Brigadier George Maitland Edwards, D.S.0., died at his home in London on March 27th, 1946, at the age of 63.
He received his mining training in Cumberland, where he served an apprenticeship with Brayton Domain Collieries, Ltd., and studied mining subjects at Aspatria Science College, Carlisle.
In 1900 he went to Queensland, where he worked on various gold mines until 1902, when he left for Siberia. After spending two years at the gold mines of Katchkar, he was appointed manager of the Baku Zaln-at Petroleum Co., Ltd., in 1904, and when that work was interrupted by revolution in the following year he took over the management of the Caucasus Asphalt Co., Ltd.
After a visit to England in 1906 he returned to Siberia and worked on copper and gold mines in the Urals until 1908, when he decided to specialize in petroleum. For the next three years he visited oilfields in Burma, Java, Sumatra and Borneo, and in June, 1911, returned to London and set up in practice as a consulting oil engineer. A year later, however, he took up the appointment of adviser to the Mines Department at Constantinople and some of his observations were published in a paper entitled ‘Notes on Mines of the Ottoman Empire’ (Transactions, vol. 23, 1913-14). In 1913 he returned home, and later reported on oil lands in Oklahoma.
He joined the Royal Artillery on the outbreak of war in 1914, and after serving in France was sent to Gallipoli, where he volunteered for mining operations under Colonel H.W. Laws. On the evacuation of Gallipoli he took his unit to France, and was given command of 254 Tunnelling Company, R.E., and in 1917 was sent to Russia as a staff officer, where he served until 1918. He was demobilized in 1919 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, having been awarded the D.S.C., Croix de Guerre and other foreign decorations.
Owing to ill-health, Brigadier Edwards was unable to resume professional work until 1924, when he took up the management of the Phoenicia Tin Mines, Spain, and in 1926 he restarted his consulting practice. During the following thirteen years he reported on deposits in Greece, Portugal and Morocco, and was consultant to several mining companies.
When the War Office decided to re-form Tunnelling Companies of the Royal Engineers late in 1939, he was commissioned as O.C. of the first Company, which went to France in 1939. Early in 1940 it was used as the nucleus of a group of Companies, with Edwards, now lieutenant-colonel again, in command. Further expansion was intended, and Edwards and several officers selected as C.O.s of new groups were sent to England just before the German break through, and were not permitted to return. In the Army re-organization after Dunkirk, Edwards was promoted to the rank of brigadier, and appointed Chief Engineer of an Army Corps, where he remained until his retirement under the age limit. He was thereupon appointed Deputy Director (Prospecting) of Opencast Coal Production, Ministry of Supply, and in that capacity organized a large team of mining engineers, nearly all members of the Institution. He resigned from this position, owing to ill health, towards the end of 1945.
Brigadier Edwards was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1908.
Vol. 56, Trans IMM 1946-47, pp.616-7
