author
William Andrews
1848–1908
A Victorian writer with a taste for the curious corners of history, he filled his books with old customs, punishments, folklore, and everyday life from earlier England. His work has an energetic, anecdotal style that still feels rich with odd details and local color.
7 Audiobooks
Literary Byways
by William Andrews
At the Sign of the Barber's Pole: Studies In Hirsute History
by William Andrews
Old Church Lore
by William Andrews
Famous Frosts and Frost Fairs in Great Britain Chronicled from the Earliest to the Present Time
by William Andrews
Bygone Punishments
by William Andrews
England in the Days of Old
by William Andrews
About the author
Born in 1848, William Andrews was a British author, librarian, and publisher whose books explored folklore, social history, church customs, and the lesser-known habits of everyday life in Britain. He wrote for readers who enjoyed history not just as kings and battles, but as a world of traditions, superstitions, punishments, ceremonies, and memorable local stories.
Andrews was especially drawn to what earlier generations called "bygone" life, and many of his books focus on the strange, vivid, or easily overlooked details of the past. Titles associated with him include England in the Days of Old, Bygone Punishments, Curious Epitaphs, Old English Towns, and The Doctor in History, Literature, Folk-Lore, etc. He also edited collections on regional and church history, helping preserve material that might otherwise have disappeared from popular memory.
He died in 1908. Today, his books remain appealing to readers who like accessible historical writing packed with curious facts, old beliefs, and glimpses of ordinary life in earlier centuries.