Rev. Richard Edwards died at Ratcliffe, Middlesex, of the plague, 31 Aug. 1625 … Richard Edwards was of St. Botolph's, Aldgate, near Stepney, in 1615 and 1618, and was described as "minister" in the latter year in the baptismal record of his son William, which verifies an early family tradition that William's father was a minister. On 27 Oct. 1620, he was appointed Master of the Free-School at Ratcliffe in Stepney, co. Middlesex, and died there five years later. This is all that is known of him. Ministers were not always university graduates, and the registers of Oxford and Cambridge show several of the name but none who fits our Richard perfectly. Captain Smith thought he might be the Richard Edwards who was born at Bitchfield, co. Lincoln, about 1575, matriculated sizar from Christ's, Cambridge, about 1593, B.A. 1597-8, ordained priest, 25 July 1599, and was Rector of Frieston, co. Lincoln, 1600-14. That would make him nearly forty at marriage, and the present writers see no special reason for accepting the identification.
