Edward's father, George Edward Ayling, was a talented painter whose time as an oar-maker spent on the Thames embankment, together with two nights' weekly attendance at the Putney School of Art, resulted in several exhibited paintings. He was also commissioned to produce posters used world-wide by the British Travel Association, British Rail and many Industrial Companies.
He married his second wife Violet Constance Hancock in Wandsworth, 1929.
At the time of his death, he was Honourable Secretary of the Society of Marine Artists, President of the Wapping Group of Artists and his last painting ("From Hungerford Bridge") had just been accepted for the 1960 Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.
Edward is on the list of those who attended the 23H reunion in 1959.