Bryan Edwards

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Bryan Edwards (May 1, 1743 – July 15 or 16, 1800) was an English politician and historian born in Westbury, Wiltshire. Edwards supported the slave trade, and was described by abolitionist William Wilberforce as a powerful opponent.

[edit] Life

Edwards' father died in 1756, and his maintenance and education were undertaken by his maternal uncle, Zachary Bayly, a wealthy merchant in Jamaica. About 1759 Edwards joined his uncle there and Bayly engaged a private tutor to complete the boy's education. When Bayly died Edwards inherited his wealth, and in 1773 also succeeded to the estate of another Jamaica resident named Efume.

Edwards soon became a leading member of the colonial assembly of Jamaica, but in a few years returned to England. In 1782 he tried and failed to secure a seat in parliament as member for Chichester. He was in Jamaica again from 1787 to 1792. He then settled in England as a West India merchant, making another futile attempt to enter parliament in 1795, this time standing in Southampton. In 1796, however, he became member of parliament for Grampound, a notoriously corrupt Cornish borough. Edwards retained this seat until his death at Southampton in July 1800. He left an only son, Hume, by his wife, Martha, daughter of Thomas Phipps of Westbury.

[edit] Works

In 1784 Edwards wrote Thoughts on the late Proceedings of Government respecting the Trade of the West India Islands with the United States of America, in which he attacked the restrictions placed by the government upon trade with the United States. In 1793 he published in two volumes the History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, and in 1797 published his Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St Domingo. The latter two titles were later republished, with some additional material, as the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies, in three volumes. This has been translated into German and, in part, into French and Spanish. A fifth edition was issued in 1819.

When Mungo Park returned in 1796 from his celebrated journey in Africa, Edwards drew up from Park's narrative an account of his travels. Edwards was secretary of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa, which published this piece in their Proceedings. When Park wrote his own account of his journeys he availed himself of Edwards' assistance.

Edwards also wrote some poems and some other works relating to the history of the West Indies.

Preceded by: Thomas Wallace Jeremiah Crutchley

Member for Grampound with Robert Sewell 1796–1800

Succeeded by: Robert Sewell Sir Christopher Hawkins, Bt

[edit] References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.