Chapter 14: THEOPHILUS EDWARDS (1839-1890)

Theophilus Edwards obviously aquired his religoius zeal from his father, Thomas Edwards, but he appears to have taken up full-time ministry before his father. Like his father, Theophilus also worked as a cabinet maker before his ministry in Kidderminster (until 1861) and perhaps again at times before his move to the London City Mission in 1864. During this time he married Elizabeth Jane Wyatt in Malvern. The couple had a child born in Elizabeth's home parish of Bayton, near Cleobury Mortimer. Just before moving to London he was employed as an Independant preacher and domicillary visitor at a salary of £50 per annum. He applied to the London City Mission (LCM) from his father's residence, the Mission House in Fromes Hill. Theophilus was accepted by the Mission in July 1864 at a salary of £75 per annum.

The LCM was founded in 1835 at a time when London was growing rapidly and was the largest city and port in the world. A number of Christian leaders recognised that the churches were failing to attract the new urban masses into their services and that therefore the churches must go to the people with the Gospel. The LCM was established as a joint venture by members of different Protestant denominations. London saw enormous social, economic and religious changes through the Victorian era; changes in which the LCM played a small but not insignificant role. By the beginning of the twentieth century LCM had a work-force of 467 missionaries serving 343 district ministries and 123 ministries to ethnic groups (such as the Jews, Asians, Italians and Germans) and to workers in such settings as the docks, railways, coal-yards, factories, public houses, taxi-cabs, markets, and the hotels and mews of the West End. One joining the Mission Theophilus and his family lived first at 1a Wellington Street, Camberwell then 55 Acorn Street, also in Camberwell. Camberwell is south of the Thames, immediately opposite 'the City'.

In August 1864, just over a year after moving to London, Theophilus' youngest child, Theophilus Lessey died after suffering from diarrhea for five days. At the time this was a common, non-contagious acute gastroenteritis bacterial disease of young children, occurring in hor weather in summer or autumn. Death frequently occurred in three to five days. It was also known as summer complaint, weaning brash, water gripes, choleric fever of children and cholera morbus. A second child was born to Theophilus and Elizabeth two years after the death of their first. Thomas Albert was first a chemist's assistant before taking work as a railway porter.

The next child, Theophilus John, lived less than four years before being buried in an unmarked grave in Camberwell Cemetery. Margaret Wyatt was born in 1869. She married wheelwright Samuel Blantern in 1889 and bore him eleven children, all in Camberwell. Margaret's brother Samuel Hayden became a butcher and fathered six children by his wife. The next child, Beatrice, was, in the words of the time, 'feeble minded, an imbicile'. Today she would be described as having 'Moderate Learning Difficulty'. Beatrice stayed at home until she was at least 28 years old. When she died of Pulmoary Tuberculosis in 1916 she was resident at Leavesden asylum. Franklin Herbert (known as Bert) worked as an office boy before joining the training ship "Arethusa" off Greenhithe. This was part of the Shaftesbury Homes for Homeless and destitute Children. Bert was a good student and won several seamanship prizes. On leaving "Arethusa" he worked on Thames barges and lighters.

Following an education at King Edward's School, Godalming (a school for destitute children or ones whose family had fallen on hard times) and like his brother Thomas Albert, Eric Vale worked on the railway. He was a capstan man. In large goods warehouses, wagons and vans were normally moved not by locomotives but by capstans, using ropes working from a fixed engine and operated by a capstan man. Reginald Theophilus joined the Royal Navy in March 1899, serving on a nine different ships as well as two shore bases. He saw action in during the Boxer Rebellion in China. He completed his service in 1911, but was recalled to duty at the onset of the First World War, seeing service on three ships before being demobalised in 1919. Reginald has three children by each of his tow wives. During his earlier working years Alexander John was a packer in a biscuit factory, then he worked for the brewers Courage and Co.

There was a reason why two of Theophilus' children were educated in schools for the destitute and another was buried in an unmarked grave, for Theophilus was a troubled man. Records of the London Mission show that although "He was a superior missionary with a remarkable gift of eloquence" he at times suffered from "a weak state of mind" and showed "signs of mental abberation". At least some of his periods of instability corresponded with his wife's later pregnancies - perhaps after Beatrice was born handicapped he feared that it might happen again? The conditions endured by the folk around him may also have had an adverse impact on Theophilus, who is recorded to have mentioned that he felt unequal to his work A nearly contemporary newspaper account of an annual meeting of the Blackfriars City Mission stated that the area of South London that it covered 'contained more poverty, squalor and disease than any other part of this great city' and 'The committee deplored the condition of the people, and pointed out that numbers of pale, wan faces, diseased bodies, and unkept, shoelss and ragged forms ... was largely due to the number of licensed houses in the locality.' The Mission tried their best to help Theophilus, with light duties and postings to different places so that he might benefit from a change of environment, but to no avail.

