George Edwards Brown

George Edwards Brown, known in Chile as Jorge Edwards, was a British-born surgeon, mining entrepreneur and politician who founded the Edwards family of Chile. He was born in London on 27 November 1779, educated at Eton College and later attended the Royal College of Physicians. He went to sea as a ship's surgeon, and in 1803 enlisted as surgeon in a British raider that sacked Coquimbo in 1807. He deserted the ship to stay in Chile, where he married Isabel Ossandon, was baptised a Catholic, and worked for some years as a doctor and surgeon before turning to mining, helping to find silver at Arqueros. He backed the patriot side in the Chilean War of Independence and after the battle of Chacabuco was named chief physician-surgeon of the United Restoration Army. Chile granted him citizenship in 1818, and he later served as a deputy for several districts. He died on 5 March 1848.