Born on 29 November 1876 second child and eldest son of Thomas Henry Edwards, a farmer, of Compton Farm, Enford, who died in 1879 aged 26, he was brought up by his grandmother. Edwards was educated at Ardingly College and St Thomas's Hospital, where he was house surgeon. He was in general practice at Huddersfie1d, where he was honorary surgeon to the Royal Infirmary, until eighteen months before his death; for many years he lived at 8 New North Road, and later at 5 Brunswick Street. Edwards retired in 1956, and died on 17 January 1958 at the age of 81, survived by three daughters of his first marriage and by his second wife Nellie Dyson, whom he married in 1944.