Constituency : Marylebone 1859-61
Edwin was a London solicitor's son. He originally wanted to be an actor but his pugnacious appearance told against him and he became a barrister instead. He established a reputation for taking on salacious cases; as The Spectator put it " a leader in all actions for seduction, breach of promise of marriage, assault, and false imprisonment and in all cases that involved the reputation of an actress or horse". He was first elected in a by-election in 1859.
Edwin was a loyal supporter of Palmerston although the premier resisted the suggestion of Villiers that he be appointed Solicitor-General. He was an opportunistic radical favouring the secret ballot , abolition of church rates and Italian unification. He was very active during his short time in the House making nearly 250 interventions.
Edwin was supposedly being considered for Attorney-General in 1861 but he suddenly resigned his seat ostensibly to concentrate on his practice. It soon came to light that he was both heavily in debt and under investigation by the Bar for various shady dealings. He was soon disbarred and emigrated to the USA to continue practising there. Attempts were made to disbar him there but ultimately failed. He also dabbled in acting, magazine editing and theatrical management while over there. Although he took American citizenship in 1866 he returned to London in 1873 but he was neither re-admitted to the Bar nor re-selected for Marylebone. Thereafter he scraped a living as a paralegal but died in poverty in 1882 aged 70.
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