LANCE, JAMES DU PRE (1828-97) was born at Boulogne, France, the son of the Rev Edwin J. Lance, rector of Buckland St Mary, Somerset. Intending to serve the East India Company, he entered Addiscombe Military College, and in 1845 was commissioned as an ensign. On reaching India (1848) he was posted to the 8th Native Infantry, in which he shortly received his lieutenancy (1855). He is said to have penetrated into Tibet with an exploring party.

In 1856 Lance took advantage of his health leave from India to visit the Mallock brothers of Horsley Down, and was much attracted by the country. He was recalled to India by the outbreak of the Mutiny. On arrival at Calcutta he found that his regiment had joined the rising, and, being a good linguist, he was attached as interpreter to the 42nd Highlanders. He was present at the relief of Lucknow and the capture of Cawnpore. After the Mutiny Lance visited England and came again to New Zealand with his brother, Henry Porcher Lance (q.v.) with the intention of settling in Canterbury. They purchased first, in 1858, the Four Peaks station, near Geraldine, but soon sold it and bought into Horsley Down in association with the Mallocks. Early in the sixties Lance went on a visit to England and France. He married (1862) a daughter of Captain T. Mallock, R.N.

On returning to New Zealand Lance bought the Heathstock station, which was worked in conjunction with the others, and erected on it the fine homestead described in Lady Barker's Station Life in New Zealand (1871). There he lived the life of an English gentleman, entertaining lavishly. He paid great attention to the improvement of his estate and laying out plantations, erected 300 miles of fencing, and with his brother took a great interest in stock breeding. Lance was one of the best amateur whips in the province. The names of Traducer, Blood Royal, and Anteros are honorably associated with the Heathstock and Horsley Down stud.

Lance entered the Canterbury Provincial Council for Sefton in succession to his brother, who retired in 1865. He had no sooner entered the Council than he was sought as a leader. A vacancy having occurred in the superintendency, the land-owning interest persuaded Lance to stand as their candidate. The result was: Moorhouse 1,479, Lance 742, Travers 176. Just after the election Lance had a buggy accident and had to go to England for treatment. He had accordingly to vacate his seat in the Provincial Council, and eventually his membership of the Legislative Council, to which he was called in 1865. He was away from the colony for 13 years. Most of the time he lived at Dinant, in Brittany, passing to and fro between France and England in his study of comparative methods of agriculture and land utilisation. He had great success in growing root crops and encouraging the French farmers to follow his example.

Returning to New Zealand in 1879, he was the first chairman of the Waipara road board. In 1884 he was elected to Parliament for Cheviot, and he sat for that district until being defeated by Richard Meredith in 1890. Lance urged vigorous steps to combat the rabbit danger (which was threatening north Canterbury with ruin). He assisted in the passing of legislation with that object, and promoted the Hurunui rabbit board, which protected the province by erecting a wire-netting fence against invasion from the north. Lance lost his Heathstock homestead by fire in 1889. His heavy commitments in land about this time involved him in difficulties. In 1896 and the following year the greater part of the estate was acquired by the Government, and cut up into farms for disposal on lease-in-perpetuity. Lance died on 28 May 1897. His widow died on 2 Sep 1923.

Cycl. N.Z., iii; Cox; Acland; The Press, 29 May 1897, 28 Jun 1990 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 257

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