William Henry Edwards (6 January 1938 – 16 August 2007), also known as "Will Edwards", was a British Labour politician. Edwards was born in

Amlwch Amlwch () is a port town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated on the north coast of the Anglesey, Isle of Anglesey, on the A5025 road, A5025 which connects it to Holyhead and to Menai Bridge. As well as Amlwch town and Am ...

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

. His father Henry.O.Edwards was a

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and ma ...

and his mother was a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Notable d ...

. He was educated at the local

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

and at Sir Thomas Jones'

Comprehensive School A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is restricted on the basis ...

. He read Law at Liverpool University and studied at London College of Law. He became a

solicitor A solicitor is a lawyer who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and enabled to p ...

in Bala and a visiting lecturer at Liverpool College of Commerce. He married Eleri Rogers in 1962. Edwards contested West Flintshire in the 1964 general election. He became Member of Parliament for

Merioneth Merionethshire, or Merioneth ( or '), was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Name 'Merioneth' is an anglicisation of the Welsh placename ''Mei ...

at the 1966 general election, and became Parliamentary Private Secretary to the

Secretary of State for Wales The secretary of state for Wales (), also referred to as the Welsh secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Wales Office. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Ki ...

Cledwyn Hughes Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos, (14 September 1916 – 22 February 2001) was a Welsh Labour Party politician, usually associated with the moderate wing of the party. He was also regarded, particularly in later years, as a non-politic ...

. He increased his majority in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

despite a strong challenge by future

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

leader Dafydd Wigley. He became a front-bench spokesman on Welsh affairs, in a team headed by George Thomas, but was sacked in 1972 over his support for entry into the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. He lost his seat in the February 1974 general election to

's Dafydd Elis Thomas, and was unable to regain the seat in the general election that quickly followed that October. He was then appointed to lead Labour's campaign in Wales for a "yes" vote in the referendum to remain in the EEC. In 1981, he was selected to fight Ynys Môn, but withdrew in March 1983, shortly before the 1983 general election, in protest at Labour's policies of withdrawal from the EEC,

unilateral nuclear disarmament Nuclear disarmament is the act of reducing or eliminating nuclear weapons. Its end state can also be a nuclear-weapons-free world, in which nuclear weapons are completely eliminated. The term ''denuclearization'' is also used to describe the pro ...

, and closure of US military bases in the UK. He was a member of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales from 1971 to 1976, and began to edit ''The Solicitor's Diary'' for Waterlow's in 1973. In 1987, a Law Society tribunal struck him off the roll of solicitors infringing the solicitors' accounts rules, and improper use of clients' funds. In later life, he suffered from

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

and

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

. He died in the Wrexham Maelor Hospital. He was survived by his wife and their son and three daughters.

References

*'' Times Guide to the House of Commons'', 1966 & October 1974 *
Former MP Will Edwards dies at 69, BBC News, 17 August 2007Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 24 August 2007Obituary, ''The Independent'', 28 August 2007

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, William 1938 births 2007 deaths People from Amlwch Alumni of the University of Liverpool Welsh lawyers Welsh Labour MPs UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 20th-century Welsh lawyers