Edward was born at Waimate North on 4 May 1831, the first child to be baptised in the new church there — a church his father had helped build. He grew up at Grove Cottage, was educated by the mission, and as a young man went to England to study at the CMS college at Islington, hoping to be ordained. Ill health redirected him to Australia instead, and he was finally ordained in Melbourne on 6 July 1856. He was appointed Curate at Belfast in Victoria, married Susanne Frances Wood in 1857, and received priest's orders in December 1858.
In 1859 he returned to New Zealand, spending time first in the Bay of Islands and then in Tauranga, where he assisted in establishing a new school and church. He returned north in 1862 on the death of Richard Davis and was appointed acting vicar of Waimate. In 1870 he became Archdeacon of Te Waimate — one of the most senior Anglican roles in the north.
He was fluent in Māori, deeply involved in the Māori mission, and his son Edward — named for him — became an even more fluent scholar of te reo. Edward Senior moved to Auckland in 1884, living at Conquest Place near St George's Bay in Parnell. Susanne died there on 17 December 1890. Edward himself died in Auckland on 22 October 1900.