Lieutenant E. D. Law, R.N.
(1841-1915)
22 October 1861

Volume 5, page 156, sitting number 6118.

Born on 9 May 1841, Edward Downes Law was the son of the Honourable Spencer Law and his wife Anne née Towry, His paternal grandfather was Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1854, when he was 13 years old, and served in the Baltic in 1855 during the Crimean War. He later served in the China Sea during the Second Opium War (1859-1861) and briefly took part in the Third Anglo-Ashanti War (1873-1874). He retired from the Royal Navy in 1873 with the rank of Commander.

On 26 June 1902 he succeeded his cousin and became 5th Baron Ellenborough. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 29 July 1902.

Presumably with an eye on begetting an heir, on 19 December 1906 he married Hermione Octavia Croghan Schenley, daughter of Edward Wyndham Harrington Schenley of the Rifle Brigade. They lived at Windlesham Court in Surrey.

Lord Ellenborough died, without issue, at Windelsham Court on 9 December 1915, at the age of 74. He was succeeded by his brother Lieutenant-Colonel the Honourable Cecil Law, late Dorset Regiment, who became 6th Baron Ellenborough. 

According a lengthy obituary in the Surrey Advertiser (15 December 1915), 'The late Lord Ellenborough wrote a good deal on nautical matters.' According to a much shorter obituary in the Penrith Observer (14 December 1915), 'As a retired Commander, he was the author of some technical books on maritime matters, and was a frequent speaker in the House of Lords on naval topics.'