Reply To: Family Stories From The Other Side ~ Book Two

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    Albert Parker Edwards

    1876-1930

    Albert Parker Edwards

     

    Albert Parker Edwards, my great grandfather, was born in Aston, Warwickshire in 1876.  On the 1881 census he was living with his parents Enoch and Amelia in Bournebrook, Northfield, Worcestershire.  Enoch was a button tool maker at the time of the census.

    In 1890 Albert was indentured in an apprenticeship as a pawnbroker in Tipton, Staffordshire.

    1890 indenture

     

    On the 1891 census Albert was a lodger in Tipton at the home of Phoebe Levy, pawnbroker, and Alberts occupation was an apprentice.

    Albert married Annie Elizabeth Stokes in 1898 in Evesham, and their first son, my grandfather Albert Garnet Edwards (1898-1950), was born six months later in Crabbs Cross.  On the 1901 census, Annie was in hospital as a patient and Albert was living at Crabbs Cross with a boarder, his brother Garnet Edwards.  Their two year old son Albert Garnet was staying with his uncle Ralph, Albert Parkers brother, also in Crabbs Cross.

    Albert and Annie kept the Cricketers Arms hotel on Beoley Road in Redditch until around 1920. They had a further four children while living there: Doris May Edwards (1902-1974),  Ralph Clifford Edwards (1903-1988),  Ena Flora Edwards (1908-1983) and Osmond Edwards (1910-2000).

     

    In 1906 Albert was assaulted during an incident in the Cricketers Arms.

    Bromsgrove & Droitwich Messenger – Saturday 18 August 1906:

    1906 incident

    1906 assault

     

    In 1910 a gold medal was given to Albert Parker Edwards by Mr. Banks, a policeman, in Redditch for saving the life of his two children from drowning in a brook on the Proctor farm which adjoined The Cricketers Arms.  The story my father heard was that policeman Banks could not persuade the town of Redditch to come up with an award for Albert Parker Edwards so policeman Banks did it himself.  William Banks, police constable, was living on Beoley Road on the 1911 census. His son Thomas was aged 5 and his daughter Frances was 8.  It seems that when the father retired from the police he moved to Worcester. Thomas went into the hotel business and in 1939 was the manager of the Abbey hotel in Kenilworth. Frances married Edward Pardoe and was living along Redditch Road, Alvechurch in 1939.

    My grandmother Peggy had the gold medal put on a gold chain for me in the 1970s.  When I left England in the 1980s, I gave it back to her for safekeeping. When she died, the medal on the chain ended up in my fathers possession, who claims to have no knowledge that it was once given to me!

    The medal:

    1910 medal

    Albert Parker Edwards wearing the medal:

    APE wearing medal

     

    In 1921 Albert was at the The Royal Exchange hotel in Droitwich:

    Royal Exchange

     

    Between 1922 and 1927 Albert kept the Bear Hotel in Evesham:

    APE Bear

    The Bear

     

    Then Albert and Annie moved to the Red Lion at Astwood Bank:

    Red Lion

     

    Albert in the garden behind the Red Lion:

    APE Red Lion

     

    They stayed at the Red Lion until Albert Parker Edwards died on the 11th of February, 1930 aged 53.

    APE probate