Richard John Andrews

External media
Imperial War Museum photograph Q71271 Andrews (seated in British Army uniform on the front row, holding a corner of the Union Flag) among a group of British Army and Royal Navy prisoners in Moscow, 1919/20.[1]

Richard John Andrews DSO MC (8 December 1876 – 16 January 1923)^[2] was a British Army officer. After a brief career as a poulterer he enlisted in the 128th Company (Westminster Dragoons) of the Imperial Yeomanry for service in the Second Boer War (1899–1902), during which he was appointed lance sergeant. Andrews afterwards emigrated to Chile where he worked as a civil engineer for the Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway and claimed to have served as a captain in the Chilean Army. Andrews returned to Britain in 1915 and volunteered to join the British Army for service in the First World War. He enlisted in the 14th (London Scottish) Battalion of the London Regiment and reached the rank of sergeant. Andrews reverted to private upon transferring to the 1st (City of London) Battalion but in July 1915 had reached the rank of corporal by 19 March 1916 when he was selected for a commission and became a second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.

Andrews received the Military Cross in August 1916 and later that year was selected as one of the first men to attend the Senior Officers' School. After completing the course he was transferred to the 18th battalion of the Welsh Regiment. Andrews was commended by his brigade commander, Frank Percy Crozier for leading his battalion to capture Welsh Ridge, near Cambrai, on 24 April. Andrews was appointed to the Distinguished Service Order for actions two weeks later at La Vacquerie when he thwarted a German attack in the aftermath of a mine detonation. He was wounded in action in November 1917 at Bourlon Wood. Andrews returned to the frontline in the later stage of the war and led the 13th Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment in the Hundred Days Offensive.

Andrews appeared to suffer a breakdown in the post-war peace and was posted home to recover. He volunteered for service in the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War against the Bolsheviks. He served as chief liaison officer with a White column in North Russia but was captured in July after the Russians mutinied. Andrews was senior British officer at the Butyrka prison in Moscow and became the last Briton to be released from captivity in April 1920. He left the army in October 1920 and, rather than return to Chile, joined the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary, which was commanded by Crozier. He resigned from the unit in January 1921 and moved to London where he established an automobile garage. Andrews was killed when part of an abrasive wheel he was using in the garage struck him in the chest.