Henry William John Edwards

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Henry William John Edwards (1910–1991) was a Welsh author. From a nonconformist background, he converted to Catholicism at the beginning of World War II. In later life he was a Welsh Nationalist associated with Plaid Cymru.[1] He wrote that "The paradox is that the conservative trait has the effect of conserving radical forces."[2]

Life[edit]

Edwards was born into a Welsh family in London.[1] He was educated at Mercers' School and the University of Oxford.[3] He lived in Wales from age 19.[1]

Edwards was from a Quaker family background.[4] In 1938 he was described as a Christian and former Communist.[5] Around that time, he had associations with the British Union of Fascists, attending a meeting hosted by Alexander Raven Thomson, and contributing to the British Union Quarterly.[6] Of his 1942 conversion to Catholicism, while in the army, he wrote in 1948 that:

When I became a Catholic I was in fact rather embarrassed by those Quakers who gave me credit for an interest in the spiritual life that I did not possess. I did not, as they believed, become a Catholic in a mysterious leap from pole to pole, nor because I saw a similarity in the writings of Isaac Penington and of St John of the Cross. I became a Catholic simply because I was afraid of going to hell.[4]

In later life Edwards was a supporter of Traditionalist Catholicism, opposed to Vatican II. He worked as a journalist and accountant. His wife was from the Rhondda Valley, and he settled in Trealaw in 1947.[1]

Works[edit]

  • The Radical Tory: Disraeli's Political Development Illustrated from His Original Writings and Speeches (1937), editor[7]
  • Young England (1938)[8]
  • The Good Patch (1938)[9]
  • What is Welsh Nationalism? (1954)[10]
  • Sons of the Romans: The Tory as Nationalist (1975)[11]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Stephens, Meic (1998). The New Companion to the Literature of Wales. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1383-1.
  2. ^ Brooks, Simon (1 June 2017). Why Wales Never Was: The Failure of Welsh Nationalism. University of Wales Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-78683-013-5.
  3. ^ Edwards, H. W. J. (February 1991). "Chesterton's "Brilliant Jewish Adventurer"". The Chesterton Review. 17 (1): 47. doi:10.5840/chesterton19911719.
  4. ^ a b Edwards, H. W. J. (1948). "In Praise of Quakers". Blackfriars. 29 (342): 409. ISSN 1754-2014. JSTOR 43812521.
  5. ^ "A True Picture". Sheffield Independent. 28 March 1938. p. 11.
  6. ^ Lawson, Tom (22 April 2016). God and War: The Church of England and Armed Conflict in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 108 note 34. ISBN 978-1-317-12667-6.
  7. ^ Disraeli, Benjamin (1937). The Radical Tory: Disraeli's Political Development Illustrated from His Original Writings and Speeches; Selected Edited and Introduced by H.W.J. Edwards; with a Pref. by G.M. Young. J. Cape.
  8. ^ Edwards, H. W. J. (1938). Young England. Hutchinson & Company.
  9. ^ Edwards, H. W. J. (1938). The Good Patch. J. Cape.
  10. ^ Edwards, H. W. J. (1954). What is Welsh Nationalism?. J.E. Jones.
  11. ^ Edwards, H. W. J. (1975). Sons of the Romans: The Tory as Nationalist. C. Davies. ISBN 978-0-7154-0088-3.
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