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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Mr. James Dupre Lance

Mr. James Dupre Lance, sometime Proprietor of Horsley Down, was born at Boulogne, in the south of France, in 1828. When very young he was taken to Somersetshire, England, where his father, the Rev. John Edwin Lance, had the living of Buckland, St. Mary. Mr. Lane was educated at the Addiscombe Military College. In 1825 he went to India as ensign in the service of the Honourable East India Company, and was afterwards appointed a lieutenant in the 8th Native Infantry. Mr. Lance was sent to New Zealand on sick leave in 1856. He, however, returned to India at the time of the Mutiny, and acted as Native Interpreter to the 42nd Highlanders. After the Mutiny Mr. Lance retired from the Army, and returned to New Zealand, where, in partnership with Mr. John W. Mallock, he took up the land since known as Horsley Down and “Heathstock,” comprising 100,000 acres of leasehold land and 20,000 acres of freehold. Mr. Lance was at one time a member of the Provincial Council of Canterbury, and was a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand from 1865 till 1868, when his seat became vacant through his absence in England. He resided for eleven years at Dinan in France, and returned to New Zealand in 1879. In 1884 he entered the House of Representatives as member for Cheviot, for which he sat till 1890, when changes were made in the electoral boundaries. Mr. Lance lived at “Heathstock,” until the house was burned down in 1889. He subsequently lived at Horsley Down, the homestead of which occupies an elevated and beautiful position amidst a small forest of shelter and ornamental trees. Mr. Lance was married, in 1862, at Torquay, in Devonsihre, England, to a daughter of the late Captain Thomas Mallock, R.N. He died on the 28th of March, 1897, leaving two sons and one daughter. Mr. Lance is further referred to at page 87 of this volume as having been a member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand.