Edwardes's mother died during his infancy, and from the age of four, following his father's death in 1823, he was brought up in the household of a deeply religious aunt, from whom he developed his own strongly Protestant Christian faith.

He went on to study Classics and Mathematics at King's College, London, and developed there a great interest in modern literature, composing poetry and drawing.

He applied directly to Sir Richard Jenkins, of Bicton Hall, Salop, a deputy chairman of the East India Company,[1] formerly of the Bombay Civil Service,[2] Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury in 1837, and family friend, for a cadetship in the Bengal Infantry.

He landed at Calcutta early in 1841, aged 22, and from July 1842 served as a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Bengal European Regiment, first at Dinapore and then at Karnal, a frontier station.

His essays became well-read throughout British India and particularly impressed the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army himself, Sir Hugh Gough, who appointed Edwardes a member of his personal staff.

Edwardes served as aide-de-camp to Gough during the First Anglo-Sikh War and fought at Mudki on 18 December 1845, where he was wounded, and at the final bloody rout of the Sikhs at Sobraon on 10 February 1846.

[4] The events and disturbances which grew into the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–49 started at Multan, in southern Punjab, under the governorship of Dewan Mulraj, near which fortified town Edwardes found himself at the time, devoid of military support.

Sensing that time was of the essence to prevent the rebellion spreading rapidly to the whole of the Punjab, and having no senior officer to consult, Edwardes made his response at first on his own initiative.

[6] He returned to a hero's welcome in England and Shropshire, was thanked by both Houses of Parliament and on 12 June 1850 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) by Oxford University.

It was this decisive action of Sir John Lawrence's, in taking the risk to leave the Punjab undefended, a policy opposed by Edwardes, which earned for him the sobriquet "The Saviour of India".

"[9] Early in 1862, aged 43, with improved health he again returned to the Punjab, and was appointed to the prestigious Commissionership of Ambala and as agent for the Cis-Sutlej states.

He had been engaged for some time on writing a biography of his old chief Sir Henry Lawrence, and high expectations were held for the work, which he did not, however, live to complete, which task was performed by Herman Merivale.

He was buried in the Meadow on the western side of Highgate Cemetery[10] and is commemorated by a mural tablet in Westminster Abbey and a stained glass window in the chapel of King's College London.