Maurice Edwards
{{Short description|British Anglican priest}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = priest
| honorific-prefix = The Venerable
| name = Maurice Edwards
| honorific-suffix = OBE
| title = Chaplain-in-Chief, Royal Air Force
| church = Church of England
| term = 1940 to 1944
| predecessor = James Walkey
| successor = John Jagoe
| other_post =
| ordination = 1911
| ordained_by =
| birth_name = Maurice Henry Edwards
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1886|5|17}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1961|4|26|1886|5|17}}
| death_place =
| buried =
| nationality = British
| religion = Anglicanism
| residence =
| parents =
| spouse =
| children =
| occupation =
| profession =
| previous_post =
| education = Ripon Grammar School
| alma_mater = Queens' College, Cambridge
}}
Maurice Henry Edwards, OBE (17 May 1886 – 26 April 1961) was a British Anglican priest. During World War II, from 1940 to 1944, he was Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force.
Early life
Edwards was born on 17 May 1886. He was educated at Ripon Grammar School and Queens' College, University of Cambridge."Who was Who" 1897-2007 London, A & C Black, 2007 {{ISBN|978-0-19-954087-7}} He trained for Holy Orders at Leeds Clergy School, before leaving in 1911 to be ordained in the Church of England.{{cite web |title=Edwards, Rev. Maurice Henry, (17 May 1886–26 April 1961), KHC |website=Who Was Who |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U54257 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U54257 |date=1 December 2007}}
Career
Edwards was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1911 and as a priest in 1912.Crockford's clerical directory 1947-48 Oxford, OUP, 1947 He was a curate in Bedale, North Riding, Yorkshire, from 1911 to 1914.
He was appointed a Royal Navy chaplain on 6 August 1914.{{London Gazette |issue=28864 |date=7 August 1914 |page=6203 }} He then served in the First World War.
In 1918, he joined the fledgling Royal Air Force Chaplaincy Service. He was granted the relative rank of squadron leader on 1 August 1919,{{London Gazette |issue=32017 |date= 13 August 1920|page=8410 }} the relative rank of wing commander on 6 August 1929,{{London Gazette |issue=33531 |date=3 September 1929 |page=5720 }} and the relative rank of group captain on 6 August 1934.{{London Gazette |issue=34078 |date=14 August 1934 |page=5195 }} He saw active service in Iraq from 1919 to 1921, in Egypt from 1921 to 1924 and then in Iraq again from 1930 to 1932.
On 10 April 1940, he was appointed Chaplain-in-Chief, the most senior chaplain of the Royal Air Force, and granted the relative rank of air commodore.{{London Gazette |issue=34831 |date=16 April 1940 |page=2248 }} In 1941, he convinced C. S. Lewis to undertake tours of RAF bases as a lay lecturer.{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Bruce R. |title="Answers that Belonged to Life": C. S. Lewis and the Origins of the Royal Air Force Chaplains' School, Cambridge |journal=Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal |date=2011 |volume=5/6 |pages=81–102 |jstor=48580491 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/48580491 |issn=1940-5537}}
From 1944 to 1947, he was based at the Rother Vale Collieries, after which he became rector of Acton Burnell cum Pitchford, a post he held until his retirement in 1953.
He died on 26 April 1961."Deaths", The Times, 27 April 1961.
Honours
In the 1928 King's Birthday Honours, Edwards was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).{{London Gazette |issue=33390 |date=1 June 1928 |page=3854 |supp=y }}
He was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the King (KHC) on 10 April 1940.
Notes and references
{{Reflist}}
{{S-start}}
{{S-rel|en}}
{{S-bef|before= James Rowland Walkey }}
{{S-ttl|title=Chaplain-in-Chief of the RAF|years= 1940–1944}}
{{S-aft|after=John Arthur Jagoe}}
{{End}}
{{RAF Chaplains-in-Chief}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Maurice Henry}}
Category:People educated at Ripon Grammar School
Category:Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge
Category:Honorary chaplains to the King
Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Royal Air Force Chaplains-in-Chief
Category:World War II chaplains
Category:World War I chaplains
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I
Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I
Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
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