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EDWARDS Derivation

Albert EDWARDS was born in 1866 the son of Samuel and Elizabeth EDWARDS. He married Elizabeth PALMER. He, like his wife, was born in Prickwillow where they were married and lived throughout their lives. They raised six children.

• Dora Elizabeth Edwards born about 1888 married Thomas Watson Day
• Eleanor Emily Edwards born about 1889 married Sidney Saunders
• Bertram Albert Edwards born about March 1891 married Edith Day
• Daisy Alice Edwards born about 1892 married James Robert Butcher
• Reginal Arthur Edwards born about 1895 married Mary Helene Carpenter
• Olive Violet Edwards born 30th March 1906 married Arthur Aquilla Lee

When his brother Ephraim refused the option on his father’s shop he ran it. He was an ambitious man and always wanted his family to do well. He looked after the local Methodist church from the time it was built, having laid one of the foundation stones, and for the following fifty years. The village was a happy mix of Baptists and Methodists. The shop sold meat, bread, groceries, coal, draperies and other goods as well as being a Post Office, he was sub-postmaster for roughly fifty years. There were nine or ten horses at the shop used for different purposes such as drawing the Coal Wagon or for delivering Telegrams or provisions. The shop covered all the "droves" in the area and the local telephone exchange was sited within the shop. Albert died on 7January1945 and is buried in Ely cemetery. Albert donated the land on which the Methodist Church was built. He was Treasurer of the church and there are plaques inside commemorating him. Albert and his wife were affectionately known as the "boss" and the "misses" and they virtually ran the community, in his later years Albert became the Citizens Advice Bureau for the community. He lived at Postwick House which was originally his father’s shop. He was the leading member of the Prickwillow community. he was the first man in the village to own a penny farthing bicycle. He celebrated his Golden Wedding in February 1937. When he died there were so many people at his funeral that the service had to be held in the Baptist Church because the Methodist Church was not large enough to hold the numbers. The whole memorial service was devoted to music as had been his wish. At the time of his death he was Founder and Trustee of the Methodist Church and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Methodist Fund. He was also Treasurer of the Prickwillow Flower Show, Prickwillow Sports and Social Club, the Ely and District Master Bakers Association and several other societies.

from the Prickwillow Parish Magazine

• 6th June 1891, a saturday, he turned out for Prickwillow cricket team against Coveney and scored 7 before being bowled out by Cattel

• 7th July 1885, a tuesday, he turned out against Ely cricket team and scored 20 and took 2 wickets to secure a victory for the home side.

EDWARDS Photographss
A. G. Edwards Shop	Prickwillow Main Street	Float outside Prickwillow public house

The first references to the name Edwards were found in the Domesday Book 1066 as Eaduuardus, Eduuard(us) and Æduuardus; Edwardus serviens 1206 in the Curia Regis Rolls for Cornwall; William Edward’ 1219 in the Curia Regis Rolls for Suffolk; Cristina Edwardis 1279 in the Rotuli Hundredorum for Huntingdonshire; John Edwards 1498 in Chirk. The Old English name Éadweard means ‘prosperity/happiness guardian’.

'A Dictionary of British Surnames' by P.H. Reaney,
Second Edition, published by Routledge & Kegan Paul, second edition, ISBN 0 7100 8106 5

Edward, first name, 'prosperity/happiness guardian', Old English. The confessor preceded George as patron saint of England. Edward(e)s '(son) of E-',-s was the 20th commonest surname in England and Wales in 1853 (it is found especially in Wales and the south), and 32nd in the USA in 1939. Edwardes is the family name of the barons Kensington. Edwardson 'son of E-'.

'The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames' by Basil Cottle, second edition, ISBN 0 14 051032 X