Edmund Lyons was the father of the diplomat Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, the British Ambassador to the USA who solved the Trent Affair, and later British Ambassador to France. Edmund's eldest brother was Vice-Admiral John Lyons (1787–1872), who was on board at the Battle of Trafalgar and who served as British Ambassador in Egypt, and his nephews included Sir Algernon McLennan Lyons, Admiral of the Fleet (1833–1908).