Born at Guildford, Surrey, the son of a solicitor (see T. Edmonds above), and educated at Ashburton Grammar School, Devon. He decided to become a solicitor himself and was articled to a firm in London. After qualifying, however, he moved to join a firm in Bath. He was called up during the first World War and after being wounded on the beaches at Gallipoli, he returned to live with his father at ‘Strathmore’, Totnes, south Devon, and to join his father's firm in which he became a partner. Edmonds, who was sometimes known as ‘The’ Edmonds because of his initials, never married. He died of heart failure when leaving his house to go on a fire alert, and was succeeded by two sisters. Edmonds added a number of species to the British list including (Cartodere) Dienerella separanda (Reitter) (ERJV., 42, 1930, p.148); Gymentron plantaginis Epph. (EMM., 66, 1930, p.110) Staphylinus winkleri Bernh. (ibid., 66, 1930, p.273) and Scopaeus abbreviatus Rey and Muls. (ibid., 68, 1932, pp.206-209. He also described four species as new to science, none of which has survived: Ceuthorrhynchus paulustre (ERJV.,42, 1930, pp.23-24); Cephennium pallidum (EMM.,67, 1931, p.272); Scopaeus gracilipes (ibid., 69, 1933, pp.7-10); and Tachys piceus (ibid., 70, 1934, pp.7-10). His other articles included a review of the genus Scopaeus Er. (ibid., 68, pp.206-209) and notes on the local Devon fauna which appeared in J. Torquay nat. Hist. Soc., eg. 4, 1924/25, pp.194, 281. Edmonds accompanied Donisthorpe on a number of trips to Windsor and is recorded to have been a great admirer of Miss Florence Kirk. Cephennium edmondsi was named after him by Donisthorpe. This is presumably the Edmonds referred to by Morley (1899) p.1. Edmonds' collection amounting to 10,000 specimens, which included material collected by his father, was acquired by Manchester through R.W.Lloyd in 1958. The data accompanying the collection is extremely poor, and the book which went with it has been lost. Many specimens without any data have been thrown out and others used for educational purposes. The remainder occupy 40 drawers. Most of the specimens are mounted on clear perspex and Colin Johnson told me that he thought it appeared to have been arranged by colour! A report on the collection was made by Donisthorpe and is also in the Museum. Apart from the above Hancock and Pettit (1981) note that there may be a small cabinet of Carabidae at York Museum which may have belonged to Edmonds, and that his manuscript material is in the Museum at Torquay. There is an obituary by Donisthorpe in EMM., 80, 1944, p.162, and a note by E.A.Cockayne in Proc.RESL., (C)9, 1945, p.47. (MD 10/02)
Dates
13 March 1887 - 30 April 1944