View source for Henry William John Edwards

{{Short description|Welsh author (1910–1991)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Henry William John Edwards''' (1910–1991) was a Welsh author. From a nonconformist background, he converted to Catholicism at the beginning of [[World War II]]. In later life he was a [[Welsh Nationalist]] associated with [[Plaid Cymru]].<ref name="NC">{{cite book |last1=Stephens |first1=Meic |title=The New Companion to the Literature of Wales |date=1998 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-0-7083-1383-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WoMYAAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref> He wrote that "The paradox is that the conservative trait has the effect of conserving radical forces."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Simon |title=Why Wales Never Was: The Failure of Welsh Nationalism |date=1 June 2017 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=978-1-78683-013-5 |page=125 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TeyVDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA125 |language=en}}</ref>
==Life==
Edwards was born into a Welsh family in London.<ref name="NC"/> He was educated at [[Mercers' School]] and the [[University of Oxford]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=Chesterton's "Brilliant Jewish Adventurer" |url=https://www.pdcnet.org/chesterton/content/chesterton_1991_0017_0001_0047_0059?file_type=pdf |journal=The Chesterton Review|volume=17|issue=1|date=February 1991|page=47 |language=en |doi=10.5840/chesterton19911719 }}</ref> He lived in Wales from age 19.<ref name="NC"/>
Edwards was from a [[Quaker]] family background.<ref name="Quakers">{{cite journal |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=In Praise of Quakers |journal=Blackfriars |date=1948 |volume=29 |issue=342 |pages=409 |jstor=43812521 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43812521 |issn=1754-2014}}</ref> In 1938 he was described as a Christian and former Communist.<ref>{{cite news |title=A True Picture |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001465/19380328/303/0011 |work=Sheffield Independent |date=28 March 1938|page=11}}</ref> Around that time, he had associations with the [[British Union of Fascists]], attending a meeting hosted by [[Alexander Raven Thomson]], and contributing to the ''British Union Quarterly''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lawson |first1=Tom |title=God and War: The Church of England and Armed Conflict in the Twentieth Century |date=22 April 2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-12667-6 |page=108 note 34 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ecFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA108 |language=en}}</ref> Of his 1942 conversion to Catholicism, while in the army, he wrote in 1948 that:
<blockquote>When I became a Catholic I was in fact rather embarrassed by those Quakers who gave me credit for an interest in the spiritual life that I did not possess. I did not, as they believed, become a Catholic in a mysterious leap from pole to pole, nor because I saw a similarity in the writings of [[Isaac Penington (Quaker)|Isaac Penington]] and of [[St John of the Cross]]. I became a Catholic simply because I was afraid of going to [[hell]].<ref name="Quakers"/></blockquote>
In later life Edwards was a supporter of [[Traditionalist Catholicism]], opposed to [[Vatican II]]. He worked as a journalist and accountant. His wife was from the [[Rhondda Valley]], and he settled in [[Trealaw]] in 1947.<ref name="NC"/>
==Works==
*''The Radical Tory: Disraeli's Political Development Illustrated from His Original Writings and Speeches'' (1937), editor<ref>{{cite book |last1=Disraeli |first1=Benjamin |title=The Radical Tory: Disraeli's Political Development Illustrated from His Original Writings and Speeches; Selected Edited and Introduced by H.W.J. Edwards; with a Pref. by G.M. Young |date=1937 |publisher=J. Cape |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0xB_swEACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
*''Young England'' (1938)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=Young England |date=1938 |publisher=Hutchinson & Company |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dmcJAQAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
*''The Good Patch'' (1938)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=The Good Patch |date=1938 |publisher=J. Cape |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5LIuAAAAIAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
*''What is Welsh Nationalism?'' (1954)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=What is Welsh Nationalism? |date=1954 |publisher=J.E. Jones |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k27cPQAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
*''Sons of the Romans: The Tory as Nationalist'' (1975)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Edwards |first1=H. W. J. |title=Sons of the Romans: The Tory as Nationalist |date=1975 |publisher=C. Davies |isbn=978-0-7154-0088-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbR1QgAACAAJ |language=en}}</ref>
==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Henry William John}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:Welsh nationalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Welsh writers]]