EDWARDS
,
ALFRED GEORGE
(
1848
-
1937
),
first archbishop of Wales
;
son of
William
Edwards
and
Louisa
his wife, and brother of
H. T.
Edwards
(q.v.)
, was b. at
Llan-ym-Mawddwy rectory, Mer.
,
2 Nov. 1848
. After a year at the
Welsh Educational Institution
,
Llandovery
, and private tuition, he matriculated at
Jesus College
,
Oxford
, in
Jan. 1870
, and graduated with honours in classics in
1874
,
M.A.
1876
. He became successively
assistant master
and (in
1875
)
warden
of
Llandovery College
, was ordained
deacon
in
1874
and
priest
in
1875
; in
1885
he was preferred to the
vicarage
of
S. Peter
,
Carmarthen
, becoming at the same time
private secretary
to
bishop
William Basil
Jones
(q.v.)
of
S. Davids
. In
Feb. 1889
he was nominated
bishop of S. Asaph
, and was consecrated in
Westminster Abbey
on
25 March
. On
1 June 1920
he was enthroned
first archbishop of Wales
at
S. Asaph cathedral
, and resigned in
June 1934
. Throughout his life he was an outspoken champion of the rights of the
Established Church
; he was a bitter opponent of the
Welsh Church Bill
which became law in
1914
, but his astute diplomacy did much to ensure the mitigations which are found in the
Amending Act
of
1919
. He was the author of
Landmarks in the History of the Welsh Church
,
1912
, and
Memories
,
1927
, which give an interesting picture of
Welsh
rural life in the
19th cent.
, and received the honorary degrees of
LL.D. (Wales)
,
D.C.L. (Oxon.)
, and
LL.D. (Cantab.)
, besides being made an
honorary Fellow
of
Jesus College
,
Oxford
, in
1920
. He m., first, in
1875
,
Caroline
(d.
1884
), daughter of
Edward
Edwards
,
Llangollen
, by whom he had two sons and three daughters; second, in
1886
,
Mary
Laidley
(d.
1912
), daughter of
W. J.
Garland
of
Lisbon
, by whom he had one son and one daughter; and third, in
1917
,
Margaret
, daughter of
canon
John Richard
Armistead
,
vicar
of
Sandbach
, who survived him. He d.
22 July 1937
, and was buried at
S. Asaph
.
Bibliography:
-
A. G. Edwards
,
Memories
, London, 1927
,
1927
;
-
G. G. Lerry
,
Alfred George Edwards, Archbishop of Wales,
etc
, Oswestry, 1940
,
1940
;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
.
Author:
Thomas Iorwerth Ellis, M.A., (1899-1970), Aberystwyth
