David Lyon Junior (September 18, 1794 - April 8, 1872) is a West Indian merchant, Member of Parliament and landowner. The portrait is painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence c. 1825, and now at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.
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David Lyon senior (1754-1827) was a successful West Indies merchant. He was descended from William Lyon of Pettanys (1433-1498) the ancestor of the Ogil Easter branch (Burkes L.G 1906), 3rd son Patrick Lyon, first Lord Glamis (1402-1459). Together with his wife Isabella Read (1776-1836), he has ten children, among whom David is the third child. David junior was educated at Harrow (1809). In 1825, at the age of 31, his portrait was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, then President of the Royal Academy and at the peak of his career. Lawrence paid for the painting in 1828, which seemed to cost 700 guineas. His father, David Lyon senior, also has his portrait painted by Lawrence, but the existence of this portrait is unknown.
Maps David Lyon (politician)
Careers
Lyon Junior is a Tory Parliament Member for Bere Alston, called Borough Borough, which is controlled by Lord Beverley. He never spoke in Parliament, and, after Bere Alston was deprived of his rights by the Reform Act, never returned to office. David Lyon junior joined the family business and has a great interest in Jamaica. He was the slave owner, until the abolition of slavery in 1833, when he was compensated for more than two thousand slaves, held at thirteen estates. Two years after his retirement from Parliament, he bought a plantation near Worthing, Sussex. He knocked down the existing nobleman's home and built the Goring Hall, now used as a hospital. In 1836 he commissioned architect Decimus Burton to redesign St. Mary's Church for its cost. He hired Sir Francis Chantry to sculpt a memorial to his mother in 1836 and planted a one-mile-long road from Holm Oaks, known as Ilex Avenue.
In 1848, aged 54, he married Blanche Augusta Bury, the daughter of Rev. Edward Bury and Lady Charlotte Bury, the last to be a famous novelist of his day. As an obedient daughter-in-law, she seems to have paid off all her debts, and Madame Charlotte lives with the couple, who seems very happy, at least to Benjamin Disraeli. David is described as a 'famous yachter' and a 'very rich' person. Lyon became the High Sheriff of Sussex in 1851.
Ten years after their marriage, the couple was involved in a fierce and very general argument. Blanche took her husband to court to demand 'husbands' rights restitution. The case was set out of court and 'Mrs. Lyon goes home to her husband. But a year later, the same paper brought an announcement by David that he insulted himself for no reason from his home and would not honor any debt he made. He replied by announcing this because of his 'behavior towards him'.
In 1860, David Lyon bought Balintore Castle in Angus, the county of his ancestors. Apart from two state estates, David Lyon owns a London home on 31 South Street, Park Lane.
Death
Lyon died in April 1872, aged 77, at his winter residence in Nice, without his family, because telegram delay meant his family did not know he was ill. He was buried in the north wall of Brompton Cemetery in London to the north end. His grave is next to British naval officer Admiral Sir Charles Fremantle, namesake Fremantle, Australia.
Lyon left Goring and Balintore to his surviving brother, William, and other property in Sussex to his nephew, Arthur James Fremantle. His death, Blanche Lyon - cited as 'long separated from her husband' - was sued by the butcher-cum-loaner, in which case it was stated that although he had 1,300 pounds per year, he still lives far beyond his ability
The portrait lived in the Lyon family until the death of Joy Lyon, who wanted it for his friend Elizabeth Carnegy-Arbuthnott. In 1980, the painting was sold in Christies and purchased by Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza a year later.
References
External links
- Information about portraits at Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
- Biographical history of Parliament
- Profile in 'Slave Ownership Heritage'
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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