Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Edwards, William Camden

739431Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 17 — Edwards, William Camden1889Lionel Henry Cust

EDWARDS, WILLIAM CAMDEN (1777–1855), engraver, was born in Monmouthshire in 1777. Early in the nineteenth century he went to Bungay in Suffolk to engrave portraits and illustrations for the Bible, 'Pilgrim's Progress,' and similar works published by Mr. Brightly of that place. He left Bungay after Brightly's death, but eventually returned and settled there until his death on 22 Aug, 1855. He was buried in the cemetery of Holy Trinity, Bungay. A complete series of his engravings and etchings was in the collection of Mr. Dawson Turner, Edwards was very industrious, and his productions were of the most varied description; the majority of his plates were portraits, in which he excelled. Among these were Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, after Reynolds, Sir William Chambers, after Reynolds, Flaxman, after J. Jackson, Hogarth, after himself, Fuseli, after Sir Thomas Lawrence, James Hogg, after C. Fox, D. Sayers, after Opie, and many others. Among his other plates were 'Milton and his Daughters,' after Romney, a landscape after Salvator Rosa, and 'The Head of St. John the Baptist on a Charger,' from a picture in Mr. Dawson Turner's collection.

[Note by Mr. Dawson Turner in the sale catalogue of his collection; monumental inscription at Bungay, and other information per the Rev. T.K. Weatherhead, St.Mary's, Bungay.]

L. C.