Little is known about the early life of Edward England, except that he was born Edward Seeger somewhere in Ireland. His birth year is unknown, but by the mid-1700s he was working as an officer on a Jamaican trading sloop that was captured in 1717 by pirate Christopher Winter. Seeger joined Winter's crew, and for unknown reasons changed his surname to England. He remained with Winter until 1718, when he stole a sloop in New Providence and set sail with his own crew. They soon captured a larger ship, which they named the Royal James, and began plundering their way along the coast of Africa, capturing a dozen ships in the next year.

By 1720, England and his first mate, John Taylor, were sailing in the Indian Ocean. England subsequently captured a thirty-four gun Dutch ship, which he named Fancy and made his new flagship. In August of that year, the Fancy took on an English ship called the Cassandra. A long and bloody battle ensued, during which both ships were badly damaged and both crews suffered major losses. England lost ninety of his crewmembers. In the end, the captain of the Cassandra gathered his surviving men and escaped to an island near Madagascar, leaving England's crew to liberate the Cassandra's booty, which amounted to a hefty £75,000.

After about a week, the Cassandra's captain and his men, who were on the verge of starvation, emerged from the woods of the island and surrendered to England. Taylor and most of the other pirates wanted to kill them, but England insisted they be set free, even giving them the damaged Fancy to make their escape. In an absolute rage over England's generosity, Taylor led a mutiny against his captain and marooned him on the island where Cassandra's crew had hidden. England eventually made his way to Madagascar, where he was reduced to begging for food. A victim of his own humane nature, he died shortly thereafter.