Born in Langland, Glamorgan, Wales on 7 March 1922, the son of Captain John Algernon de Courcy Lyons, M.C.
The photographs of Lyons illustrate the works of several twentieth century literary figures, including Bryher and Graham Greene.
Part of Lyons’s bequest to his fostered Thai son, Manop Charoensuk, was a large quantity of photos, books, and letters related to the life of Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen, the novelist and poet.
In 2002, the complete collection was offered by Sotheby’s in London to the American antiquarian bookseller David Deiss, but it was eventually bought by an unknown British dealer.
Some of de Courcy Lyons’s work is held in the United States, including the Catherine Walston/Graham Greene Papers at Georgetown Library, the Nancy Cunard Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center and the Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition) at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.