Thomas Victor Edwards
Thomas Victor Edwards | |
|---|---|
| Other name | T. V. Edwards |
| Occupation | Solicitor |
| Known for | Founding the law firm TV Edwards (1929) |
| Relatives | Roland Edwards (brother) Anthony Edwards (nephew) |
Thomas Victor Edwards, known as T. V. Edwards, was an English solicitor who founded the London law firm TV Edwards in 1929. He set up the practice on Great Prescot Street (now Prescot Street) in Aldgate, in the East End of London, where it served local clients including dockworkers injured in workplace accidents.[1][2] Accounts published by the firm say that he took on criminal cases at a time when few lawyers did, and that his clients included members of the Kray gang and one of the Great Train Robbers.[1][2]
The firm he founded still bears his initials. By the early 2010s it had grown through a series of mergers into one of London's largest legal aid firms,[3] and it celebrated its 95th anniversary in January 2025.[1] Edwards is depicted, with his nephew Anthony Edwards, on a large mural painted in 2011 on the wall of the firm's offices on Mile End Road.[4][5]
Legal career
[edit]Edwards established his practice in 1929 on Great Prescot Street in Aldgate.[1][6] The firm's early work reflected the economy of the surrounding East End: according to the firm, it acted for local dockworkers injured in workplace accidents during the heyday of the London docks.[1][2]
Edwards himself is associated with criminal defence work. The firm's published history describes him as one of the first lawyers to take on criminal cases and states that he represented members of the Kray gang and one of the Great Train Robbers.[1][2] These claims are made by the firm and repeated in trade press coverage of its anniversary; independent contemporary accounts of those cases naming him have not been identified.
Family
[edit]Edwards's brother, Roland Edwards, also practised with the firm. He specialised in personal injury work for dockworkers and, according to the firm, became known as "the Attorney General of the Docks".[1][2]
His nephew, Anthony Edwards, grew up around the practice; as a boy he accompanied his uncle on his rounds, carrying his briefcase.[4] Anthony Edwards joined the firm as an articled clerk in 1972, was its senior partner for 15 years until 2015, and retired in October 2019.[6] He became a prominent criminal defence solicitor, serving on the Sentencing Guidelines Council and the Law Society's criminal law committee, and writing practitioner texts on criminal law.[7][8]
Legacy
[edit]TV Edwards
[edit]The firm Edwards founded continued under the family name. Under Anthony Edwards's leadership it expanded between 2008 and 2011 by merging with or absorbing a number of London practices, including Taylor Nichol, Blacklaws Davis, Dundons, Bennett Wilkins, Sheratte Caleb, JB Wheatley & Co and Mark & Co, which the Law Society Gazette said consolidated its position as one of London's largest legal aid firms.[3] It became a limited liability partnership in 2007[9] and today practises from offices in Whitechapel and Clapham Junction.[1]
Mile End mural
[edit]In 2011 TV Edwards was refused permission for a large advertisement on the side wall of its Mile End Road building. Anthony Edwards instead commissioned the artist Mychael Barratt to paint a mural there, having noticed Barratt's work on a hoarding.[4] Barratt designed the mural and painted it with James Glover and Nicholas Middleton over six weeks in the summer of 2011.[4][10]
The mural depicts people and buildings associated with the history of Mile End Road and Whitechapel Road,[11] among them William Booth, Mahatma Gandhi, Edith Cavell and Isaac Rosenberg. The published key identifies T. V. Edwards as the founder of the firm in 1929, and shows Anthony Edwards as a boy.[4] London Remembers records T. V. and Anthony Edwards as creators of the memorial.[5][10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "TV Edwards: East London law firm celebrates 95 years of service". New Law Journal. 20 January 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "TV Edwards Celebrates 95 Years in Business". TV Edwards LLP. 20 January 2025. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- 1 2 Baksi, Catherine (1 September 2011). "TV Edwards reveals two new mergers". Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 The Gentle Author (10 September 2015). "Mychael Barratt's Mile End Mural". Spitalfields Life. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - 1 2 "T. V. and Anthony Edwards". London Remembers. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- 1 2 "TV Edwards Celebrate 90 Years in East End of London". TV Edwards LLP. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- ↑ Baksi, Catherine (17 July 2008). "Day in the life". Law Society Gazette. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- ↑ "Escape from the Shades: Bishop's Stortford retired solicitor Anthony Edwards turns his criminal advocacy skills to writing a book for his five grandchildren". Bishop's Stortford Independent. 2 February 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- ↑ "TV EDWARDS LLP (OC325696)". Companies House. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- 1 2 "Mile End mural". London Remembers. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
- ↑ "A New Mural For The East End". Londonist. August 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2026.
External links
[edit]- TV Edwards LLP – official website of the firm Edwards founded