Born in Leiston Suffolk, to Francis Andrews, a fitter, and Sarah Hannah Belmoor. In 1907, when the
Transvaal Colony obtained self-government, Andrews, as Labour party leader, was elected to one of three seat his party won in the election. In 1922, as part of the Committee of Action, he and others coerced the South African Industrial Federation into calling a general strike the resulted in the
Rand Revolt. After a visit to Moscow in 1937, he was permitted to re-join on 1 May 1938 at the age of 68 after
Solly Sachs,
Moses Kotane, and
Brian Bunting were re-admitted. He would not support the South African effort at the beginning of the Second World War, toeing the Soviet line but after Soviet Union was attacked by the Germans in 1941, his attitude changed. ==Marriage==