Sir Charles Edwards (19 February 1867 – 15 June 1954) was a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Edwards initially served as an Assistant Miners' Agent in the Blackwood Offices of the

South Wales Miners%27 Federation The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for coal miners in South Wales. It survives as the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers. Forerunners The Amalgamated Association of Miners ( ...

where he and his wife lived in the attached housing accommodation. Afterwards they moved to

Risca Risca () is a town in the Caerphilly County Borough and within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire in south-east Wales. It is split into two Community (Wales), communities; Risca East an ...

. Edwards was elected at the 1918 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the newly-created

Bedwellty Bedwellty () is a small village in Caerphilly County Borough in south Wales. The village stands on a ridge of high ground between the Rhymney Valley, Rhymney and Sirhowy Valley, Sirhowy valleys. The village comprises St Sannan's parish church, ...

constituency in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

. He held the seat until he retired from

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 1950 general election. Edwards was made a Privy Councillor in 1940. And from 1940 to 1942 he was government

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom I ...

in the war-time Coalition Government.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Charles 1867 births 1954 deaths Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 Welsh Labour MPs