Lawley was the son of Sir Francis Lawley, 2nd Baronet and his wife Anne Whitmore, daughter of Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet of Apley.
[1] In 1685, Lawley was elected Member of Parliament for Wenlock and held the seat until 1689.
Lawley married firstly Rebecca Winch, daughter of Sir Humphrey Winch, 1st Baronet, of Everton, Huntingdonshire and his wife Rebecca Browne and had fourteen children, eleven of whom died young.
He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his only surviving son by his first wife, Robert.
One of his two surviving daughters by his first marriage, Elizabeth, married as her second husband Sir Nicholas Lawes, Governor of Jamaica.