Father of George Peter LANYON, a friend to many artists, and a prolific and skilled photographer.

A good friend of Lanyon's was the American artist Walter Elmer SCHOFIELD, who arrived in St Ives in 1903. Schofield's son Sidney Elmer SCHOFIELD married Lanyon's daughter, Mary (Peter's sister), and the two went to live at Godolphin Manor where later Walter joined them and died there. Many of Lanyon's photographs feature in his grandson Andrew's book, A St Ives Album. He held an exhibition of his photographs in St Ives in 1909, and on further occasions. His photographs were also employed in books illustrating the beauties of Cornwall, such as Lewis Hind's Days in Cornwall. He was President of the St Ives Arts Club in 1923-24

Herbert's collection of photographs of the St Ives working colony of artists is the primary visual record relied upon by contemporary writers and historians. In his Introduction to the social history of the arts colony (2009) Tovey comments: 'The colony also boasted a significant number of artist-photographers, such as Herbert LANYON, John DOUGLAS and Sydney CARR, whose camera work, often of considerable merit in its own right, has provided essential records of people and places, particularly artists' studios.'  A Self Portrait of the photographer is reprinted on p10. Both Tovey and Whybrow in their seminal St Ives studies employ many of Lanyon's photos.