Edith Campbell was born on December 12, 1871, in Montreal, Quebec.

She was a Canadian nurse. Her father and uncle were both physicians, and her grandfather, Francis Wayland Campbell, was dean of the Medical Faculty of Bishop's College. In 1907, she graduated from the School of Nursing at New York's Presbyterian Hospital and subsequently worked in Manhattan and Montreal. In September 1914, she enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps. She was one of the first Canadian nurses to arrive in England to assist in the establishment of the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital, a field hospital in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, where Sir William Osler was the head physician. In April 1915, she was appointed its inaugural matron. Campbell served during World War I in both England and France, earning several medals, including the 1914 Star, the Royal Red Cross, first class (1915), the Military Medal (1918), the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the 1935 Jubilee Medal. She was also twice mentioned in dispatches. After the war, Campbell served as superintendent of the Toronto Branch of the Victorian Order of Nurses, retiring in 1934. Her medals and several of her personal items are held by the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.

She died on February 22, 1951, in Montreal, Quebec.