Lieutenant of the Caroline 36, Capt. Henry Hart. In the following Aug. he became attached, in a similar capacity, to the Baracouta brig; and to that vessel, commanded by Capts. Wm. Wells and Wm. Fitzwilliam Owen, he was confirmed by commission dated 22 Nov. 1809. At the celebrated capture, in Aug. 1810, of the island of Banda Neira, Mr. Lyons obtained mention as being among the foremost to escalade the walls of the castle of Belgica, an achievement for boldness in the design and conduct in the execution rarely paralleled.[1] In Dec. following, on the arrival of the Baracouta with the news of the conquest at Madras, we find him immediately appointed Flag-Lieutenant to Rear-Admiral Drury in the Minden 74. Continuing, on the death of the Commander-in-Chief, to serve in the same ship under Capt. Edw. Wallis Hoare, he proceeded in the spring of 1811 to the coast of Java, there to await the arrival of an expedition fitting out at the different ports of India for the subjugation of that island. While stationed in the Sunda Strait, Mr. Lyons’ extreme zeal for the service, and the gallantry of his nature, led him to the performance of an exploit which so far surpassed all his Captain’s ideas of possibility as to elicit from him a declaration that it was beyond all comment. This was nothing less than the storming and capture, on the night of 30 July, 1811, with not more than 35 men, and with but trifling loss, of the strong fortress of Marrack, mounting 54 guns and garrisoned by 180 soldiers and the crews of two boats.[2] Previously to the latter event Mr. Lyons had been of material assistance to Capt. Geo. Sayer, of the Leda frigate, in reconnoitring and procuring information relative to the force and position of the enemy. During the operations which were shortly afterwards regularly commenced, he was at first intrusted with the command of a flotilla of five gunboats recently captured by Capt. Robt. Maunsell (whom see); and was then allowed to serve in the batteries opposed to Fort Cornelis. After the glorious assaults on that stronghold his health became so impaired from the exertions he had undergone that he felt himself under the necessity of invaliding; and he accordingly returned home in the Caroline 36, Capt. Christ. Cole. Being awarded, on his arrival, a second promotal commission, dated 21 March, 1812, Capt. Lyons was next, 5 April, 1813, appointed to the command of the Rinaldo 10; in which vessel, it appears, he escorted Louis XVIII. to France and the Allied Sovereigns to England, besides affording a passage to Mr. Planta, the bearer of the treaty of Paris. Although advanced to Post-rank 7 June, 1814, he was not again employed until 1828; on 18 Jan. in which year he obtained command of the Blonde 46, fitting for the Mediterranean. In the following Oct., after having for some time blockaded the port of Navarin, we find him directing the movements of the naval part of an expedition ordered to co-operate with the French in the siege of Morea Castle, the last hold of the Turks in the Peloponnesus.[3] During an arduous service of twelve days and nights, in very unfavourable weather, which preceded its unconditional surrender, he distinguished himself in an especial manner, and, having landed, was almost constantly in the trenches, exposed to a tremendous fire of great guns and musketry. The greatness, indeed, of Capt. Lyons’ exertions, added to the satisfaction afforded to the French by his cordial behaviour towards them, led to his being invested with the insignia of the order of St. Louis of France and of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Redeemer of Greece. In the summer of 1829 the Blonde conveyed Sir Robt. Gordon as Ambassador to Constantinople. She was afterwards the first British man-of-war that ever entered the Black Sea; and in Jan. 1831 she took Sir John Malcolm from Alexandria to Malta. Removing about the latter period to the Madagascar 46, Capt. Lyons was afforded an opportunity, in May, 1832, of witnessing Ibrahim Pacha’s bombardment of St. Jean d’Acre; and, in the early part of 1833, of attending King Otho and the Bavarian Regency from Trieste to Greece. He paid the Madagascar off 17 Jan. 1835, and has not been since afloat. In the course of the month last mentioned he was nominated a K.C.H., and received the honour of Knighthood.
