James Edmondson was born on 29th June, 1887. After being educated at University College School he joined the British Army. Edmondson fought in the First World War and was gassed at Passchendale. He recovered and in 1918 was appointed to the staff of the Eastern Command.

A member of the Conservative Party Edmondson served on the Oxfordshire County Council (1922-37). Edmondson was elected to to the House of Commons in November, 1922. He held several government posts including Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions (1925-31) and Assistant Government Whip (1937).

In May 1939 Archibald Ramsay founded a secret society called the Right Club. This was an attempt to unify all the different right-wing groups in Britain. Or in the leader's words of "co-ordinating the work of all the patriotic societies". In his autobiography, The Nameless War, Ramsay argued: "The main object of the Right Club was to oppose and expose the activities of Organized Jewry, in the light of the evidence which came into my possession in 1938. Our first objective was to clear the Conservative Party of Jewish influence, and the character of our membership and meetings were strictly in keeping with this objective."

Members of the Right Club included Edmondson, William Joyce, Anna Wolkoff, Joan Miller, A. K. Chesterton, Francis Yeats-Brown, Lord Redesdale, 5th Duke of Wellington, Duke of Westminster, E. H. Cole, John Stourton, Thomas Hunter, Aubrey Lees, Ernest Bennett, Charles Kerr, Samuel Chapman, John MacKie, Mavis Tate, Marquess of Graham, Margaret Bothamley, Earl of Galloway, H. T. Mills, Richard Findlay and Serrocold Skeels.

James Edmondson retired from the House of Commons in June, 1945. Created Baron Stanford he sat in the House of Lords until his death on 16th May, 1959.