EDWARDS, HUMPHREY (1730 - 1788), physician and apothecary

Son of Robert Edwards, rector of Llan-rug from 1725 to 1733. Robert Edwards had a small collection of Welsh manuscripts (NLW MSS., Panton 29, 81 et seq.); his daughter Margaret was the wife of Nicholas Owen, rector of Llandyfrydog, and mother of Nicholas Owen, rector of Mellteyrn from 1799 to 1811. Humphrey Edwards was interested in English literature and on 2 January 1782 was lent two volumes of Johnson's Lives of the Poets by John Ellis, rector of Llan-rug from 1777 to 1792 (Bangor MS. 575). He is noteworthy chiefly because he sailed round the world as ship's surgeon of the frigate Tamer, one of two small warships sent out to explore the South Seas under the command of Commodore Byron, grandfather of the poet (21 June 1764 - 9 May 1766). Those who claim that he sailed under Anson are wrong; Edwards was only 10 years of age at that time, and the Tamer was not one of Anson's ships. Edwards afterwards acquired a practice at Caernarvon; he died 26 November 1788 and was buried in Llanfihangel churchyard, Llan-rug.

Author

• Griffith Thomas Roberts

Sources

• Clowes, The Royal Navy. A history from the earliest times to the present (London 1897-1903), iv, 117 et seq.
• An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. And Successively Performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret and Captain Cook in the Dolphin, the Swallow and the Endeavour. Drawn up from the Journals which were kept by the Several Commanders, and from the Papers of Joseph Banks, Esq. (London 1773), i, 1773
• A Voyage Round the World by an Officer on Board the Ship Dolphin, commanded by the Honourable Commodore Byron … By an Officer on board the said ship (London 1767), 1767

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733213

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/