George Edwards

Awarded with Archibald Paull the compensation for the enslaved people on Mt Pleasant, New Castle and Kades Bay on Nevis, all as trustees for the creditors of the bankrupt London merchants John Plummer and William Wilson of Fenchurch Street, who had been declared bankrupt in late 1830 or early 1831.

1. George Edwards, a merchant late of 45 Bread Street Cheapside, who died at Sydenham 21/04/1859 leaving £30,000, was the son-in-law of Susan Woodstock Wilkes (q.v.), another claimant on the Mt Pleasant and New Castle estates.

2. This George Edwards was almost certainly the same man as the George Edwards who was shown as a partner in Richards & Co., a major linen-manufacturer and merchant, in 1853. The link appears confirmed by Richards & Co. being given as of Aberdeen, Montrose and [45] Bread Street in the City of London. His partners included Henry Lancelot Holland, later Governor of the Bank of England 1865-7, and John Temple Leader (1810-1903), later a radical MP.

T71/882 Nevis nos. 107, 109 and 124; T71/1038 statement of explanation for interest of Archibald Paull and George Edwards: arose out of bankruptcy of John Plummer and William Wilson, Paull and Edwards acting for creditors of the two men; London Gazette, Issue 18764, 04/01/1831, p. 12.

1. National Probate Calendar 1859.

2. London Gazette 21468 19 August 1853 p. 2295; the 1838 Post Office Directory shows the firm at 45 Bread Street.