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Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence was born in London in February 1837, the youngest son of late William Lawrence, Alderman, and brother of politician Sir William Lawrence. He was educated at University College School, followed by University College London where he obtained a BA (1861) and LLB with honours. He married Edith Jane Durning Smith in 1874, the youngest daughter and co-heiress of politician John Benjamin Smith.
During 1867, Durning Lawrence was called to Middle Temple and also was a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works for a short time, as well as a Lieutenant for the City of London and a Justice of the Peace in Berkshire. After unsuccesfully contesting the seats of East Berkshire (1865), Haggerston (1866) and Burnley (1892), Durning-Lawrence was finally elected as Liberal Unionist member of Parliament for Truro in 1895; a position he held until 1906. However, Durning-Lawrence's main passion was the study of literature, especially the field of Bacon/ Shakespeare controversy, and he wrote the works 'Bacon is Shakespeare' (1910) and 'The Shakespeare Myth' (1912), as well as lecturing widely on the subject and dedicating time and money to creating a library to back up his Baconian theories. Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence died in April 1914