Lyons family
During the 14th century, a branch of the family emigrated to Scotland, where they became Clan Lyon, the Lords of Glamis, and the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
During the first decades of the 12th century, Henry I of England built a new castle in the district, the Château de Lyons-la-Forêt, where he died in 1135.
[1] In 1066, Ingelram, Lord of Lyons, arrived in England with the Norman Conquest and was granted lands in Corsham and Culington.
[6] Nicholas was granted, by William I, lands in Warkworth, Northamptonshire, where his family subsequently bought Warkworth Castle, a castellated mansion consisting of a body with two wings, forming three sides of a quadrangle,[6] with a large gatehouse and semi-circular towers, which was the English seat of the Lyons family until 1412.
Warkworth Castle was converted into a spectacular house by subsequent owners, during the Jacobean period, but was demolished c.1805.
[6] There was a branch of the family living in Norfolk, whose members included Sir John Lyon (1289 – 1346), and the father of the infamous English merchant Sir Richard Lyons, Sheriff of London, PC, MP[6] (1310–1381), who was a friend of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer, and who was beheaded during the Peasants' Revolt by its leader Wat Tyler.
[9] The daughter, Elizabeth, of Sir John Lyons, (d.1385) who was Lord of Warkworth,[8] married Sir John Chetwode:[10] Elizabeth had no male siblings and the estate passed to Chetwode, who adopted the Lyons arms and the title 'Lord of Warkworth'.
[6] Some sources identify the progenitors of the Scottish branch of the family, Clan Lyon, who subsequently became the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne,[12] to be members of the Anglo-Norman family who emigrated to Scotland the end of the eleventh century in the retinue of Edgar, son of Malcolm III of Scotland, to fight against his uncle, Donald Bane.
[12] Other sources identify the progenitor of the Scottish branch as Sir John Lyon, Baron of Forteviot, Forgandenny, and Drumgawan (1289–1348), the son of a member of the Warkworth line,[6] who was born in Scotland.
[17] The eighth Lord Glamis renounced his allegiance to Mary Queen of Scots to serve the Regents Moray and Lennox.
His son was Captain of the Royal Guard and a Privy Counsellor to James VI: in 1606 he was created Earl of Kinghorne, Viscount Lyon, and Baron Glamis.
[9] William entered the army of Elizabeth I of England and, in 1599, commanded a company of cavalry, under the Earl of Essex, in the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
[19] William also bought the lands of Mullalough, Casement, Killeen, and Killowen, together constituting over 3000 acres, in the same County.
[22] There is a life size statue of him, by Matthew Noble, in St Paul's Cathedral, which remains in place.
[23][24] After the death of their second child, in 1803, John and his wife, Catherine, settled at St Austin's, a 190-acre estate in the Boldre, New Forest, Hampshire, England.
[31] During the late 19th century Major Richard Thomas Lyons MD (1875 – 1903) owned Cherry Hinton Hall, Cambridge.
[40] The 24th Missouri Volunteer Infantry was recruited as "The Lyon Legion" in honour of the General, and carried a unique regimental colour, depicting a Lion beneath a constellation of six stars.
[40] Counties in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nevada, and Lyons valley in Jamul, California, are named after him.
