Edmund Lyons was born at Whitehayes House, Burton, near Christchurch, Hampshire in 1790. He was the fourth son of John Lyons of Antigua and St. Austin's, Hants, and Catherine (née Walrond), daughter of the 5th Marquis de Vallado. Edmund led a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, culminating with the Crimean War and his appointment as Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. He also held various diplomatic posts for Her Majesty's government, including ambassadorial positions in Sweden, Switzerland and to the newly established court of King Otto in Greece. In 1814 Edmund married Augusta Louisa Rogers (1793-1852), younger daughter and co-heiress of Captain Josias Rogers, R.N., by whom he had two sons and two daughters:

• Anne Theresa Bickerton Lyons (1815-1894), married in 1839, Philip Hartmann Veit, Baron von Wurzburg
• Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons (1817-1887), 2nd Baron Lyons, 1st Viscount (1881), created an Earl (1887), however died before the patent had been sealed
• Edmund Moubray Lyons (1819-1855), Captain, R.N.
• Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons (1821-1886), married in 1839, Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk (then Lord Fitzalan)