Robert Barnabas Brough [q. v.] in writing for the London stage 'Mephistopheles, or an Ambassador from Below,' an extravaganza, and he also joined in 1851 and at later dates Augustus Septimus Mayhew [q. v.] in light dramatic pieces, including 'The Goose with the Golden Eggs,' a farce (Strand Theatre, February 1859), and 'The Four Cousins,' a comic drama (Globe, May 1871). Edwards meanwhile found active employment in varied branches of serious journalism. He was in Paris during the coup d'état of 1852, and in 1856 he went to Russia as correspondent of the 'Illustrated Times' to describe the coronation of the Tsar Alexander II. He remained at Moscow for some time to study the language, and was soon well versed in Russian politics and literature. Returning to England he published 'The Russians at Home,' sketches of Russian life (1861). In 1862 and again in 1863 he was correspondent for 'The Times' in Poland and witnessed the insurrection until his friendly relations with the insurgents led to his expulsion. After revisiting Moscow and St. Petersburg he produced 'Polish Captivity, an Account of the Present Position of the Poles in Austria, Prussia and Russia' (2 vols. 1863), and he embodied his experiences in his 'Private History of a Polish Insurrection' (2 vols. 1865). 'The Times' sent him to Luxemburg in 1867, and for the same paper he accompanied the German army during the Franco-German war of 1870-1. His observations were collected as 'The Germans in France, Notes on the Method and Conduct of the Invasion.' A close student of the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula, he republished in 1876 a series of papers contributed to the 'Pall Mall Gazette' under the general title 'The Sclavonian Provinces of Turkey.' In 1885 appeared his 'Russian Projects against India from the Czar Peter the Great to SkobelenV Foreign politics was only one of many themes of Edwards's fertile pen. He wrote much on musical history and criticism. A 'History of Opera' (2 vols.) appeared in 1862; 'The Lyrical Drama,' a collection of papers, in 1881; and 'Rossini and his School,' 1881; together with lives of Rossini (1869) and Sims Reeves (1881).
Edwards was the first editor of the 'Graphic' (1869), and in 1877 he undertook an unfortunate venture, the 'Portrait,' photographs and biographical notices of notable persons, which ran to fifteen numbers. Edwards also tried his hand at fiction. His first novel, 'The Three Louisas,' appeared in 1866, and six followed, the last, 'The Dramatist' Dilemma' (1898), being written in collaboration with Mrs. Church (Florence Marryat [q. v.]). His later years were largely devoted to translations from the French or Russian. A busy compiler to the end, Edwards brought out 'The Romanoffs, Tzars of Moscow and Emperors of Russia' in 1890, 'Personal Recollections' in 1900, and in 1902 a life of Sir William White, English ambassador at Constantinople. He died at his house, 9 Westbourne Terrace Road, London, on 21 Jan. 1906, being buried at St. John's cemetery, Woking.
On 2 Feb. 1857 he married in the English church, Moscow, Margaret, daughter of Thomas Watson, a Scottish engineer settled in Russia. She survived him with one son, Mr. Gilbert Sutherland Edwards.
Besides the works mentioned, Edwards published:
- 'Famous First Representations,' 1886.
- 'The Faust Legend,' 1886.
- 'The Prima Donna,' 2 vols. 1888.
- 'Idols of the French Stage,' 2 vols. 1889.
- 'Old and New Paris,' 2 vols. 1892-4.
[Edwards's Personal Recollections, 1900; Lacy's British Theatre, vols. 25, 44, and 92; Brit. Mus. Cat.; private information; H. Vizetelly's Glances Back through Seventy Years, 1893; Spielmann's History of Punch.]
EDWARDS, JOHN PASSMORE (1823–1911), editor and philanthropist, born at Blackwater, near Truro, on 24 March 1823, was second son in a family of four sons of William Edwards by his wife Susan Passmore of Newton Abbot, Devonshire. His father, a carpenter by trade, kept a small public-house, to which was attached a large fruit garden; he was a calvinistic methodist, and his wife an orthodox baptist. John, after a very rudimentary education at the village school, helped his father from the age of twelve in brewing or gardening, continuing his attendance at the school of an evening, and reading, with the help of a dictionary, the 'Penny Magazine' and such cheap books as he was able to purchase. At fifteen he made futile experiments in verse and as a lecturer. Afterwards he helped to found and run a free evening school with good results.
In 1843 Edwards became at a salary of 10l. a year clerk to Henry Sewell Stokes [q. v.], a lawyer in Truro, and a poet. He had already interested himself in the Anti-Corn Law League agitation, and had distributed pamphlets for which he had applied to the league's secretary. At the