Having underlined a passage in his bible (The Lamentations of Jeremiah 1 verses 18 to 21), Theophilus cut his throat in a room above Blackfriars Mission Hall on 22 February 1890, leaving his wife with a family of four children under thirteen, plus a child with learning difficulties to look after. It was these latter children that were effectively raised in a pauper household. The hapless Elizabeth was sixty years old when she died of 'Paralysis Agitans,Cerebral Softening' (=Parkinson's Disease) in Camberwell Infirmary .

Theophilus Edwards and Elizabeth Jane Edwards nee Wyatt
(Photographs courtesy of Frederick Paul Francis Edwards)

3 . . . . .Theophilus EDWARDS b.1839 d.1890 m.Elizabeth Jane WYATT
4 . . . . . . Theophilus Lessey EDWARDS b.1862 d.1865
4 . . . . . . Thomas Albert EDWARDS b.1866 d.>1901m.Emma WILLIAMS
5 . . . . . . . Albert Williams (known as Bertie) EDWARDS b.1888 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Florrie EDWARDS b.c1894 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Carrie EDWARDS b.c1896 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Willie EDWARDS b.c1899 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Frederick EDWARDS b.1900 d.>1901
4 . . . . . . Theophilus John EDWARDS b.1868 d.1871
4 . . . . . . Margaret Wyatt EDWARDS b.c1870 d.1944 m.Samuel BLANTERN
5 . . . . . . . Samuel Edward BLANTERN b.1886 d.1886
5 . . . . . . . Elizabeth Maud BLANTERN b.1891 d.1891
5 . . . . . . . Margaret Elizabeth BLANTERN b.1892 d.>1911 m.Frederick W. WILKINSON
5 . . . . . . . Maud Beatrice BLANTERN b.1893 d.>1901
5 . . . . . . . Harold W. H. BLANTERN b.1897 d.1973 m.Ruby G. SAUNDERS
6 . . . . . . . . .Harold S. BLANTERN
6 . . . . . . . . .Doreen BLANTERN
5 . . . . . . . Edith Emily BLANTERN b.1899
5 . . . . . . . Ernest George BLANTERN b.1900 d.1936 m.Florence Christina HENDY
6 . . . . . . . . .Joyce Florence BLANTERN
6 . . . . . . . . .Albert Ernest BLANTERN
6 . . . . . . . . .John Samuel BLANTERN
5 . . . . . . . Daisy Alexander BLANTERN m.George EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Clara Gladys BLANTERN m.Leslie R.F. EDDOES
6 . . . . . . . . .Lelsie R. EDDOES
5 . . . . . . . Ena Violet BLANTERN m.Thomas H. OAKDEN
5 . . . . . . . George S. E. BLANTERN b.1909 d.1986 m.Vera D. QUARENDEN
6 . . . . . . . . .Barbara E. BLANTERN
6 . . . . . . . . .Barry G. BLANTERN
4 . . . . . . Samuel Haden EDWARDS b.1872 d.1949 m.#1 Emily Frances HICKS #2 Flora Johanna SAENBERLIN
5 . . . . . . . #2 Lessie Theophilus EDWARDS b.1904 d.1960 m.Mary Anne FISHER
6 . . . . . . . . .Mary Elizabeth EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Margaret Anne EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #2 Rudolf John EDWARDS m.Winifred Lilian BAKER
6 . . . . . . . . .Brain H. EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #2 Maria Alexandra EDWARDS m.JohnH. HANSLIP
5 . . . . . . . #2 Robert Bertram EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #2 Gloria Grace EDWARDS m. - GEBBETT
5 . . . . . . . #2 Flora Joan EDWARDS m.- ROESER
4 . . . . . . Beatrice Beattie EDWARDS b.1873 d.1916
4 . . . . . . Franklin Herbert (known as Herbert F.) EDWARDS b.1878 d.1953 m. Minnie COX
5 . . . . . . . Minnie Elizabeth EDWARDSm.Albert SIMPSON
6 . . . . . . . . .Albert SIMPSON
6 . . . . . . . . .George SIMPSON
6 . . . . . . . . .Eileen SIMPSON
6 . . . . . . . . .Ethel SIMPSON
6 . . . . . . . . .John SIMPSON
5 . . . . . . . Nellie Margaret EDWARDS m.Wilfred BICKNELL
6 . . . . . . . . .Wilfred Stanley BICKNELL
6 . . . . . . . . .Maureen Ella BICKNELL
5 . . . . . . . Reginald John EDWARDS b.1908 d.1983 m.Ivy LOVE
6 . . . . . . . . .Kenneth Reginald EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Barry Thomas EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Rose Caroline EDWARDS m.George WILLIAMS
