Maurice Henry Edwards, OBE (17 May 1886 – 26 April 1961) was a British Anglican priest. During World War II, from 1940 to 1944, he was Chaplain-in-Chief of the Royal Air Force.
Edwards was born on 17 May 1886. He was educated at Ripon Grammar School and Queens' College, University of Cambridge.[1] He trained for Holy Orders at Leeds Clergy School, before leaving in 1911 to be ordained in the Church of England.[2]
Edwards was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1911 and as a priest in 1912.[3] He was a curate in Bedale, North Riding, Yorkshire, from 1911 to 1914.[1]
He was appointed a Royal Navy chaplain on 6 August 1914.[4] He then served in the First World War.[2]
In 1918, he joined the fledgling Royal Air Force Chaplaincy Service.[2] He was granted the relative rank of squadron leader on 1 August 1919,[5] the relative rank of wing commander on 6 August 1929,[6] and the relative rank of group captain on 6 August 1934.[7] He saw active service in Iraq from 1919 to 1921, in Egypt from 1921 to 1924 and then in Iraq again from 1930 to 1932.[2]
On 10 April 1940, he was appointed Chaplain-in-Chief, the most senior chaplain of the Royal Air Force, and granted the relative rank of air commodore.[8] In 1941, he convinced C. S. Lewis to undertake tours of RAF bases as a lay lecturer.[9]
From 1944 to 1947, he was based at the Rother Vale Collieries, after which he became rector of Acton Burnell cum Pitchford, a post he held until his retirement in 1953.[1]
He died on 26 April 1961.[10]
In the 1928 King's Birthday Honours, Edwards was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).[11]
He was appointed an Honorary Chaplain to the King (KHC) on 10 April 1940.[8]
