Charles Edward Wyrall began his career as a portrait photographer in Southampton aged about 18. His stay in Southampton was short, before he moved on to work in Chelmsford, Aldershot, Tottenham and Glemsford in Suffolk. Wyrall came from an artistic background in North London: his father was an artist and translator and his mother was a music teacher. His older sister Evelyn was a photographic colourist and his younger brother Claude also became a photographer.
Wyrall was listed as Edward Wyrall in the 1869 Southampton Cox's directory photographers section at 5 Clarendon Place, Bridge Road, (now Bernard Street). In 1863 number 5 was the studio of Rider and Preston, and then from 1865 to 1867 it was the studio of George Greatrex. Wyrall was the last known photographer to work from 5 Clarendon Place. In later years it was an 'oil and colorman's' shop.
By the early 1870s Wyrall had left Southampton. After a short time in Chelmsford he went on to be a portrait photographer in Aldershot for 20 years. Examples of his portraits of soldiers in dress uniform survive today, and are highly valued by collectors. Two of his sons, Charles and Eustace were also photographers. In the 1890s and early 1900s Wyrall worked with his son Charles as Wyrall and Son. After a short stay in Tottenham, Wyrall settled in Suffolk, where he died in 1928.