Elizabeth Harriet (Hettie) Edwards F.L.A. (?-1991) 92^nd President

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Sadly we have no obituary of Hetty Edwards, but there is a wonderful tribute to her created on the National Museum of Wales blog pages which gives a fascinating insight into some aspects of her life and is well worth reading: -

1. Hetty Edwards - Part One by Mel Taylor, 22 June 2017
2. Hetty Edwards - Part Two by Mel Taylor, 10 August 2017
3. Hetty Edwards - Part Three by Mel Taylor, 6 September 2017

There is also a related article also published on the Museum blog which gives the dates that she served as Librarian for the Society, and some information about the Society library

The Library of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society by Kristine Chapman, 9 October 2017

She had been adopted in North Wales into the Moss family aged 9 and was a lifelong friend to her adopted sister Gwenfron. They had lived together a number of times when Gwenfron was in Wales (she did missionary work in China, India and Zambia). it is also notes in the section on Gwenfron Moss on the Dictionary of Welsh biography that Gwenfron died just 2 weeks before Hetty in 1991

As noted, these combine to give a good picture of Hetty and there is no need to repeat all of that here.

In relation to her membership of the Society, Hetty was a member for many years and for six years she served both the Museum and Society as Librarian and it is in that role that we have a picture of her at the centenary celebrations in 1967. She gave her presidential address on the topic of "People and Books" which is clearly the way she saw libraries should be, rather than just repositories.

Hetty Edwards at the Cardiff Naturalists' Society Centenary Celebrations in 1967

in Volume XCV of the Transactions for 1968-70 (published in 1971) she wrote a history of the Society library and described it's place within the Museum and the Librarians who had served both bodies. in that she writes.

Although the Library has been in the care of the Museum Librarian since 1927, the honorary librarian has always been a member of the Society.

Sadly this is not currently the case, but we can only hope that in keeping a close working relationship with the Museum and through documenting the role that key people such as Hetty had in both organizations, that we retain some of the history of the collection

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Before this... Dr. Werner K. Bernfeld M.R.C.S., L.R.CP., M.D. (Lpz.) (?-197?) 91^st President

Next up... Harman A. Bowen A.R.I.B.A. 93^rd President

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These pages are part of the Cardiff Naturalists' Society 150th Anniversary celebrations and are about our history and are celebrating the people who developed our Society and helped build the city and the cultural heritage of Cardiff. You can read more about that using the links above

If you want to read about the ways we study the wildlife and environment of the Cardiff area and its surroundings, and about the talks we have about the wildlife of the world, and find the programme of talks, walks and other events that we do then please take a look at our main website, our blog and our facebook and twitter feeds for up to date news