EDWARDS
,
Sir
JOHN
(
1770
-
1850
),
baronet and M.P.
;
b.
15 Jan. 1770
, son of
John
Edwards
(d.
1789
) of
Greenfields
,
Machynlleth
(now
Plas Machynlleth
). He matriculated at
Queen's College
,
Oxford
,
8 Dec. 1787
, was
lieutenant-colonel
in the
Montgomeryshire Militia
,
high sheriff
of
Merioneth
,
1805
, and of
Montgomeryshire
,
1818
. Between
1832
and
1841
he fought four elections as a
Whig
in an attempt to win and keep the
Montgomery boroughs
seat from the
Tories
, spending over £20,000 in the process. The borough of
Montgomery
, which since
1728
had enjoyed the sole right of electing a borough member, had long been under the control of the
Herberts
of
Powis castle
(see the article on them).
Edwards
had for some time been ‘nursing’ the borough of
Machynlleth
which, with
Llanidloes
,
Welshpool
,
Llanfyllin
, and
Newtown
, were added to the constituency by the
Reform Act
of
1832
. At the election of
1832
(the first after the
Reform Act
)
Edwards
was defeated by the
Tory
David
Pugh
of
Llanerchudol
. Following a petition and a hearing by a committee of the
House of Commons
, the election was declared void, and at the consequent election of
1833
Edwards
defeated the
Tory candidate
Panton
Corbett
of
Longnor Hall
,
Salop
. He was re-elected unopposed in
1835
and in
1837
again defeated
Corbett
. In
1841
he was defeated by the
Tory candidate
Hugh
Cholmondeley
of
Vale Royal
. Throughout his parliamentary career he supported the
Grey
and
Melbourne
Governments and was rewarded with a
baronetcy
in
1838
. He was described in
1842
as ‘the first representative of popular opinions in the Montgomeryshire boroughs.’ He d.
19 April 1850
. His daughter and heiress m., in
1846
,
George Henry
Vane
, later
5th marquess of Londonderry
.
Bibliography:
-
W. R. Williams
,
The History of the Parliamentary
Representation of Wales
, 1895
, 151-2;
-
R. Williams
,
Montgomeryshire Worthies
, second ed.,
1894
, 55-7;
-
Perry
and
Knapp
,
Controverted Elections
and
, 162;
-
Bye–Gones, relating to Wales and the Border
Counties
,
1875
, 276-86, 331;
-
T. J. Hogg
,
Reports on Certain Boroughs
,
1837–8
,
1837-8
, 77-8;
-
Bulletin of the Board of Celtic
Studies
, iv, 360;
-
Old Wales a monthly magazine of antiquities
for Wales and the Borders
, Talybont, Breconshire,
1905-1907
, iii;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
.
Author:
Professor Glyn Roberts, M.A., (1904-1962), Bangor
