Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson was born to Edward and Harriette Georgiana (Webster) Levy-Lawson in London, England on December 18, 1862. He attended Eaton and graduated from Oxford's Balliol College with a first-class degree in history in 1884. After graduation, Levy-Lawson turned to politics and served several terms in the House of Commons in addition to holding the mayorship of Stepney. He became the proprietor of his father's newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, in 1903 when the Prime Minister ruled that Edward Levy-Lawson's elevation to the peerage as the first Baron Burnham was incompatible with his publishing work. Harry Levy-Lawson (who ascended to his father's barony in 1916 and was created Viscount Burnham in 1919) lacked his father's literary talents and was frequently unable to give the newspaper his undivided attention. The Telegraph struggled during the 1920s, and Burnham sold it in 1927. He was, however, well known for his work as chair of both national and international bodies and gained a worldwide reputation with his service as the chair of the third, fourth, and ninth international labor conferences at Geneva. Burnham died in his sleep in his London home on July 20, 1933. His viscountry became extinct because he had no son and his brother, William Lawson (1864–1943), succeeded him as Baron Burnham.