Ernest Lumsden was born in London. He studied at University College, London, then based in Reading and later at the Académie Julian, Paris. In 1912 he travelled to India with his wife, the artist Mabel Royds, returning to Edinburgh in 1919. Lumsden was a prolific printmaking whose work revealed a great technical mastery; he published The Art of Etching in 1925.

Further reading:
Kenneth Guichard, British Etchers 1850-1940, Robin Garton, London 1977
Ernest Lumsden 1883 - 1948 The Art of Etching, Printmakers Workshop, 1983