Frederick Arthur Edmonds was born in Madras India, where his father was a Bandsman in the British Army. Edmonds was also a musician, and he moved to Guelph, Ont. before the WWI to become a member of Guelph's symphony orchestra. He had been in the 1st Essex Regiment, British Army, and in the Canadian Militia before the war, and enlisted on 23 September 1914 at Valcartier Quebec in the 11th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. In March 1915, Edmonds sailed to England, and on the 26th of April joined the 4th Battalion (Central Ontario) of the 1st Division, in Boulogne. He was in the front line trenches from April 1915 to April 1917, and was invalided home just before the battle of Vimy Ridge. Sources: taken from information received with fonds, and Hayes, Geoffrey. Waterloo County: an illustrated history. Kitchener, Ont.: Waterloo Historical Society, 1997.