Joseph Edwards was born in Merthyr Tydfil, the son of a stonemason. At the age of seventeen, he saw the collection of Celtic stone crosses at Margam Abbey and decided to become a sculptor. In 1837 he became a student at the Royal Academy. In 1838 and 1839 he was awarded the Academy's silver medals for the best models from the antique. Commissions followed, and he executed a large number of allegorical works such as 'The Last Dream', 'Religion consoling Justice', a monument to Sir Bernard Bosanquet at Dingestow church, Mon., and 'Religion', which stands in Cefn cemetery near Merthyr, and which was shown at the international exhibition of 1862. Joseph Edwards undertook commissions for monuments and busts for many members of the leading South Wales families, and his work remains today in many churches and cemeteries in Wales, in Westminster Abbey, in Merthyr town hall, and elsewhere. He executed busts of members of the Beaufort, Guest, Raglan, and Crawshay families. Between 1838 and 1878 Joseph Edwards exhibited seventy of his works at the exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Arts. Finding himself in strained circumstances, he was encouraged by G.F. Watts in 1881 to apply for the Turner bequest of £50 per annum, but died shortly after receiving the first instalment and was buried in Highgate cemetery.