Edmund Maynard was the son of George and Catherine Maynard and was born in Bendigo in 1880. George was Clerk of Courts in Bendigo until his death in 1884. Edmund enlisted at Coonamble, N.S.W. on 1 July 1917 and gave his next of kin as his sister Miss Mary Maynard of 76 Vale Street East Melbourne. The house at this address had been completed about 1886 for Mrs. Catherine Maynard, and the Maynard family had lived there ever since, and were to do so for about another thirty years. At enlistment Edmund gave his age as 37 years and his occupation as gardener. He was 5ft 7ins., with a fair complexion, fair hair and blue eyes.
He embarked at Sydney 19 December 1917 and arrived Southampton 13 February 1918 via Suez where he was charged with drunkeness and fined 10/-. He was returned to Australia on 12 May 1918 permanently unfit due to phthisis (tuberculosis). He had been diagnosed with various respiratory problems while still in Australia, which were probably the early stages of the disease. He died on 6 March 1920 at Silverlea, 76 Vale Street.