Self-reliant from a young age, the boy Edwards is making and selling busts of famous people on street corners. After serving an apprenticeship with a statue-maker in Smithfield, he takes premises on Eton High Street near Windsor. He is connected to the royal family through the patronage of George III’s secretary, Sir Herbert Taylor. Returning to London in 1819, George Edwards is introduced to the Spenceans and soon begins selling information to the Home Department via officers at Bow Street Police Station.

In the construction of a character and family life for Edwards, Turtle Soup for the King draws on archive and on two colourful accounts in The Authentic History and Edward Aylmer’s 1820 biography, (Memoirs of George Edwards, alias Wards, the acknowledged spy and principal instigator in the Cato-Street plot etc.) The novel weaves found information and known personae with imagined, but entirely credible incidents and encounters to create a portrait of a complex and likely very damaged personality.

In 1819, the Edwards family lived in a cramped alleyway a few minutes’ walk from Bunhill Row and Chiswell Street, which both still exist, as does the courtyard once dominated by Whitbread’s Brewery.

Edwards knows Fleet Street well and frequents Fleet Market, which would be pulled down in about 1830 to make way for the Farringdon Road

.. he walked to Fleet Market in search of gin and mutton. He was about to argue about the high proportion of fat in the shoulder he was buying, when he heard a familiar voice at his side.

Turtle Soup for the King, 20th May, 1820

After the executions, the Cato Street widows are assisted by Alderman Wood to bring a case of High Treason against George Edwards, who has not been called as a witness, and whose whereabouts are the cause of considerable public speculation.

Mrs G and William Edwards

 There was no welcome for the prodigal son, whose saddlebags contained his mother’s favourite gin and a packet of chops. His brother, William snoozed on the rocker by a dead fire in the parlour and groaned when he was nudged. Ma was probably down the Crown and Sceptre, he yawned, whipping up custom.

Turtle Soup for the King, 30th April, 1819

Archive references to the Crown and Sceptre on Little Arthur Street were the key to establishing the location of the Edwards’s home alley, Banks Court, of which there are at least two in London in 1819. A further hint is young George Edwards’s conviction for stealing a shoe-brush on nearby Golden Lane, which (in 1819 and 2021) leads on to Old Street.

MAP REFERENCES:

Horewood Regency A—Z: p 5 Bd

Contemporary London A-Z: p 195 F6, 

Banks Court and most of the surrounding alleys and courts disappear in Victorian redevelopment and /or bombing raids in World War Two. The site is north of the Barbican, between the old Artillery Ground on Bunhill Row ( One reference places Banks Court second on the left from 109 Bunhill Row) and the site of Whitecross Prison, which is commemorated in a plaque and a street name.

Despite her tough, selfish manners, there’s a sense that Mrs G is fond of her boys. She would like to have two constable sons, but like most of her advice, it’s likely to be ignored by George.

“With all the plotting and sedition in the streets, what London needs, George, is more Runners. William’s making a success of it, and your brain’s double the size. There ain’t much pay in it, but the work’s steady. And as far as I can see, there are perks.”

Turtle Soup for the King, 30th April, 1819

It seems likely - and is assumed in the novel, that William Edwards has always lived in the shadow of his older brother, George. For all his apparent weakness, William maintains his deceit flawlessly and has even acted as secretary (in life and in fiction) of Thistlewood’s Spencean group.

Tilly Buck / Edwards / Parker

Virtually nothing is known of the wife of the historical George Edwards. It was a joy to create Tilly for him; she’s almost a match. Their relationship is predictably fragile, but they encourage each other to a humanity that is lacking elsewhere in their lives. An invented character, Tilly has no bearing on the conspiracy, except to illuminate George Edwards’s deeply damaged character in ways that might not be possible without her.

He had learnt the verse from Tilly, who had learnt it from a singer of comic opera (though the impertinent dance that accompanied the song was certainly her own)

Turtle Soup for the King, 30th April 1819

Tilly’s” lark” song comes from a comic opera version by Frederic Reynolds of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors.

Two actresses star in the adaptation which has additional music, including “the lark song,” composed by Sir Henry Bishop, now best known for Home Sweet Home. As successful entertainers, the artistes indicate Tilly’s aspirations. (In fact the show premieres at Covent Garden in December, 1819; Tilly has probably heard them rehearsing.)

 CAPE COLONY

In the aftermath of the trials, with public fury mounting, the British Establishment wants George Edwards out of the way. Letters to the Home Department written while he is waiting for a ship - and for certain members of his family - indicate that he has no idea what their destination will be.

The timing coincides with British plans to expand the Cape Colony, previously considered suitable only as a supply station for vessels bound for the Far East and New South Wales. It is no coincidence that the Governor General, Charles Somerset is a close friend of the uncrowned King George IV.

George Edwards uses yet another pseudonym, believed to be Parker, but little is known about his life on the southern tip of Africa.

For a story teller, that ignorance is an opportunity to consider retribution.

In late April, 1819, just as Edwards prepares to travel to London, the fifth Frontier war breaks out in the territory now known as the Eastern Cape. Xhosa Chief, Makhana Nxele leads 10,000 warriors into the British garrison town of Grahamstown, 70 miles north east of Algoa Bay. 350 troops are stationed there and can only defeat the Xhosa, with superior weapons and the support of a Khoikhoi warriors. Makhana is imprisoned on Robben Island and (until he drowns, trying to escape) works in the quarry, just like, in the 1960’s fellow Xhosas , Nelson Mandela and friends.

In 1820, George Edwards arrives in a region, now known as Eastern Cape, in which Dutch and British communities distrust each other, while the Xhosa nations squabble amongst themselves and with the local Khoi Kho community. It’s a melting pot that contributes to the challenges of modern South Africa.

Relationships between the groups are fuelled not only by suspicion and ignorance, but also by the outcome of the frontier wars and other negotiations.  British sovereignty of the Cape Colony has been recognised at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, with the Dutch accepting payment of 6 million pounds.

Under British rule, that is Charles Somerset’s governorship, legislation - whether intentionally or not - pitches communities against each, mostly through sensitivities over land. Missionaries are coerced into acting as spies, and British settlers are encouraged in the hope of stabilizing British rules and strengthening the economy. It is this canvas which awaits George Edwards, at least in his fictional incarnation.

In 2018, Grahamstown is renamed Makhanda.

For an understanding of this stage in South Africa’s history, I recommend:

FRONTIERS. The Epic of South Africa’s Creation and the Tragedy of the Xhosa People, by Noel Mostert, 1992.