Charles Robert Edmonds was educated at The College, Great Yarmouth, England, and qualified as a member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (MRCVS). He moved to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in 1896. On 26 October 1901 he joined the Rhodesian veterinary service under C.E. Gray* and served as government veterinary surgeon in Bulawayo for many years. He did some farming in his spare time. In 1914, when the Director of Agriculture for the territory (E.A. Nobbs*) was absent, Edmonds compiled the service's annual report.
His main published contribution to veterinary science is a book on Diseases of animals in South Africa (London, 1922, 477 pp). In the second edition, entitled Diseases of animals in tropical countries (London, 1929, 407 pp), by Edmonds and G.K. Walker, much of the original content remained, but was expanded particularly with regard to protozoal diseases. In 1914 he and L.E.W. Bevan contributed "Some notes on the systematic dipping of stock" to the Rhodesia Agricultural Journal. Edmonds is credited also with publishing the first proposed standard describing the Rhodesian ridgeback, in an article on "A valuable hunting breed of unknown origin: Strong characteristics" in the Farmer's Weekly of 7 February 1923.
