George S Edwards - Stone Sculptor

George S Edwards with Dean Slawomir Witon

Westminster Cathedral's late Administrator, Canon Christopher Tuckwell, has finally got an epitaph in place, beneath his memorial mosaic of St Ambrose in St Paul's Chapel, Westminster Cathedral. The mosaic was installed last year.

Nicholas Sloan designed the lettering but wasn't able to engage the letter carving himself and asked George S Edwards, stone sculptor to fulfil the task.

Beginning at the end of January he worked on his knees for a week with his hammer and two chisels. It was his first visit to the cathedral, and he was struck by it's artistic beauty and prayerful atmosphere.

Edwards caused great interest to Cathedral visitors who watched him fascinated. He was particularly taken with a little girl who sat cross legged and observed him keenly for some time.

He enthusiastically told me his focus was to achieve "crisp carving, effective lettering - so it is as beautiful as can be". As Dean Slawomir Witon commented the simple perfectly formed lettering on the memorial is a fitting tribute to his predecessor, who died in 2020.

Stone carver Edwards has a fascinating background. Born in Witney Oxfordshire, in 1989, his parents, Sarah and Peter Edwards, and his brother Alex are all artists. His great grandfather was a noted avant garde Russian artist and political activist, Piotr Ivanovitch Sokolov imprisoned and executed by Stalin in 1937.

The Catholic family changed their name to Edwards when they fled Russia and settled in England but George incorporates S into his professional name in tribute to his grandfather, whom he only recently learnt about.

Sokolov was born in Moscow in 1892 and moved to St.Petersburg where he was head of the art studio ,Leontiy Benois House . There is a family connection to the famous Benois family, prominent artistic members of the intelligentsia in 19th and 20th century Russia, as George's grandfather, married Alexandre Benois.

Sokolov became part of the absurdist movement, Oberiu, which also included actors, musicians and writers during the late 1920's and early 1930's. The movement satirised the Stalinist regime, and Sokolov was arrested along with others and sent to a labour camp. In 1937 he was shot on Stalin's orders.

Sokolov is now recognised as one of the most remarkable draughtsmen of the twentieth century and his work considered the best example of the second wave of new Russian art.

His great grandson originally worked in farming and forestry, having been raised in the countryside, but drew as a hobby. However, his artistic genes prevailed and in 2015 he decided to study at the City and Guilds' school in Kennington, London, with a focus on classical architectural sculpture.

He won a scholarship to go to Rome to study classical monuments in 2017, and was then invited to be part of a project through the Arts School and Windsor Castle and carved a grotesque, one of 13 on the south side of St.George's Chapel replacing eroded Victorian ones.

After graduating in 2018 he rapidly gained his first commission from the Haberdashers Guild in the City of London to carve the WW1 Memorial plaque in the Cloisters of the Guild's Hall in Faringdon.

In 2022 he met King Charles III at the Houses of Parliament after working on the gift from Parliament for the Platinum Jubilee of two large bronze lamp standards in Westminster Hall Garden. He assisted with the inscription letterings.

In 2019 he worked on the vast British D-Day memorial monument at Ver sur Mer in Normandy. Working with Northern Ireland stone masons S.M McConnell from Co.Down, on French limestone, he assisted Richard Kindersley, the lettering designer. Kindersley whose father had been assistant to Eric Gill, previously tutored Edwards in the craft.

160 vast stone columns are engraved with the names of 22,442 fallen under British Command during the battle of Normandy. Completed in 2020, it will be a prominent focus during the 80th anniversary of D-Day commemorations this June .

Apart from these high profile commissions he works for private clients on memorials. He says he doesn't regard it just as work - "It's something I love doing."

Edwards is currently working on a marble portrait of a five year old girl. He showed me a photograph of the cast- it is exquisite, a work of great tenderness and beauty.

He has been extraordinarily fortunate in gaining successive commissions since graduating. In fact he hasn't had time to think about creating a website.

His creative talent and enthusiasm - and modesty- is self-evident. I am sure we will hear and see a lot more of stone carver George S Edwards.

To contact George for commissions email him on: george.s.edwards@hotmail.co.uk