George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon

Admiral Sir George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon, KCB (3 October 1883 – 19 August 1947) was a distinguished Royal Navy officer as well as an English sportsman who played first-class cricket and represented the England national rugby union team.

George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon
Lyon (2nd from left) at Dover in 1943
Born3 October 1883 (1883-10-03)
Bankipore, Bihar, India
Died19 August 1947 (1947-08-20) (aged 63)
Midhurst, Sussex, England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service1899–1943
RankAdmiral
Commands held3rd Cruiser Squadron
Africa Station
Nore Command
Battles/warsWorld War I
- Jutland
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath;
Commander, Order of the Redeemer of Greece;
Grand Cross Order of Aviz of Portugal
George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon
Rugby union career
Position(s) Fullback
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
– United Services Portsmouth ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1908-1909 England 2 (0)

Educated at Bruton School and at the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, Lyon joined the Navy on 15 June 1899, and saw active service at the Battle of Jutland, aboard HMS Monarch.[1]

He was appointed Head of the British Naval Mission to Greece in 1929 and Commodore Commanding, Home Fleet Destroyers in 1932.[1] He then became Rear Admiral commanding the 3rd Cruiser Squadron in 1935 and Commander-in-Chief, Africa in 1938 (the Africa Station became the South Atlantic Station in 1939).[1]

He served in World War II as Commander-in-Chief, The Nore from 1941 and retired in 1943.[1]

Sporting career

Lyon, in four first-class cricket matches, made 185 runs at 26.42 and took 7 wickets at 20.00. A right-arm medium pace bowler and right-handed batsman, he played twice for Hampshire in the 1907 County Championship. On debut, his only significant contribution was dismissing Worcestershire opener Harry Foster[2] while in the other match for Hampshire, he claimed the wicket of Ernest Killick, of Sussex, after Lyon made his then highest score of 29.[3]

Capped twice for England at rugby union, Lyon was a full-back and made his Test debut at Inverleith, in a loss to Scotland during the 1908 Home Nations Championship.[4] When he appeared in his second and final Test the following year, it was as captain and against Australia at Blackheath. England once again lost the fixture but were awarding no less than nine players their first Test caps.[5]

His return to first-class cricket in 1911 was much more successful, with an appearance for an Army and Navy cricket team against the Oxford and Cambridge Universities team at Portsmouth. Despite batting down the order at nine, Lyon was the top scorer for the Army and Navy in their first innings, with 90. He then managed career best figures of 4/51 and one of those, Ronald Lagden, was also an English rugby union international.[6] Lyon's final first-class match came eleven years later when he lined up for the Royal Navy against the Army at Lord's. He contributed scores of 22 and 32 but couldn't stop the Army winning by 9 wickets.[7]

References
  1. Sir George Hamilton D'Oyly Lyon Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives
  2. "Hampshire v Worcestershire 1907". CricketArchive.
  3. "Hampshire v Sussex 1907". CricketArchive.
  4. "Home Nations - Inverleith, 21 March 1908". Scrum.com.
  5. "Australia tour - Blackheath, 9 January 1909". Scrum.com.
  6. "Army and Navy v Oxford and Cambridge Universities 1911". CricketArchive.
  7. "Army v Royal Navy 1922". CricketArchive.
Military offices
Preceded by
Sir Francis Tottenham		 Commander-in-Chief, Africa Station
1938–1939		 Succeeded by
Post Disbanded
(followed by the South Atlantic Station)
Preceded by
New Post
(formerly the Africa Station)		 Commander-in-Chief, South Atlantic Station
1939–1940		 Succeeded by
Sir Robert Raikes
Preceded by
Sir Studholme Brownrigg		 Commander-in-Chief, The Nore
1941–1943		 Succeeded by
Sir John Tovey
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