Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Andrews, Henry (1743-1820)
ANDREWS, HENRY (1743–1820), an astronomical calculator, was born in 1743, of poor parents, at Frieston, near Grantham, Lincolnshire. At the age of ten, he began to observe the stars with a telescope mounted on a table in Frieston Green, and quickly developed an uncommon facility and fondness for astronomical calculations. He entered domestic service while still a lad, first in the house of a shopkeeper at Sleaford, next with a lady living at Lincoln, and lastly with a Mr. Verinum, who allowed him some hours a day for study. A distinguished company assembled at Aswarby Hall was supplied by him with the means of viewing the solar eclipse of 1 April 1764, which he had calculated with remarkable accuracy. Soon after, he became usher in a school kept by a clergyman at Stilton, having first tried the profession on his own account at Basingthorpe, near Grantham; he then removed for a while to Cambridge, and finally set up as bookseller and schoolmaster at Royston, Herts, where he remained until his death, at the age of 76, 26 Jan. 1820. For above forty years he was one of the calculators for the ‘Nautical Almanack,’ and on his retirement received the thanks of the Board of Longitude, with a handsome present in recognition of his services. Dr. Hutton employed him similarly for Moore's and other almanacks, and Dr. Maskelyne corresponded with him during nearly fifty years. By him and others he was esteemed no less for the modesty and integrity of his character than for the singular abilities by which he had raised himself from a humble station to a position of honour amongst men of science.
[Gent. Mag. xc. pt. i. 182, pt. ii. 639.]