays performed at the
Haymarket. Andrews lived in a mansion at
Green Park where he entertained the fashionable society of London, and was a member of several clubs. With his uncle
Frederick Pigou, a director of the
British East India Company, Andrews became the owner of an extensive
gunpowder factory at Hawley Mills on the
River Darent at
Dartford,
Kent.
George Colman the Younger described Andrews as "one of the most persevering poetical pests", and his plays as "like his powder mills, particularly hazardous affairs, and in great danger of going off with a sudden and violent explosion". This was no idle comparison as an explosion occurred in October 1790. :"Between four and five o'clock this afternoon (October 12th 1790) the people here, and in the neighbourhood, were terribly alarmed by the blowing up of Mr Pegu (sic)'s Powder Mills, within a short mile of this town.." In 1796 Andrews succeeded Lord Lyttleton as
Member of Parliament for
Bewdley which he represented until his death in 1814. There is a memorial to him in
St James's Church, Piccadilly. ==Works==