He was noted for his support for innovations such as echo sounding and radio navigation, for the surveying and chart production operations of his department during World War II, and for his advocacy of the science of oceanography Edgell was born at Teddington to James and Mary Beatrice Edgell.

[3]: 92–93 In September 1915, having been promoted to Commander, Edgell took HMS Endeavour to the eastern Mediterranean in support of the Dardanelles operation.

[3]: 92–93 Edgell became Hydrographer in October 1932, and would hold this position until the end of World War II.

During his time as Hydrographer he oversaw many technical innovations, including the development of echo sounding for deep water work, and the change from flat-bed to rotary offset printing, the latter facilitated by the move of the Chart Printing Establishment to Taunton.

Perhaps the most important work was surveying of coastal areas in preparation for landings, the largest being Operation Neptune on the Normandy coast in 1944.

Clandestine surveys were carried out at night on the beaches prior to the planned landings, including shore parties taking samples of the sand.

Production was greatly increased, and measures were taken to protect the original plates of the charts, and to provide backups.

In 1944, at a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the War Cabinet, he suggested that a national oceanographic laboratory should be established in the United Kingdom.

The idea bore fruit in 1949, when the National Institute of Oceanography was established under the direction of Dr G.E.R.