Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons

Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons GCB , GCMG , PC , (born April 26, 1817 in Lymington , Hampshire , † December 5, 1887 in Norfolk House, St James's Square, London ) was one of the most important British diplomats of his time.

Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons

Lyons was the son of Admiral Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons . After attending Winchester School , he studied at Christ Church College , Oxford . Lyons began his diplomatic career in 1839 as an attaché in Athens, came to Dresden in 1852, and in 1853 to the legation for the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , which resided in Rome.

In December 1858, having just inherited the title of 2nd Baron Lyons , of Christchurch in the County of Southampton on the death of his father , he went as envoy to New York and, through his prudence, rendered great services to the United Kingdom during the Civil War . During the Trent Affair , when two Confederate diplomats en route to Great Britain were picked up by the British mail steamer Trent during an inspection by a Northern State ship , both states were on the brink of war. Lyons mastered this crisis through his skill and tact.

When Sir Frederik Bruce replaced him in 1865 , he became ambassador to Constantinople , where he only stayed for two years. In the summer of 1867 he went to Paris to succeed Henry Richard Cowley in the same capacity. The post of British ambassador to France, the most important ambassadorial post for the United Kingdom at the time, was held by Lyons for 20 years under changing liberal and conservative governments. During this time he experienced significant upheavals in France, the last years of the Second Empire , the Franco-Prussian War and the beginning of the French colonial expansion. The last few years were marked by the beginning of the Anglo-French confrontation, which began with the British occupation of Egypt .

When Lyons was replaced by Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton in 1887 , he was completely exhausted after more than 50 years in the diplomatic service. For this reason he also refused to accept the office of foreign minister in the Salisbury government .

In recognition of his services, Lyons had been promoted to Viscount Lyons , of Christchurch in the County of Southampton in 1881 . The renewed elevation to Earl Lyons was announced on November 24, 1887, but Lyons death precluded the execution of the corresponding letter patent . Both the inherited barony and the Viscount title expired with his death, as he had no male descendants.

Web links

• Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st and last Viscount Lyons on thepeerage.com , accessed September 14, 2016.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Viscount Lyons 1881-1887	Title expired
Edmund Lyons	Baron Lyons 1858-1887	Title expired