[1][2] Born at Shaftesbury, he was educated at Gray's Inn before being called to the Bar in 1840.

He earned a reputation as a sound and acute barrister, specially familiar with procedure.

He became a Justice of the Queen's Bench and was knighted in 1865; he was sworn a member of the Privy Council in 1879.

[2] He married in 1839, Elizabeth Ann (died 16 March 1881),[3] the eldest daughter of Rev Christopher Woollacott, of London.

They had several children, including Judge Herbert W. Lush-Wilson, KC, and Sir Charles Montague Lush (1853–1930), who married Margaret Abbie Locock, fourth daughter of Charles Brodie Locock; in 1913 he sentenced Emmeline Pankhurst.