Edward Lanceley left England to settle in New Zealand in 1876. He had moved to Sydney by 1880, where he gained employment at Newtown, but found the conditions there unsatisfactory. He decided to return to New Zealand, but was unable to obtain passage in a ship for some weeks, so he made his way to Gore Hill and found employment in a brickyard there. He soon became skilled in his adopting trade and he was asked by JB Magney and GJ Weynton to manage their small yard in Herbert Street.
Lanceley joined Magney & Weynton as a partner in 1892 and the trio established the North Sydney Brick & Tile Company in 1894. The Gore Hill plant, which became the No. 1 yard, was fully mechanised. He expanded the business in 1903 and following the death of Magney and then Weynton circa 1913, Lancely and his sons took over the management of the company.
Lanceley’s sons, Edward D and Herbert G carried on the business after the retirement of Edward senior. Edward D Lanceley had become the managing director of the North Sydney Brick & Tile Company by 1920, while Herbert managed the Gore Hill yard. Edward was appointed to the board of the Excelsior Brick Company Limited on 13 December 1923. Excelsior had been established to control the sales of participating brick-makers and appears to have been owned by the NSW Brick Masters’ Association. Herbert Lanceley, whose high-pitched voice earned him the nickname ‘Squeaker’, managed the Gore Hill works of the North Sydney Brick & Tile Company, sat on the Council of Brick Manufacturers and was a director of Clay Industries Limited.
Lanceley Place in the Artarmon Industrial Area is named after Edward D Lanceley.
