Note: No death or burial record has been found for Edward, but he lived in England the last several decades of his life, and was living in 1669.

Edward was the youngest child of Edward and Susanna Hutchinson of Alford, Lincolnshire, England, and was baptized there 20 Dec 1607, living in 1669, m. Sarah _______, living in 1669. Edward was educated, and like his brother Samuel, published religious treatises that showed his fluency with Latin. In the summer of 1633, at the age of 25, he sailed to New England. He and his wife Sarah were admitted to the Boston church in October 1633, and he was made a freeman the following March. In November 1634 he was on a committee to assess various rates for Boston, and he carried the title of Sergeant by 1637.

As a young adult, Edward became caught up in the events of the Antinomian Controversy from 1636 to 1638, in which his sister-in-law, Anne Hutchinson, and his brother-in-law, John Wheelwright, were centrally involved. On 2 November 1637, following Anne's sentence of banishment, and while she was awaiting her church trial, Edward was "convented for having his hand to the seditious libel, justifying the same, & using contemptuous speeches, the Court did disfranchise him, fine him 40 pounds, put him from office, & commit him during the pleasure of the Court". On 20 November he was on a list of those who were disarmed as a result of the controversy, and the following March he and William Baulston were given license to depart out of the jurisdiction. During this time he was among a group of 23 men who signed a compact, dated 7 March 1638, establishing a new government. He signed the compact as "Edward Hutchinson, Sr." because his nephew Edward, the son of William and Anne Hutchinson, also signed the document, as "Edward Hutchinson, Jr." The signatories were not sure where to go, but were convinced by Roger Williams to buy land of the natives and settle near the Narragansett Bay. This is what most of the signers of the compact did, establishing the settlement of Pocasset on Aquidneck Island, soon to become Portsmouth in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Edward was a baker, and in November 1638 he was ordered to bake bread "for the use of the plantation" in Portsmouth. He was also one of three men appointed to administer the venison trade with the natives. His stay in Rhode Island was short, and he had returned to England sometime before 1644 when he was a witness to the will of his brother John there. Once back in England he became a member of the "Ironmonger's Company" and was in business in London. Edward's wife was named Sarah, and since she was admitted to the Boston church in December 1633, she almost certainly sailed to New England with him. The couple had two children baptised in Boston, John and Ichabod, but there is no further record of either of them. Edward and his wife were both still alive in 1669 when mentioned in the will of his brother Richard in England. Online accounts that give his death date as 1675 are confusing him with his nephew Edward, who died that year from wounds received during King Philips War.