Figurative and hard-edge abstract painter, photographer, draughtsman and teacher, born in Bromley, Kent. Attended Ealing Junior School of Art, 1942–5, then the senior school, 1945–8. Between 1945–8 Edkins painted, gardened and taught part-time, then entered the school of painting at Royal College of Art, 1954–7. After a travelling scholarship to Greece, from 1958–61 taught at Bideford School of Art, lecturing in painting at Liverpool College of Art, 1961–6. Exhibited at Liverpool Academy and was a prizewinner at John Moores Liverpool Exhibition in 1965. Although Edkins was absorbed in his work, three major heart operations undermined his strength. He was a dedicated teacher, a man with wide, lively and quirky enthusiasms, ranging from music, personal products of the industrial age and motor racing to the making and launching of fire balloons.