Isaac Lawrence was born in 1828 in London, reportedly in the American Embassy during his father’s diplomatic service. He graduated from Columbia College and from Harvard Law School. Early in his career he was associated with The Democratic Review, and he later became President of the American Tariff Reform League. Active in New York society, he was a member of the St. Nicholas Club and presided at its Wassail in 1884. A New York Times notice of October 1893 described the reopening of his New York residence at 15 East 80th Street, furnished in luxurious style and displaying some sixty valuable oil paintings. In the same season he and his wife, recently out of mourning, were expected to entertain extensively.

Although some secondary sources have claimed that he served as a United States Consul at Coburg, this appears to be an error resulting from confusion with a different Isaac Lawrence connected with the U.S. Consulate at Cobourg, Ontario. Isaac Lawrence of New York did not hold a U.S. consular appointment. He died in 1919.