Edmund Lyons was born at Whitehayes House, Burton, near Christchurch, Hampshire in 1790. He was the fourth son of John Lyons of Antigua and St. Austin's, Hants, and Catherine (née Walrond), daughter of the 5th Marquis de Vallado. Edmund led a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, culminating with the Crimean War and his appointment as Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. He also held various diplomatic posts for Her Majesty's government, including ambassadorial positions in Sweden, Switzerland and to the newly established court of King Otto in Greece. In 1814 Edmund married Augusta Louisa Rogers (1793-1852), younger daughter and co-heiress of Captain Josias Rogers, R.N., by whom he had two sons and two daughters. Edmund was created a knight in 1835, Baronet (1840) and then Baron Lyons of Christchurch in 1856. Edmund, Lord Lyons passed away in 1858 and his body interred in the vault beneath the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle. A full lifesize marble statue by Matthew Noble was erected to his memory in 1860 in St. Pauls Cathedral, London.
Children of Lord and Lady Lyons were:
Anne Theresa Bickerton Lyons (1815-1894), married in 1839, Philip Hartmann Veit, Baron von Wurzburg
Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons (1817-1887), 2nd Baron Lyons, 1st Viscount (1881), created an Earl (1887), however died before the patent had been sealed
Lyons won the federal seat of Wilmot in 1929 and was immediately appointed as Postmaster- General.
Lyons was asked to form the new United Australia Party (U.A.P.), made up of members of the old Nationalist Party (which had collapsed after the 1929 elections) and some ex-Labor members.
Lyons was a pacifist and was anxious that Britain not enter a war against Germany, even though he was appalled by the Jewish pogroms.
Feeds |
Contact