Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell

Template:Short description Template:Redirect Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox officeholder Roger Nicholas Edwards, Baron Crickhowell, PC (25 February 1934 – 17 March 2018) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as an MP from 1970 until 1987 and as Secretary of State for Wales during the first two terms of the Thatcher government.<ref>Who's Who in European Politics page 149</ref>

Early life

Edwards was born in 1934 in Highgate, London, to Ralph Edwards and Marjorie Ingham Brooke.<ref name = ODNB>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> He was educated at Westminster School and, after completing National Service in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in history in 1957.<ref name="Archives Wales">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Guardian Obit"/> He was a director of William Brandt's insurance brokers and became a member of Lloyd's in 1965.<ref name = "ParliamentUK"/><ref name="Int WW 2004">Template:Cite book</ref>

Political career

Edwards left insurance to take Desmond Donnelly's old seat of Pembroke and served as Secretary of State for Wales in Margaret Thatcher's first and second administrations.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/>

He was adopted by the Pembrokeshire Conservative Party as parliamentary candidate for Pembroke in 1968.<ref name="Jones the History">Template:Cite journal</ref>

At the 1970 general election, he was elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire, which he represented until his retirement at the 1987 general election.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> From 1975 to 1979, he was Opposition Spokesman for Welsh Affairs (in other words, the Shadow Secretary of State for Wales).<ref name = "ParliamentUK"/> When Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister in 1979, Edwards was appointed Secretary of State for Wales.<ref name = "ParliamentUK"/> He served in that position until 1987, when he was given a life peerage, being created on 15 October 1987 as Baron Crickhowell, of Pont Esgob in the Black Mountains and County of Powys.<ref name = "ParliamentUK"/><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Later career

Lord Crickhowell was the sole chairman of the National Rivers Authority (NRA) from its inception in 1989 until its merger into the newly created Environment Agency in 1996.<ref name="BBC Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> Although his was a direct political appointment from the Conservative government, Lord Crickhowell showed commitment to the principles of the NRA and the legislation that it enforced.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> He spoke in favour of the natural environment and supporting strong enforcement action against major corporate polluters.<ref name="Guardian Obit">Template:Cite news</ref>

During the 1990s, Lord Crickhowell became a leading figure in the campaign for a permanent home for the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When the plans were rejected by the Government in 1995, he launched a public attack on his former Conservative colleagues.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Lord Crickhowell sat in the House of Lords as a life peer for over 30 years from 1987 until his death in 2018, making his last appearance in September 2017.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He had been associated with many British institutions, including the University of Wales, Cardiff (now Cardiff University), where he was awarded an honorary fellowship in 1984 and served as president from 1988 to 1998.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Guardian Obit"/><ref name = "ParliamentUK">Template:Cite web</ref> He received an honorary LL.D. from the University of Glamorgan in 2001.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name = "WW 2018">Template:Cite book</ref>

Personal life and death

In 1963, Edwards married Ann Healing, and they had three children.<ref name = ODNB/>

Edwards died from cancer in Battersea on 17 March 2018, at the age of 84.<ref name = ODNB/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A memorial service was held at St Margaret's Church Westminster on 23 October 2018.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Works

• Template:Cite speech 1980
• Template:Cite book September 1997
• Template:Cite book October 1999
• Template:Cite speech 2006
• Template:Cite book November 2009

External links

• The Baron Crickhowell (Burke's Peerage)
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