1390 Edwin Durning-Lawrence

Constituency  : Truro  1895-1906  ( Liberal  Unionist )

Edwin  took  over  from  John  Williams  as  the  Liberal  Unionists  held  on  to Truro.

Edwin  was  the  son  of  a  construction  magnate  and  a  London  politician. Both  his  brothers  had been  Liberal  MPs. He  was  educated  at  London  University  and  became  a  barrister. He  was  a prominent  Unitarian  and,  along  with  his  brother  James,  half-funded  the  building  of  the  Essex St  Chapel.

Edwin  was  created  a  baronet  in  1898.

Edwin  supported  tariff  reform  and  said  many  of  the  great  trades  were  already  protected  by  patents.

Edwin  was  a  prolific  author  with  works  on  history, religion  and  physics.

Edwin  was  defeated  in  1906  and  failed  to  regain  the  seat  in  January  1910.

Following  that  second  defeat,   Edwin  spent  the  rest  of  his  life  writing  to  promote  the  idea that  Francis  Bacon  wrote  the  Shakespeare  plays  in  particularly  trenchant  fashion. He  published four  books  on  the  subject.

He  died  in  1914   aged  77. His  archive  was  later  donated  to  London  University.