Birmingham Daily Gazette Thursday 23rd July 1942
M.P. Wants Summer Time Extended
The Home Secretary is to be asked Sir Charles Edwards (Lab. Bedwellty) whether he will consider extending the present Summer time arrangement till the end of September, and not take the hour off on 8 August, as suggested.
In 1942 Sir Charles Edwards was very involved and supportive of The Welsh
Courts Act:
A petition, demanding equal status for the Welsh language, was launched during the 1938 National Eisteddfod. More than 250,000 signatures were gathered, and the petition was supported by 30 of 36 Welsh MPs. It paved the way for the Welsh Courts Act. The bill preceding the act had a rapid and unopposed passage through the House of Commons in 1942. The sympathetic hearing it received was epitomised by the words of Sir Charles Edwards, MP for Bedwellty:
“I was at one time check-weigher at the Nine-Mile Point colliery and
local representative of the men. When the pit was first sunk, many
people came to it from other parts, and I remember that some of the north Welshmen who came could not speak a word of English. When they came to see me about something or other, I could not follow their deep Welsh, and there had to be an interpreter between us. If those men did something wrong and had to go to
the local courts, they were at a great disadvantage. It is for that
sort of reason that I think this bill does a very reasonable thing.”
The Welsh Courts Act was passed on 22 October 1942, repealing King of England, Henry VIII’s measures, allowing the use of the Welsh language in courts.
Gloucestershire Echo Saturday 31st December 1949.
M.P. Not Seeking Re-election
Sir Charles Edwards, 82, Labour M.P. for Bedwellty, Monmouthshire, since 1918, i has decided not to stand for re-election at the general election. The new Labour candidate will be Mr. H. J. Finch, of: Barry, Glamorgan. For thirty years miner and then miners’ agent of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, Sir Charles Edwards has held
several high Government offices. He was Lord Commissioner to the Treasury 1929-31; Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury 1940-42; chief Labour Whip 1931-42, and, during the early war years Joint Chief Government Whip. Sir Charles was returned for Bedwellty at the last general election, with majority of 23,839. In
1931 and 1935 he was unopposed. In 1935, the year of his knighthood, he celebrated his golden wedding anniversary. His wife died in 1938.
Birmingham Daily Post Wednesday 16th June 1954
Sir Charles Edwards
Sir Charles Edwards. who was a miner for 30 years and Socialist
M.P. Tor the Bedwellty division of Monmouthshire for 32 years until
he retired in 1950 has died at his home at Risca, Monmouthshire.
He was 87. Sir Charles was first elected to Parliament in 1918 and
was undefeated in subsequent elections. He was appointed Welsh
Whip in 1925 and six years later became Chief Whip of the Labour
Party. He was awarded the C.B.E. in 1930 and knighted in 1935. Sir Charles who was born and educated in Llangunllo, Radnorshire rose from a miner to checkweighman. He became a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury. Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury and for 11 years. From 1931 he was Chief Labour Whip. He always
described his recreation as “work.”
All of Sir Charles Edwards debates in parliament were recorded by
Hansard and are available here:
This is quite the story of someone making their way in the world from such humble beginnings. What inspired him to leave Llangunllo and go to seek his future in the coalfields of South Wales, I doubt we will ever know. However, it does look as though his elder brother made the journey before him. It also speaks volumes about the school that was here in Llangunllo. That’s where Sir Charles was educated before leaving at the age of 12. They obviously taught him well