Sir Edm. Lyons, who has filled the office of Minister Plenipotentiary at the court of Athens since July, 1835, was created a Baronet for his civil services in 1840, and a G.C.B. 10 July, 1844. He married, 18 July, 1814, Augusta, second daughter of the late Capt. Josias Rogers, R.N., who commanded the Quebec frigate at the capture of the French West India islands in 1794, and niece of the late Rear-Admiral Thos. Rogers. By that lady he has issue with two daughters (the one married to the Baron Philip de Wurtzburg, the other to the Earl of Arundel and Surrey) two sons, the elder of whom. Rich. Bickerton Pemell, is an attaché to the embassy in Greece, and the younger, Edm. Moubray, a Commander in the R.N. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
LYONS. (Commander, 1846.)
Edmund Moubray Lyons, born 27 June, 1819, is second and youngest son of Capt. Sir Edm. Lyons, Bart., G.C.B., K.C.H.
This officer entered the Royal Naval College 10 July, 1829; passed his examination in 1838; obtained his first commission 11 June, 1841; and was subsequently appointed, always on the Mediterranean station – in the course of the same year, as Additional, to the Howe 120, flag-ship of Sir Fras. Mason – 1 March, 1842, to the Rodney 92, Capt. Robt. Maunsell – 11 Jan. 1844, again as Additional, to the Queen 110, bearing the flag of Sir Edw. W. C. R. Owen – 15 April, 1844, to the Aigle 24, Capt. Lord Clarence Edw. Paget – 19 June, 1845, to the Tyne 26, Capt. Wm. Nugent Glascock – and, 10 April, 1846, as First, to the Siren 16, Capt. Harry Edm. Edgell. He attained his present rank 9 Nov. 1846; and is now on half-pay. Agent – Joseph Woodhead.
LYONS. (Captain, 1830. f-p., 17; h-p., 32.)
John Lyons is brother of Capt. Sir Edm. Lyons, Bart., G.C.B., K.C.H.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 Sept. 1798, as Midshipman, on board the St. George 98, Capts. John Holloway, Sampson Edwards, Henry Nichols, and Wm. Grenville Lobb; in which ship, bearing the flag for some time of Admirals Lord Nelson and Chas. Morice Pole, he bore a part (previously to visiting the Mediterranean) in the action off Copenhagen 2 April, 1801. He served during the peace of Amiens, on the West India and Home stations, in the Edgar 74, Capt. Robt. Waller Otway, Childers sloop, Capt. Delafons, and Africaine 38, Capt. Thos. Manby; and on the renewal of hostilities in 1803 he joined the Magnificent 74, Capt. Wm. Henry Jervis, under whom, while attached to the in-shore squadron off Brest, he was wrecked, on the Black Rocks, in March, 1804. Being received, in the following Sept. (after three months’ servitude with Capt. Jervis on board the Tonnant 80), into the Victory 100, flag-ship of Lord Nelson, he was afforded an opportunity, 21 Oct. 1805, of sharing in the glories of Trafalgar. He was in consequence promoted, while with Lord Collingwood in the Queen 98, to the rank of Lieutenant, 24 Dec. in the same year; and he was afterwards appointed – 17 Feb. 1806, to the Eagle 74, Capt. Chas. Rowley, in which ship, we understand, he witnessed the reduction of the island of Capri – 18 Aug. 1806, to the Queen 98, Capt. Fras. Pender, stationed off Cadiz – 18 June, 1807, to the Montagu 74, Capts. Robt. Waller Otway and Rich. Hussey Moubray, again on the Mediterranean station, where he assisted at the evacuation of Scylla in the winter of 1807, and commanded a detachment of seamen at the reduction of Santa Maura in April, 1810[4] – 23 Feb. and 1 Sept. 1811, to the Repulse 74, Capt. R. H. Moubray, and Bombay 74, Capts. Wm. Cuming and Norborne
