The son of a priest of the Church of England, Edwards was born in Llanymawddwy in Gwynedd.

[1] In the same year he was ordained as a priest and in 1885 he was appointed the vicar of St Peter's Church, Carmarthen.

[2] In 1889, Edwards was appointed the Bishop of St Asaph:[3] he was elected on 2 March at St Asaph Cathedral[4] and consecrated a bishop on Lady Day 1889 (25 March), by Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, at Westminster Abbey.

[5] He was a strong defender of the rights of the established Church of England in Wales in the face of mounting call for disestablishment from the nonconformist and liberal majority.

[7] From 1928 onwards he was assisted by Thomas Lloyd, Bishop of Maenan,[8][9] the only example of an assistant bishop being given a territorial title in the history of the Church in Wales.