EDWARDS, Samuel (c.1668-1738), of Frodesley, Salop.

Edwards, a minor Exchequer official in 1697, married into the Godolphin family, with whom he thereafter maintained a close connexion, becoming a trustee for Charles Godolphin, M.P., looking after the affairs of Godolphin’s widow, and acting as an executor of Col. Sidney Godolphin.Cal. Treas. Bks. xii, 270; F.G. Marsh, The Godolphins, 13, 22, 23. Early in 1700 he received promotion in the office of Francis Godolphin, later the 2nd Earl, then a teller of the receipt, retaining his place under subsequent holders of the office, and also holding other offices such as cashier and later paymaster of Exchequer bills, and director in several lotteries.Cal. Treas. Bks. xv. 56; xvii. 430; xxiv, 129, 201; xxvii. 400, 485. About this time he acquired land in Shropshire at Frodesley and on Wenlock Edge, near Wenlock,PCC 304 Brodrepp. for which he was returned after a contest as a Whig, probably on the joint interests of William Forester and Lord Bradford, whose brother had been made a teller in 1718. Re-elected in 1727 and 1734, he voted with the Government. His son Godolphin was mayor of Shrewsbury in 1730, in which year the town’s South Sea stock was transferred to Edwards to hold in trust.Salop Arch. Soc. Trans. (ser. 8), xi. 208. He died 12 June 1738, aged 70.