Jacques van Lier (24 April 1875 – 25 February 1951) was a Dutch-British cellist who spent most of his career in Germany and England.

[1] Jacques studied with Joseph Giese at the Koninklijke Muziekschool and started to perform for audiences from the age of seven during presentations of his father's choir.

[3] Between 1891 and 1895, he played regularly, including solo, in the orchestra of the Paleis voor Volksvlijt in Amsterdam conducted by Richard Hol.

In July of that year, he obtained the position of second cellist of the Berliner Philharmonic, which spent the summer season in the Kurhaus.

[9] In August 1914, at the start of World War I, Van Lier left Berlin in the company of his ex-wife and their daughter and moved to Eastbourne, England, where his brother Simon van Lier directed the Grand Hotel Orchestra, in which Simon's wife Flora Manheim played the violin.

Four of his sisters who stayed in the Netherlands, together with their spouses, children and grandchildren, fell victim to the Holocaust, as did Flora Manheim and Felicia "Fifi" Wolff-van Lier.

Two examples of arrangements of works by almost-forgotten composers are the pieces on the 1926 Vocalion record, namely Florembassi´s Arlequin Triste and Mazzano´s Arioso from 1730.

In the series Klassische Meisterwerke (N. Simrock G.m.b.H., Berlin and Leipzig 1914) van Lier published arrangements of works by Francesco Cupis de Camargo, Jean-Marie Leclair, Pietro Nardini, Pierre Gaviniès, François Chabran, Emanuele Barbella, Francesco Geminiani, Exaudet, Desplanes and Vivaldi.

Stücke Alter Meister (Schlesinger, Berlijn 1906) consists of two Menuets by Mozart and one by Händel, together with "La complaisante" by C. Bach, Le Bavolet Flottant by François Couperin, a Gavotte by Jean-Philippe Rameau and one by Padre Martini, arranged by van Lier and Willy Burmester.

Several composers, some of whom were colleagues or students of Van Lier, dedicated works to him as an expression of friendship, gratitude or admiration.

Elisabeth Kuyper, who studied and worked in Berlin during the same years as van Lier, dedicated her Ballad Opus 11 to him.

Willem Feltzer dedicated his "two pieces for cello and piano" to his "good friend Jacques van Lier".