Early Army Life
Edmonds was educated at King's College School, London and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Edmonds passed into the Royal Military Academy with the highest marks instructors could remember, he won the Sword of Honour for the 'Best Gentleman Cadet' and was commissioned into the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1881. In the Royal Engineers his intellect earned him the nickname Archimedes.
Edmonds possessed a considerable intellect and was fluent in many European and Asian languages. In 1896 he entered the Staff College at Camberley, achieving the highest score of his class on the entrance exam, double that of classmate Douglas Haig who would later become commander-in-chief of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the First World War. Also in the 1896 class was Edmund Allenby, who would lead British forces in Palestine during 1917–18, and William Robertson who became Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1916.
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