Born in Beverly, Massachusetts, to Caleb William and Elizabeth Smith (Peabody) Loring, he attended a private school and graduated from Harvard College in 1872,[3] where he was a rower on the university crew team.

[3] When partner John Codman Ropes died in 1899, Loring was a pallbearer at his funeral.

[5] On August 30, 1899, Governor Roger Wolcott nominated Loring to a seat on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court vacated by the elevation of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. to chief justice.

[7] He remained on the court until 1919, stepping down from the bench a week after the twentieth anniversary of his assumption of that office.

In 1901, the institution awarded Loring an honorary LL.D.,[4] and from 1902 to 1911, he sat on the board of overseers of Harvard College.