Channing born in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, the youngest child and only son of American parents, Reverend William Henry Channing and Julia Maria Allen (died 1889).

He was the great-grandson of the Honourable William Channing, Attorney General of Rhode Island, by Lucy Ellery, daughter of William Ellery, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence.

[1] A passionate Protestant he attended and spoke at the United Protestant Demonstration in London on 29 January 1900 which resolved ) “to uphold and maintain the Protestantism of the nation and to demand the suppression of the Mass and the Confessional in the Established Church.”[2] Channing was elected as Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for East Northamptonshire at the 1885 general election,[3] and held the seat until the December 1910 general election.

Lady Channing of Wellingborough died at 40 Eaton Place, London, in August 1925.

Lord Channing only survived her by seven months and died in Eastbourne, Sussex, in February 1926, aged 84.