Edward Elma Britton was born in North Carolina around 1865. Britton was a newspaper editor who took the helm of the Raleigh News and Observer upon Josephus Daniels's appointment as Secretary of the Navy in the administration of Woodrow Wilson. In 1916, Britton served as a member of the state's Flood Relief Committee, organizing relief efforts in the wake of a devastating July flood. The following year, Britton relocated to Washington, D.C., to serve as Josephus Daniels's private secretary. He died in Washington, D.C., on November 9, 1925.