!"#$%%&’()$*"$+"3&-.%/".6.2-&-"($"(0$/&"0.7)*8"(0&"/92*.3&":;4$*:
112
Three: Lieutenant Walter Scott Stuart Lyon, Royal Scots, a ‘War Poet’, killed in action, 8 May 1915
1914-15 STAR (Lieut., R. Scots); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (Lieut.) nearly extremely fine (3) £400-500
Walter Scott Stuart Lyon was born on 1 October 1886, at North Berwick. He was
the son of Walter F. K. Lyon. In 1905 he went up to Oxford from Haileybury, and
read Classics. He came down in 1909 to begin his professional training in
Edinburgh, where he graduated in Law and in 1912 he was admitted an
Advocate. He was then for some years Sub-Warden of the Edinburgh University
Settlement.
He was gazetted a 2nd Lieutenant on 14 December 1909, and posted to the 9th
Battalion Royal Scots, being promoted to Lieutenant on 17 December 1912.
When war broke out he was appointed Staff-Captain to the Lothian Brigade. He
rejoined his battalion in France in March 1915.
Major John Ewing, writing about the 2nd Battle of Ypres in his history of the
Royal Scots , described the following incident on 23 April 1915: ‘”C” Company
had come to a halt behind a hedge which was so thickly girt with barbed wire
that men could not break through without great labour. Noticing this, Lieutenant
Lyon very cooly stood up and, taking out his wire-cutters, began to make gaps.
Machine-guns played on him, but without any sign of haste he proceeded with
his task, never stopping until he had rendered the hedge penetrable’.
Later in his book, Ewing wrote: ‘On 8th May the storm broke out anew ... South
of the Menin Road the shelling was not so continuous or relentless as it was
farther North, but it caused several casualties among the 9th Royal Scots.
Lieutenant Lyon, who had distinguished himself by his cool daring on 23rd April,
was among the victims’.
Lieutenant Walter Scott Stuart Lyon was killed in action on 8 May 1915, aged 28
years. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin
Gate) Memorial. He was said to be the first member of the Scottish Bar to fall in
action in the Great War and perhaps the first Advocate to fall in action since the
battle of Flodden. Lieutenant Lyon was one of the ‘War Poets’. After his death, his
poems were published in a volume called Easter at Ypres.
With copied research and a copy of the article, ‘Some Great War Lyon Toffs and
Toughs’, by Dan Lyon, which appeared in the O.M.R.S. Journal of June 2009.
113
Three: Private Robert Steedman Lyon, Royal Highlanders, killed in action, battle of Loos, 25 September 1915
1914-15 STAR (S-4105 Pte., R. Highrs.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (S-4105 Pte., R. Highrs.) nearly extremely fine (3)
£100-140
Robert Steedman Lyon was born in Newton, Dalkeith, Midlothian on 4 February 1897 and enlisted at Liss, Hampshire. Serving with the
9th Battalion Royal Highlanders (Black Watch), he was killed in action, France/Flanders, on 25 September 1915 - the first day of the
battle of Loos. Having no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Loos Memorial. He was the son of Robert and Margaret
Lyon, of 20 Millerhill, Dalkeith, Midlothian. With some copied research.
114
Three: Private Joseph Lyons, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, killed in action, 16 March 1916
1914-15 STAR (C-185 Pte., K.R. Rif. C.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (C-185 Pte., K.R. Rif. C.) very fine (3) £100-140
Joseph Lyons was born in St. Pauls, Bolton, Lancashire and enlisted at Bolton. Serving in the 16th Battalion King’s Royal Rifle Corps, he
was killed in action, France/Flanders, on 16 March 1916, aged 28 years. He was buried in the Cambrin Churchyard Extension, Pas de
Calais, France. He was the husband of Bertha F. Lyon, of 99 Astley Lane, Astley Bridge, Bolton. With some copied research.
115
Three: Second Lieutenant Claude Edward Lyon, Royal Field Artillery, killed in action, 27 May 1916
1914-15 STAR (2 Lieut., R.F.A.); BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS (2 Lieut.); MEMORIAL PLAQUE (Claude Edward Lyon) nearly
extremely fine (4) £340-380
Claude Edward Lyon was born in Runcorn, Cheshire, on 23 February 1881. An Engineering Draughtsman by occupation, he joined 5th
Lancashire Volunteer Artillery, based at Preston, in April 1898, and transferred to the 7th Lancashire Volunteer Artillery, based at
Manchester, three years later. He resigned in October 1903 when his attendance was disrupted by his work commitments.
Claude Lyon was gazetted a Temporary 2nd Lieutenant on 15 March 1915. He was posted to ‘B’ Battery, 165th Brigade, R.F.A., which
was one of three brigades serving with the 31st “Pals” Division, drawn from Durham, Sheffield, Barnsley, Bradford, Leeds, East
Lancashire and Hull. He served with them in Egypt from 29 December 1915, before moving to the Western Front in 1916.
On 27 May 1916 his battery was in position on the Hebuterme-Coluscamps Plain, in front of Soilly and Courcelles, bombarding the
defences of Serre some 4,000 yards to the East. At 15.30 that day, it came under counter-battery fire and 2nd Lieutenant Lyon was
killed instantly by a fragment from the second shell which fell between him and the dugout that he was running towards. The German
artillery went on to decimate his division at Serre on the morning of 1 July 1916 - the first day of the battle of the Somme.
Lieutenant Claude Edward Lyon was buried in Bertrancourt Military Cemetery. He was the husband of Mrs Nellie Lyon, of Wellington,
Shropshire. With copied research, certificates and related modern photographs.
www.dnw.co.uk
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