He was born in Mirecourt, Vosges, France, where he apprenticed from 1862 to 1868, and later worked from 1877 to 1885 for François Nicolas Voirin in Paris.
Like François Nicolas Voirin, Lamy-père was influenced by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, whose model he frequently used between 1886 and 1890.
By 1880 many makers were beginning to consistently aim for an even heavier, stronger model, with varying degrees of success.
His model, characterized by a slight increase in volume for the sticks as well as for the frogs, became clearer and was adopted definitively.
Lamy picked up where François Nicolas Voirin left off, with similar variance in weight and quality of materials.