Charles Lynam was born in Colwich, Staffordshire, England on 9 February 1829 and was the son of the architect George Lynam (1796–1853). After working in his father's office from 1845 to 1847, he was articled to Willam Wilkinson Wardell (1823-1899) from 1847 to 1850, during which time he was an Royal Institute of British Architects Student in 1848-49. He was briefly an an assistant to W. W. Wardell and worked in his father's death until the latter's death in 1853 when he set up his own practice in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. In 1956-57 he was in partnership with Thomas Miller Rickman (1827-1912). Lyman was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1882.
He died in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire on 21 February 1921.
North Staffordshire Infirmary; Tile Works of Minton, Hollins & Co., George Haw A. Co., and Craven, Dunnill & Co.; sundry pottery manufactories; restoration of some thirty churches; erection of Christ Church, Kenton; All Saints', Boothen, Stoke-on-Trent; and sundry mission churches and national and board schools; also Poor Law schools. Infirmary, and other workhouse buildings; markets, baths, free library, technical schools at Stoke-on-Trent; also National Provincial Bank, rectory and vicarage houses. Services on the surveying side are not given, but they have been considerable as Town Surveyor of Stoke-on- Trent, Surveyor to the Poor Law Guardians
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001