Edwin Lawrence

Edwin Lawrence (2 February 1837 – 21 April 1914), known as Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence, 1st Baronet from 1898, was a barrister and Liberal Unionist  politician.

He was the seventh son and last child of William Lawrence and Jane Clarke. His brothers William Lawrence and Sir James Lawrence were Lord Mayors of London and also Members of Parliament.

He studied law at the University of London and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1867.

A prominent member of the Unitarian Church, together his brother James he was largely responsible for the building of the Essex Street Chapel, the headquarters of British Unitarianism.

In March 1886 he became a member of the Metropolitan Board of Works as one of the representatives of Shoreditch Vestry, an office previously held by his brother, Alfred. He held the seat until the board's abolition in 1889.

In 1895 he was elected MP for Truro in Cornwall, holding the seat until 1906.

In 1898 Edwin changed his name to Durning-Lawrence, in honour of his wife's maternal grandfather, and was created 1st Baronet Durning-Lawrence, of King's Ride, Ascot, Berkshire]] in the same year.