John Charles Lanyon was the eldest son and heir of John Charles Lanyon and Mary Mead of Redruth.
By the age of 22 he was a partner in the British Arsenic Company and and in 1849 he set sail for Adelaide, Australia on the ship ‘Candahar’ to establish a hardware and ironmongery business. On the journey he met George Peter Harris and they were founding partners of a very successful business which became Harris Scarfe, a major supplier of a range of household, agricultural and industrial items in Australia.
In 1855 John Charles left the partnership and returned to London where he opened a buying house for Harris Scarfe and other businesses in Australia. the London end of the business was JC Lanyon & Sons. There were several subsidiary companies: Australasian China & Glass Co, Australasian Implement & House Furnishing Co, The Adelaide Rope, Nail and Barb Wire Manufacturing Co.
In the 1860s with the decline in the copper industry he purchased £12,000 worth of equipment from Poldice Mine and JC. Lanyon & sons became a major dealer and exporter of mining equipment. In 1873 he bought £7,750 worth of equipment from Wheal Busy.
By 1887 he and his brother Alfred had set up the Cornish Tin Smelting with John Branwell and John Jose, they were also major shareholders in the lucrative East Pool mine where most of the ore for their new works came from. (Source: Barton 1967)
In 1857 he married Jane Stacy Bennett, the daughter of Charles Bennett and Jane Stacy.
Jane was born in 1837 in Redruth. Jane’s family lived at 15 Fore Street next door to the Lanyons at number 16. Charles Bennett was a merchant and draper.
After marriage they moved to Croydon in Surrey as John was working in London. John and Jane had eight children:
- Alice Mary 1859-1942 married Walter Paton Hindley – four children
- Jane Stacey 1861-1949 spinster
- John Charles 1862-1862 died in infancy
- Sydney Howard 1864-1914 bachelor, rejected by the army and committed suicide in front of his nephew by jumping off Westminster Bridge on 24 Oct 1914. His body was found at Rotherhithe on 4 Nov.
- Arthur Herbert 1866-1947 married Catherine Septima Lamotte
- Vivian 1868-1941 married Esther Eliza Crowe, his nurse. He went to Jesus College, Cambridge and worked as a colonial agent. No children.
- Mabel 1870 married James Charles Buckley, a doctor, they had four children
- Alfred Leonard 1871-1871 died in infancy
In 1878 they purchased Birdhurst in Croydon.
“an agreeable and retired residence delightfully situated with gardens and plantations in a beautiful valley leading from the town of Croydon to Croham House”
Mabel (May) Lanyon’s diary.
John Charles Lanyon died in 1903 and was buried in Queen’s Road cemetery, Croydon. He left an estate valued at £199,134.
The Lanyons 