WM architect, born on 31 October 1845 at Leeds, the son of Francis Danby, cabinet maker and upholsterer. Educated at Leeds]] Grammar School, he was then articled to William Hill, with whom he stayed for nine years as a pupil and then as assistant. He set up his own Leeds practice in 1872. From 1890 to 1902 he was in partnership with William Henry Thorp (1852-1944), a Quaker who was responsible for the secular work, and subsequently had John Simpson as a partner.
He was responsible for many late Victorian chapels in Leeds, of which his main scheme was the rebuilding of James Simpson's Oxford Place WM (1896-1902) in an imposing Baroque style. Other Methodist chapels in Leeds include Woodhouse Carr (1873-74; closed); Crossgates WM (school, 1882; chapel, 1892-93); Dewsbury Road WM (chapel 1887; school 1891 – both demolished); Trinity WM, Roundhay Road (1894; since replaced); and Burley WM (chapel 1897-98; school 1904-5, with Simpson). Further afield his buildings included Thorner WM (1876-78, closed); William Dawson WM Memorial, Barwick-in-Elmet (1899), Otley WM, Boroughgate (school 1902-5, with John Simpson), and a number of commissions in the Pocklington WM Circuit, including Millington (1900) and Newton-on-Derwent (1901). A small number of commissions were received from the Congregationalists, of which the now closed Trinity, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds (1892-8) was a major gothic tour-de force.