There is only one Edwin Edwards named on the Gweraffield Memorial. We have, however, information about two Edwin Edwards who both have connections to Gwernaffield. We include a page for each of them. The other one, Edwin Edwards (1) has an index card in The Flintshire Roll of Honour in the County Record Office in Hawarden which tells us that he is probably the one listed on the memorial. He is listed with those named on the memorial. This page tells the story of Edwin Edwards (2) who we do not believe is the one on the Memorial.
The father of Edwin Edwards (2) was John Hughes Edwards who was born in Gwernaffield near Mold about 1867. He married three times. His first marriage was in 1888 to Emma Harvey with whom he had a son John William. He married his second wife Margaret Parry in 1896 and they had three children. He married his third wife, Adeline Salmon in 1907. (This information comes from a public family tree on www.ancestry.co.uk )
Edwin Edwards (2) was born in 1898 in Llanferres.
Edwin Edwards is recorded on the 1901 census living with his family at Cwm Bach, Llanferres in Denbighshire. Head of the household was John Hughes Edwards, a 34 year old farmer who had been born in Gwernaffield near Mold. His wife was Margaret Edwards a native of Llanferres. Their listed children were John William 11, Dorothy Mary 5, Edwin 3 and Agnes Hilda who was 4 months. A fifth child Hugh Morris Parry was 8 and was listed as Margaret’s son.
The next census of 1911 recorded the family at 2 Tafarn y Gelyn, Llanferres. 43 year old John Hughes Edwards stated that he was living on ‘private means’. His wife of 4 years was Adeline Edwards (nee Salmon). The children of his marriage to Margaret were listed as Dorothy Mary 14, Edwin 13, and Agnes Hilda 10. There was a visitor listed in the houshold. He was Charles Bratt, a Motor Mechanic from Little Peover in Cheshire.
UK Soldiers Who Died in The Great War 1914 -19, accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk confirms Edwin’s regimental details as above. It tells us that he enlisted in Birkenhead. This source tells us he was killed in action in France/Flanders. His medal card also on ‘Ancestry’ details his medal entitlement.
Many thanks for help with family details and use of the photograph to Audrey Davies whose is related by marriage to this family. There is no proof that the photograph is John Hughes Edwards and his family but Audrey was told by another relative that it was them.