6 . . . . . . . . .Marion Rose WILLIAMS
5 . . . . . . . George Lionel EDWARDS m.Mabel PHLIPOTT
6 . . . . . . . . .Joan Dorothy EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Alexander EDWARDS m.#1 Ellen SHAVE #2 Beatrice HILLIER
6 . . . . . . . . .#1 Thomas George EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .#1 Patricia Ann EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Thomas Albert EDWARDS0 b.1921 d.1943
5 . . . . . . . Joan Lilian EDWARDS m.Charles MURRAY
6 . . . . . . . . .David Charles MURRAY
6 . . . . . . . . .Jilian Joan MURRAY
5 . . . . . . . Herbert Franklin EDWARDS m.Lily Violet SAUNDERS
6 . . . . . . . . .Pamela June D. EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Doreen Edith EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Violet EDWARDS
4 . . . . . . Eric Vale EDWARDS b.1880 d.1953
5 . . . . . . . Eric Vale EDWARDS m.Florence SHARP
6 . . . . . . . . .Alan EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Victor EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Frank EDWARDS m.Alice Valentine COCKFIELD
6 . . . . . . . . .Eileen EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Eric EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Walter EDWARDS m.Dorothy JEFFREYS
6 . . . . . . . . .Beryl Ann EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Barbara Jean EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Ella EDWARDS b.1917 d.1995 m.Walter DEVALL
6 . . . . . . . . .Robert Walter DEVALL
6 . . . . . . . . .Peter DEVALL
4 . . . . . . Reginald Theophilus EDWARDS b.1881 d.1961 m.#1 Ann Nora (known as Hanora) MOORE #2 Frances Mildred JOHNSON
5 . . . . . . . #1 Reginald Charles EDWARDS b.1915 d.1988 m.Mary Legget ANNAN
6 . . . . . . . . .Patricia Elizabeth Stuart EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Reginald John EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Mary Frances EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Robert Angus EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #1 Alfred John EDWARDS b.1920 d.1993 m.Joyce M. PEARSON
6 . . . . . . . . .Peter John EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Robert Allen EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #1 Patricia Ivy EDWARDS m.Franz Joseph ZIMMERMANN
6 . . . . . . . . .Anne Katherine ZIMMERMANN
6 . . . . . . . . .Paul Anthony ZIMMERMANN
6 . . . . . . . . .Rosemary Patricia ZIMMERMANN
5 . . . . . . . #2 Frederick Paul Francis EDWARDS m.Mavis Ivy SNIPP
6 . . . . . . . . .Barry Paul EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Lynn Frances EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #2 Peter Clifford EDWARDS m.Dora June SAVAGE
6 . . . . . . . . .David Clifford EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Sylvia June EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . #2 Leslie Eric Hayden EDWARDS m.Mary Kathleen DICKSON
6 . . . . . . . . .Ian Leslie EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Susan Jeanne EDWARDS
4 . . . . . . Alexander J. EDWARDS b.1883 d.1953 m.Eleanor (known as Nell) BATEMAN
5 . . . . . . . Doris Eleanor EDWARDS m.Thomas W. WATKINS
6 . . . . . . . . .Tommy WATKINS
5 . . . . . . . Stanley Herbert EDWARDS m.Joyce F. DAVISON
6 . . . . . . . . .Stephen J. EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .Alan J. EDWARDS
6 . . . . . . . . .David A. EDWARDS
5 . . . . . . . Florence Hanorah Margaret EDWARDS m.Percy WATKINS
6 . . . . . . . . .Maureen WATKINS
6 . . . . . . . . .Jane Christine WATKINS
5 . . . . . . . John Reginald EDWARDS m.Maud -
5 . . . . . . . Alexander Theophilus EDWARDS

Acknowledgement: Writing the above essay would not have been possible without the generous contribution of information by Frederick Edwards and Pat Marshall.