Edward Lane was born in Hampshire on 19 December 1892, the son of Colonel Alfred Lane and his wife Florence.  Prior to serving in submarines he served in the cruiser HMS NATAL from 1913 to 1914 when he was appointed to HMS VULCAN at Leith for submarine training.  He was subsequently appointed to HMS DOLPHIN ‘..for Submarine H3 as First Lieutenant.’

He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial Panel 11 and also on a plaque at Holy Trinity Church, Abbots Leigh, Woodspring, Avon.  The plaque is jointly dedicated to his brother Captain Geoffrey Horsburgh Lane of the 103rd Mahratta Light Infantry who was killed on the Indian North West Frontier in 1919.