Constituency : Abingdon 1906-1910, Southwark West 1910-18, Southwark North 1918-23, 1927-9, 1932-9 ( Liberal National for the latter term )
Edward took Abingdon from the Tories.
Edward was the son of a Jewish merchant in London. He was educated at King's College London and overseas colleges. His main business was corn and hops.
Edward was a champion of smallholders' rights.
Edward was defeated in December 1910 and switched to Southwark West in December. He won by 18 votes after a recount.
In 1913, Edward was sued by a constituent for breach of contract for not keeping his electoral pledges. The case was not successful to the great relief of politicians everywhere.
In 1916 Edward led a deputation to Lord Kitchener calling for better defences against air raids on London.
Southwark West was abolished in 1918 so Edward switched to Southwark North. He received the coupon but some local Conservatives were unhappy about this and invited Lieutenant- General Harington from the National Party to stand against him. He agreed to stand as an Independent. Edward also had opposition from Labour and the Discharged Soldiers and Sailors party but won the seat by 2,071 votes.
In 1922, Edward stood as a Lloyd George Liberal and defeated Labour in a straight contest. In 1923, Labour's Leslie Haden-Guest unseated him by 362 votes. In 1924 Edward failed to win the seat back as the Conservatives entered the fray.
In 1927, Haden-Guest resigned from the Labour party over its policy on China and decided to fight a by-election as a Constitutionalist supported by the local Conservative party. Edward profited from the split in the Labour vote and the absence of a Conservative and won his seat back with Haden-Guest coming third.
Labour narrowly regained the seat in 1929 in a three-cornered contest during which Edward complained about disruption of his meetings by Labour supporters.
In 1931 Edward stood as the government candidate , the Tory candidate in 1929 agreeing to step aside. Edward regained the seat for a third time with a majority of 5,992.
Edward was not initially a member of Simon's grouping but by 1932 had thrown in his lot with it , writing to Samuel that the party could not be revived by a policy of "Back to Free Trade."
In 1935 Edward held onto his seat as a Liberal National by 79 votes. Edward had been beset by business failures in the thirties and had to sell personal assets to meet his creditors. He conceded during the campaign that he was now "an impoverished man".
Edward was known for local philanthropy.
Towards the end of 1938, Edward had to enter a nursing home aged 76.
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