Educated at Leeds Grammar School, he was 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 as Danby & Simpson. He was responsible for many late Victorian chapels in Leeds.