Edward Edwards (1812–1886) was a British librarian, library historian, and biographer. He was an important figure in the establishment of free libraries in the United Kingdom. He died and is buried in Niton on the

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Early life and work

Edwards was born in Stepney (London) on 14 December 1812. His father, Anthony Turner Edwards, was a builder and apprenticed his son to this trade at the age of fourteen. There is no record of Edwards' education and early employments. However, it is known that he attended the King's Weigh House chapel, where he was influenced by Rev. Thomas Binney. Also, Edwards received private lessons from Edwin Abbott and was--as was his teacher--a member of a German reading circle of the Marylebone Literary and Scientific Institution. In the 1830s, Edwards developed interests in education, library science, and industrial art. The wide range of these pursuits may be traced to the frequency of Edwards's presence at functions of the

Society of Wranglers A society is a Social group, group of individuals involved in persistent Social relation, social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same Politics, political authority an ...

, a radical art and literary discussion club. Among the members of this society were

George Godwin George Godwin FRS (28 January 1813 – 27 January 1888) was an influential British architect, journalist, and editor of '' The Builder'' magazine. Life He was one of nine children of the architect George Godwin senior (1780–1863) and trained ...

, Henry Hayward, and Margaretta Hayward, sister of the latter and future wife of Edwards. After his father's business went bankrupt in 1832, young Edwards seems to have depended entirely on the financial compensation of his research and writing. In 1836 he published anonymously a

pamphlet A pamphlet is an unbound book (that is, without a hard cover or binding). Pamphlets may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a ''leaflet'' or it may consist of a f ...

, in which he argued against various restrictions which at that time made education only accessible to a small elite. Later that year, Edwards published an open letter to Benjamin Hawes, who had sat on the parliamentary select committee on the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docume ...

. The letter contained numerous suggestions for the improvement of the museum library, including the proposal of longer opening hours to extend the use of the library to a wider class of person. As the letter caused much discussion in the academic world, a second edition of the letter was printed privately in 1839. Being a co-founder of the

Art Union of London The Art Union of London, established in 1837, was an organisation which distributed works of art amongst its subscribers by lottery. Art unions Art unions were organisations created to function as patrons of art. Members would pay a small annual s ...

, Edwards was soon appointed its honorary secretary. In 1840, however, Edwards had to leave the union in disgrace, having squandered over £300 of its funds. After some time of research in France, Edwards published a work on engravings by the process of Achille Collas. When Edwards returned to London, he was also asked by James Macarthur to help him with the research for his account of

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. Edward's name did not appear in connection with the work, even though it was presumed that he wrote large parts of it. On 11 June 1844, Edwards married Margaretta Hayward, who he had met at the

Association with the British Museum

Meanwhile, Edward's open letter about improving the library of the British Museum had attracted the attention of authorities, with the result that when Edwards applied to Antonio Panizzi in 1838, the Museum's newly elected keeper of printed books was inclined to hear him out. In 1839, Edwards joined the staff and became a supernumerary assistant in the printed book department, for especial employment on the new catalogue ordered by the trustees. Together with Panizzi, John Winter Jones, Thomas Watts, and John Humffreys Parry, Edwards worked on the ninety-one rules for the formation of this new catalogue. Besides that, Edwards Edwards was assigned to the duty of cataloguing the Thomason collection of tracts and pamphlets printed during the

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, and

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periods. By the late 1840s, Edwards focused his attention on the statistics of libraries and on comparative librarianship. His results---which were often published in the ''

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---''were criticised by other librarians as largely unreliable. A Mr. Watts, Edwards's colleague and one of his biggest opponents, wrote a series of corrective letters (also published in the ''

'') in rebuttal of Edward's articles, using the signature "Verificator". Nevertheless, Edwards had also gained supporters, the most prominent of which being William Ewart, who had also been involved in the

and whose committee on free libraries in 1850 originated the Public Libraries Act.

Association with the Manchester Free Library

The librarianship of the first important free library established under Mr. Ewart's act was offered to Edwards, who was happy to accept as his superiors at the British Museum were frequently dissatisfied by his work ethic. Edwards accordingly became the first librarian of the Manchester Free Library soon after he was dismissed from the museum's library in 1850. During his time at the Manchester Free Library Edwards developed a classified catalogue which was published in 1855 in the form of a letter to

Sir John Potter Sir John Potter (10 April 1815 – 25 October 1858) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. Early life John was born in April 1815 at Polefield near Prestwich, Lancashire. He was the elder son of Sir Thomas Potter and his second ...

, chairman of the library committee. It was not long, however, until the management became aware of Edwards' frequent absences and his conduct of private research during work time which finally lead to his dismissal in 1858.

Later life

Having been dismissed by two libraries in less than a decade, Edwards turned towards science, both in the fields of literature and librarianship. Aside from the works listed below, he also wrote several articles for the 8th edition of the ''

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''''.'' Edwards' biography of Sir

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

has been praised particularly for the second volume, because it contained for the first time a complete edition of Raleigh's correspondence. The first volume containing the memoir, however, appeared almost simultaneously with that of

James Augustus St. John James Augustus St. John (24 September 1795 – 22 September 1875), was a British journalist, author, and traveller. Life in Wales James was born in Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, Wales, the son of Gelly John, a shoemaker. He went to the Laugharne cha ...

and "it was remarked with surprise that each biography appeared to be deficient in whatever gave interest to the other, and that the two would need to be blended to produce a really satisfactory work". From 1870 to 1876 Edwards was engaged to catalogue the library of

Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...

, which marked a happy period in his life only disturbed by the death his wife in 1876. On the formation of the

Library Association The Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals, since 2017 branded CILIP: The library and information association (pronounced ), is a professional body for librarians, information specialists and knowledge managers in the ...

in 1877 Edwards was proposed as its first president, but had to refuse due to deafness. Nevertheless, Edwards accepted working at the

Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the sec ...

from 1877 to 1883, calendaring the Carte papers. The

elected Edwards as an honorary member in 1882; in the same year, he was asked to revise the articles ''Newspapers'' and ''Post Office'' for the ninth edition of the ''

''. After Edwards was dismissed from his engagement at Oxford due to economic shortages, he retired to Niton, Isle of Wight, and occupied himself with projects for a second edition of his ''Memoirs of Libraries'', with great alterations and improvements. Edward-edwards-IMG 6041

Edwards spent his final years in poverty and was taken in rent-free by Rev. John Harrison, a Baptist minister, after having been thrown out for non-payment of rent. In November 1885, he got lost on an excursion and was found after several days "in a state of hypothermia sheltering inside a roofless building next to

St. Catherine's Oratory St. Catherine's Oratory is a medieval lighthouse on St. Catherine's Down, above the southern coast of the Isle of Wight. It was built by Lord of Chale Walter de Godeton (sometimes spelled "Goditon") as an act of penance for plundering wine from ...

and afterwards developed pneumonia". He found dead in his room on 7 February 1886, and was buried in the graveyard of the local Church of England church on 10 February. His grave remained unmarked until 1902 when his biographer Thomas Greenwood paid his debts and erected a monument over his grave.

Selected works

References

* Attribution: *

External links

* Open Library
Works by Edwards
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Edward English librarians English biographers Employees of the British Library 1812 births 1886 deaths