Shaw Lefevre was the son of Reverend George Shaw, Rector of Womersley, Yorkshire, by his wife Mary, daughter of Edward Green.
He sat as Member of Parliament for Newtown (Isle of Wight) from 1796 to 1802 and for Reading from 1802 to 1820.
They lived at Heckfield Place in Hampshire and their children included Charles Shaw Lefevre, 1st Viscount Eversley, Speaker of the House of Commons, and Sir John Shaw Lefevre.
Shaw Lefevre died in April 1823, aged 63.
His wife survived him by eleven years and died in August 1834.