he proceeded B.A. 31 June 1626 and M.A. 30 June 1630, and was elected fellow of his college. He became usher of Tunbridge school, Kent, under Dr. Nicholas Grey, and in 1655, on the death of Thomas Widdowes, was appointed by his college master of the endowed free school of Northleach, Gloucestershire, where he remained till his death. He was buried in the church there on 15 July 1659, leaving behind him the reputation of a highly efficient schoolmaster. His works, all on educational topics, were: 1. ‘Lingua Linguarum. The natural language of languages, wherein it is desired and endeavoured that tongues may be brought to teach themselves and words may be best fancied, understood, and remembered,’ London, 1655. 2. ‘Homonyma et Synonyma Linguæ Latinæ conjuncta & disjuncta,’ Oxford, 1661. There is also a work by Edmondson in manuscript at the Bodleian (Rawl. MS. in Bibl. Bodl. Misc. p. 226) entitled ‘Incruenta Contentio sive Bellum Rationale,’ dedicated to Sir Henry Worsley, bart., and dated 1 Jan. 1646–7. It is ‘a collection of arguments pro and con divided into seven parts, viz. Academia, Aula, Campus Martius, Respublica, Domus Exterior, Domus Interior, and Domus Superior.’
[Oxf. Univ. Reg. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 405; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. (Bliss), iii. 474–5; Wood's Fasti Oxon. (Bliss), i. 426, 456.]
EDMONDSON, JOSEPH (d. 1786), herald and genealogist, was originally apprenticed to a barber, but afterwards became a coach-painter, and being much employed in emblazoning coat-armour on carriages was led to the study of heraldry and genealogy. He was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and in March 1764 was created Mowbray herald extraordinary (Noble, College of Arms, p. 444). This appointment in the College of Arms did not prevent him from continuing the coach-painting business, which he carried on successfully for many years. The appearance of his ‘Baronagium’ (1764) attracted the attention of the nobility, and brought him much employment in the compilation of pedigrees. Indeed, most of the peers had their genealogies drawn up or rearranged by him. When the baronets made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain some augmentation of their privileges, as appendages to their titles, they chose Edmondson as their secretary. He died at his residence in Warwick Street, Golden Square, on 17 Feb. 1786, and was buried in the cemetery of St. James's, Piccadilly. His extravagant manner of living prevented him from leaving any considerable property to his son, who continued the business of coach-painter till his death, which happened soon after that of his father. Edmondson's library was sold by auction in 1788 (Nichols, Lit. Anecd. iii. 623).
His works are: 1. ‘Baronagium Genealogicum, or the Pedigrees of the English Peers, deduced from the earliest times. … Originally compiled by Sir William Segar, and continued to the present time by Joseph Edmondson,’ 5 vols. Lond. 1764, folio. The work was originally published in numbers, and when completed sold for twenty-five guineas. It was followed by a sixth volume of subsequent creations. The whole may be considered as a work of infinite labour, but the information given is not much to be depended upon. The plates of arms are very well executed, but are in bad taste; some of them were engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi. Many of the large quartered coats were presentation plates, contributed by the peers at their own expense. A copy of the work in the British Museum has many valuable manuscript additions by Francis Hargrave. 2. ‘An Historical and Genealogical Account of the noble Family of Greville … including the History and Succession of the several Earls of Warwick since the Norman Conquest, and some account of Warwick Castle,’ Lond. 1766, 8vo. 3. ‘A Companion to the Peerage of Great Britain and Ireland,’ Lond. 1776, 8vo. 4. ‘A Complete Body of Heraldry: containing an Historical Enquiry into the origin of Armories … the proper methods of blazoning and marshalling Armorial Bearings … the arms … of all Sovereign Princes and States … an historical catalogue of all the different orders of knighthood … the arms of the counties, cities, boroughs, and towns corporate in England and Wales; and of the abbies and religious houses … the arms of archiepiscopal and episcopal sees … a discourse on … funeral trophies. Glover's Ordinary of Arms augmented and improved. An Alphabet of Arms … and a copious Glossary,’ 2 vols. Lond. 1780, folio. An account of the multifarious contents of this splendid work is given in Moule's ‘Bibl. Heraldica,’ pp. 430–8. 5. ‘Precedency,’ Lond. (1780?), 24mo. 6. ‘The present Peerages … the plates of arms revised by Joseph Edmondson,’ Lond. 1785, 8vo. 7. ‘Alphabet of Arms with the Arms in trick,’ manuscript (Thorpe, Cat. of Ancient MSS. 1835, No. 329). 8. ‘Proposal for the institution of an Order of Merit, with drawings,’ Addit. MS. 6330, f. 32. 9. ‘Papers relating to the institution of the Order of St. Patrick, 1783,’ Addit. MS. 14410, f. 10. 10. ‘Pedigrees of Families of Great Britain, 1784–6,’ Addit. MS. 19819.
