Subject

Born Wales.   Studied at Oxford and entered the church.  Married Elizabeth Pugh, the daughter of the family where he was working as tutor.  Oxford Council Member and Canon of Llandaff Cathedral. He seems to have worked mainly in Wales and we haven't discovered his exact relationship with St David’s Welsh Church in Paddington. See Herry's Archives.

Our colleague, Andrew Behan, suggests a solution to the question about Edwards’ relationship with the church.  Andrew writes:

I find that Edwards was the father of many children, the eldest son, also called Howell Powell Edwards, was born in 1854. The father died on 11 March 1897 and probate was granted to his eldest son, who was a solicitor. The effects totalled over £131,102 - a tidy sum. The son is shown as a voter between 1894 and 1898 at 18 Cleveland Square, Paddington {a magnificent house on the north side of the square} and also on the 1901 census at this address. When he died in 1917 he was living at 51 South Street, Park Lane {a mansion block} and left over £99,937.

From Cleveland Square the church is only a walk away, so could the connection be that, being of Welsh heritage, this was the son’s church and so when his father died in 1897 he commissioned the arch as a memorial for his, also Welsh, father?