Of Middleton Hall, Warwickshire, the second son of Robert Lawley, fifth baronet; educated at Rugby School and All Souls, Oxford, he was an Old Whig, country gentleman, and friend of Robert Peel, MP for Warwickshire (1820-32).

REFERENCES TO Sir Francis Lawley, seventh baronet:

Thomas Creevey to Elizabeth Ord, 12 February 1822 in The Creevey Papers: A Selection from the Correspondence & Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. (London: John Murray, 1903)