David Lyon senior

David Lyon (1754-26/06/1827), London West India merchant and father inter alios of David Lyon junior (q.v.), of William Lyon MP for Seaford 1831-32, of his heir John Lyon, of Captain James Lyon of Dangstein, West Sussex, of Elizabeth Lady Kilmaine and of Isabella Wedderburn. David Lyon senior died at Portland Place in 1827, endowing each of his sons with significant wealth. The will bequeaths unspecified property in trust to trustees including his son David Lyon junior, who is the only member of the family to appear in the compensation records. David Lyon senior has an entry in the ODNB as 'West India merchant and slave owner.'

1. West India merchant (David Lyon & Co. of Lime Street Square, City of London). 'Also lived in Jamaica, and was presumably a planter there.' Son of John Lyon of Castle Lyon Perthshire and Kinnaird Fifeshire and Jane, daughter of Alexander Ochterlony of Pitforthy Angus. Married 1787 Isabella, daughter of John Reid of Cairney. Left £600,000 'within province.' 'An immensely wealthy West India merchant who had lived in Jamaica.'

2. Will of David Lyon of Portland Place proved 12/07/1827. In the will he instructed his trustees to set aside in the funds such amount as would generate an income of £4000 p.a., as an annuity to his wife reducible to £1000 p.a. if she remarried, and £50,000 in trust for each of his unmarried daughters viz. Agnes Lyon and Emily Lyon. He recited the marriage settlement of his daughter Elizabeth with her husband the future Lord Kilmaine under which he had advanced £29,000 and committed another £11,000 on his [David Lyon sen.'s] death and a further £10,000 for Elizabeth, and of his daughter Isabella with James Wedderburn, under which he had settled £50,000 under a similar but not identical structure. He left £100,000 each to his sons John, James and William, and £50,000 to his son George.

3. The will of David Lyon's son George Lyon of Nice, Piedmont in the Kingdom of Sardinia but now residing temporarily at Number 10 Bloomsbury Square was proved 26/06/1839. In the will he rehearsed the bequest to him of £50,000 under his father's will, the capital of which was lodged in Chancery in the suit of Lyon v Mitchell and which he left to his French wife Victorine. David Lyon junior left £180,000 in 1872 and William Lyon left £162,000 in 1892. The will of James Lyon of Dangstein near Petersfield in the county of Sussex was proved 01/12/1854; John Lyon was apparently the John Lyon who died of Place Vendome Paris in 1858, leaving only £800 effects (resworn from £12,000).

4. An obituary of his son David Lyon junior gives more details of the family:

Nicholas Draper, ‘Lyon, David, senior (bap. 1754, d. 1827)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2016 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/107422, accessed 21 Oct 2016]

1. W.D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? Vol. 1 1809-1839 (Social Affairs Unit, 2009) 1827/21.

2. PROB 11/1728/167.

3. PROB 11/1912/197; National Probate Calendar 1872 and 1892; PROB 11/2202/8 (under this will James Lyon divided unequally (after an annuity of £1000 p.a. to his wife) the £100,000 he had inherited under his father's will between his three sons and two daughters Edmund David; Carisbrooke James and John Tollemache, Mary Agnes and Isabella Maria Georgiana; in a codicil of 1854 - which shows him of Woodlands Hants - after the death of his son John Tollemache he re-divided the legacy so that each of three daughters now including Elenor received £18,000, his son Carisbrooke James received £10,000 and the balance went to Edmund David Lyon); National Probate Calendar 1858.

4. Illustrated London News 20/04/1872.

We are grateful to Peter Selley for his assistance with compiling this entry.