Algernon Lyons

Algernon McLennan Lyons was a prominent figure in the Royal Navy who rose to become Admiral of the Fleet.

He was born in Satara, India on August 2nd, 1833, the middle of three sons. He was the son of Humphrey Lyons (1802-1873), a Lieutenant-General in the Indian (Bombay) Army, and Eliza Bennett (d.1859).

Algernon saw service with the Royal Navy in the Crimean War where he was appointed flag-lieutenant to his uncle, Sir Edmund Lyons (later 1st Baron Lyons of Christchurch). Following the war, Algernon led a distinguished career, which included appointments as Commander-in-Chief in the Pacific, North America & the West Indies and Plymouth (1893). In 1895 he was appointed First and Principal Naval A.D.C. to H.M. Queen Victoria.

On August 23rd, 1897 he was promoted to the penultimate position of Admiral of the Fleet.

In 1889 Algernon Lyons was created a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath (K.C.B.) and was subsequently created G.C.B. in 1897. He was also a J.P. and Deputy-Lieutenant for Glamorganshire.

Algernon married Louisa Jane Penrice (1853-1935) of Kilvrough, Glamorgan, sole heiress of her father, Thomas Penrice (1820-1897), and had four children:

1. Thomas Humphrey Lyons (1880-1918), diplomat, married 1917, Alexina McEwen
2. Winifred Lyons (1885-1969), married 1919, Harry Othwell Lavallin-Puxley
3. Maud Lyons (1885-1978), married 1915, Edgar Walter Mead
4. Algernon Edmund Penrice-Lyons, D.S.O. (1886-1969), Commander, R.N., who assumed the additional surname of Penrice via deed poll in 1922, married Isabel Little

Admiral Sir Algernon McLennan Lyons, G.C.B. died at the family estate, Kilvrough, near Swansea in 1908.