Fleetwood Edwards

Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Fleetwood Isham Edwards GCVO KCB ISO (21 April 1842 – 14 August 1910) was Keeper of the Privy Purse to Queen Victoria from 1895 to 1901.

Lieutenant-Colonel The Right Honourable Sir Fleetwood Isham Edwards GCVO KCB ISO
Keeper of the Privy Purse
In office 1895–1901
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Preceded by	Sir Henry Ponsonby
Succeeded by	Sir Dighton Probyn
Personal details
Born	21 April 1842 Thames Ditton, Surrey
Died	14 August 1910 (1910-08-15) (aged 68) The Manor House, Lindfield, Sussex
Nationality	British
Alma mater	Royal Military Academy Sandhurst

Early life and personal life

After attending Harrow School, Edwards entered Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in 1861. He received a commission in the Royal Engineers in 1863.[1] Edwards was married to Edith Smith-Masters, who died 9 March 1873.[2] He remarried in 1880 to Mary Routledge Majendie.[3]

Royal service

Edwards served as Aide-de-camp to the Governor of Bermuda between 1867 and 1869, an Assistant Inspector of Works at the Royal Arsenal from 1870 to 1873, then as aide-de-camp to the Inspector General of Fortifications from 1873 to 1878,[4] and later was attached to the special embassy at the Congress of Berlin in 1878.[5] Edwards served as a Groom-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria from 1880 and 1895, whereupon he became Keeper of the Privy Purse until her death in 1901. He was designated as an Extra Equerry to the Queen from 1888 until her death. He served as an executor of Queen Victoria's will in 1901.[1] During his time as a member of Queen Victoria's court, a zebra died under the care of Edwards, which was said to greatly annoy the Queen.[6] Edwards was blamed for not contacting London Zoo, and the animal had to be buried at Windsor Castle.[6]

Between 1901 and 1910 he served as a Serjeant-at-Arms in the House of Lords to King Edward VII. He was appointed Paymaster of the Household in 1910 to King George V, which duty he performed until his death later that year.

Honours

• 1877 Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, KCB
• 2 February 1901: Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, GCVO[7]

He also held the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd Class, with Star.[3]

He was a Trustee of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses.[5]

Cricket career

Edwards narrowly failed to get into the first XI during his time at Harrow School.[8] He played a number of matches for the Royal Engineers, and for the Knickerbockers. In 1866 he made his only first-class cricket appearance, playing for I Zingari, a club he likely joined due to his close links with the Ponsonby family; many of whom he worked alongside at court. During this match, against a Gentlemen of the South including W. G. Grace and two of his brothers, Edwards top-scored for I Zingari in the first-innings, remaining 27 not out at the close of the innings. He only managed to score 12 runs in the second-innings, and his side lost by 121 runs to the Gentlemen.[9] In 1870 he became a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and he continued to play amateur cricket for I Zingari and other sides until 1872.[10]

References

1. "16. Edwards ( Sir Fleetwood Isham, 1842-1910 )". Bloomsbury Auctions. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
2. "Monumental Inscriptions from St John the Baptist Church, Meopham". KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
3. Walford, Edward (1919). The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (59 ed.). London: R Hardwicke. p. 422. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
4. "Sir F.I. Edwards". The Advertiser. Adelaide, Australia. 16 August 1910. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
5. "Sir F.I. Edwards Dead" (PDF). The New York Times. New York, United States. 15 August 1910. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
6. "NAHSTE: Letter to James Cossar Ewart from James Reid". NAHSTE: Navigational Aids for the History of Science Technology & the Environment. Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
7. "No. 27285". The London Gazette. 15 February 1901. p. 1145.
8. "Obituaries in 1910". Wisden. 1911. Retrieved 31 October 2010.
9. "Gentlemen of the South v I Zingari". CricketArchive. 8 August 1866. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
10. "Teams Fleetwood Edwards played for". CricketArchive. Retrieved 31 October 2010.

Court offices
Preceded by Sir Henry Ponsonby	Keeper of the Privy Purse 1895–1901	Succeeded by Sir Dighton Probyn