Edmund Hollond, of Benhall Lodge, Saxmundham, Suffolk by his first wife Isabella née Robinson and was educated at Harrow School.
By 1879 Hollond was chairman of the Paddington Board of Guardians, although he was resident in the coastal resort of Brighton.
In that year he was selected by the Liberal Party along with William Thackeray Marriott to contest the two seat parliamentary constituency of Brighton.
[5] At the general election in April 1880 the two Liberals topped the poll, unseating the sitting Conservative members of parliament.
During this time he lived at Stanmore Hall, Middlesex, and "Wonham", Bampton, Devon, inheriting the latter from his aunt Mrs Robert Hollond in 1884.