Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Edwards, Henry Sutherland

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EDWARDS, HENRY SUTHERLAND (1828–1906), author and journalist, born at Hendon on 5 Sept. 1828, was eldest child in the family of three sons and three daughters of John Edwards, of independent means, by his wife Harriet Exton Teale Morris. After education at the Brompton grammar school and in France, where he acquired a full command of the language, Edwards engaged at a very early age in London journalism. He contributed to 'Pasquin,' a small weekly rival of 'Punch,' which lasted only from August to October 1847. To another short-lived rival of 'Punch,' 'The Puppet Show,' which the firm of Vizetelly [see Vizetelly, Henry] started in March 1848, Edwards also contributed, and on the recommendation of Gilbert à Beckett he, in 1848, joined the staff of 'Punch.' That engagement proved brief, although in 1880 no renewed his association with 'Punch' as an occasional contributor. He early collaborated with 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:

1. 'Famous First Representations,' 1886.
2. 'The Faust Legend,' 1886.
3. 'The Prima Donna,' 2 vols. 1888.
4. 'Idols of the French Stage,' 2 vols. 1889.
5. '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.]