Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons
Encyclopedia
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, PC, DCL (6 April 1817 - 5 December 1887) was an eminent British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
diplomat
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
.
Biography
Born in LymingtonLymington
Lymington is a port on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England. It is to the east of the South East Dorset conurbation, and faces Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight which is connected to it by a car ferry, operated by Wightlink. The town...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, Lyons was the elder son of Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons
Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons
Admiral Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons, GCB, KCH was a British naval commander and diplomat who led a distinguished career in the Royal Navy, culminating with the Crimean War and his appointment as Commander of the Black Sea Fleet...
(1790-1858), naval officer and diplomat, and his wife, Augusta Louisa, née Rogers (1791-1852). After attending Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, he went to Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church or house of Christ, and thus sometimes known as The House), is one of the largest constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England...
, where he graduated BA in 1838 and MA in 1843. He entered the diplomatic service in 1839 as an unpaid attaché at his father's legation in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. In 1844 he was made a paid attaché and transferred to Saxony
Kingdom of Saxony
The Kingdom of Saxony , lasting between 1806 and 1918, was an independent member of a number of historical confederacies in Napoleonic through post-Napoleonic Germany. From 1871 it was part of the German Empire. It became a Free state in the era of Weimar Republic in 1918 after the end of World War...
and then Tuscany
Grand Duchy of Tuscany
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...
. His first major appointment came in December 1858 when he succeeded Lord Napier
Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier
Francis Napier, 10th Lord Napier and 1st Baron Ettrick, KT, PC , was a Scottish polyglot, diplomat and colonial administrator. He served as the British Minister to the United States from 1857 to 1859, Netherlands from 1859 to 1860, Russia from 1861 to 1864, Prussia from 1864 to 1866 and as the...
as British envoy to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in Washington
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
.
Lyons reached Washington a full two years before the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. Like many observers, he believed that the dissolution of the United States was a strong possibility. Lyons had been seen as the best appointment to the U.S. by the British government. A capable envoy was an absolute necessity in Anglo-American relations, as both of Lyons' predecessors at Washington (Napier and Crampton) were recalled because of scandals.
Lyons was successful in healing the rift in Anglo-American relations. He moved quickly to resolve the San Juan Island
San Juan Islands
The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S...
crisis in 1859 (the "Pig War
Pig War
The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between the United States and the British Empire over the boundary between the US and British North America. The territory in dispute was the San Juan Islands, which lie between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland...
"). Moreover, Lyons planned and oversaw the wildly successful 1860 tour of Canada and the United States by the Prince of Wales
Edward VII of the United Kingdom
Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910...
. Lyons received high praise on both sides of the Atlantic, from no less than President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
and Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. For these two diplomatic triumphs Lyons was made GCMG
Order of St Michael and St George
The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
.
However, a few weeks after the Prince's tour, the diplomatic and political landscape changed radically. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
was elected President in November 1860 and the Secession Crisis began. Lyons feared that American politicians might try to divert public opinion from domestic problems by quarreling with foreign powers, especially Britain. He was particularly suspicious of William Henry Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
.
As the war unfolded, Lyons had to deal with numerous problems. One was the threat to Canada, which he believed could be the target of a possible attack by the Union
Union (American Civil War)
During the American Civil War, the Union was a name used to refer to the federal government of the United States, which was supported by the twenty free states and five border slave states. It was opposed by 11 southern slave states that had declared a secession to join together to form the...
. Another was the cotton supply to Britain from the Confederacy in spite of the Union blockade
Blockade
A blockade is an effort to cut off food, supplies, war material or communications from a particular area by force, either in part or totally. A blockade should not be confused with an embargo or sanctions, which are legal barriers to trade, and is distinct from a siege in that a blockade is usually...
of the southern coast.
In 1861, Lyons declared to Lord John Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....
that "the taint of slavery will render the cause of the South loathsome to the civilized world."
The most dangerous moment was the Trent affair
Trent affair
The Trent Affair, also known as the Mason and Slidell Affair, was an international diplomatic incident that occurred during the American Civil War...
, which established Lyons's lasting reputation. In the autumn of 1861, the Confederacy sent two envoys (James Mason and John Slidell
John Slidell
John Slidell was an American politician, lawyer and businessman. A native of New York, Slidell moved to Louisiana as a young man and became a staunch defender of southern rights as a U.S. Representative and Senator...
) to Europe to try to secure formal recognition. They traveled on the (neutral) British mail steamer Trent. A Union warship intercepted the Trent and seized the envoys, outraging British opinion. Public excitement over the affair grew so intense that war between Britain and America seemed for a time unavoidable. Through tact and firmness Lyons was largely responsible for the avoidance of open war between the two countries, persuading the reluctant U.S. government to release the envoys. The author Raymond A. Jones in his work The British Diplomatic Service, 1815-1914 has stated, unequivocally, that Lyon's handling of the "Mason-Slidell affair... established his well-deserved reputation as Britain's greatest mid-century ambassador." (see p. 126)
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Palmerston tried their best to get Lyons to return to Washington but to no avail. Instead they appointed Sir Frederick Bruce
Frederick Wright-Bruce
Sir Frederick Wright-Bruce, GCB was a British diplomat.Frederick Bruce was the youngest of the three sons of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and his second wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter of James Townshend Oswald of Dunnikier, Fife. He was born at Bromhall, Fife, on 14 April 1814, and on 9 Feb...
, who was Lyons' hand-picked successor. This was noteworthy as it showed that the Queen and Palmerston had the utmost confidence in Lyons' ability to read the diplomatic situation.
Queen Victoria remarked to Palmerston that she was so pleased by Lyons' service in the U.S. that she would be happy to have Lyons "represent Her at any Court" in the world. Therefore, a few months later Lyons went to Turkey
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
to replace Sir Henry Bulwer
Henry Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer
Henry Lytton Earle Bulwer, 1st Baron Dalling and Bulwer GCB, PC was a British Liberal politician, diplomat and writer.-Background and education:...
, who was embroiled in a career-destroying scandal. (The Ottoman government had bought him an island estate, and several thousand pounds were missing from the embassy accounts.) The new Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
, Lord Clarendon
George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon
George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon KG, GCB, PC , was an English diplomat and statesman.-Background and education:...
, had full faith and confidence that Lyons would be the "honest man" to clean up the mess and restore positive Anglo-Ottoman relations. Lyons did so in a short amount of time; he stayed in Turkey less than two years.
In October 1867, after the resignation of Lord Cowley
Henry Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley
Henry Richard Charles Wellesley, 1st Earl Cowley KG GCB PC , known as The Lord Cowley between 1847 and 1857, was a British diplomat...
, Lyons was moved to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. He represented Britain in France for a continuous period of twenty years: one of the longest-serving British ambassadors in Paris in modern times. The presence of such a reliable and conciliatory man in the most sensitive and important post in Europe gave both Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
British governments an essential guarantee that their instructions would always be carried out according to the terms determined in London. His efforts on behalf of various governments were rewarded with a viscount
Viscount
A viscount or viscountess is a member of the European nobility whose comital title ranks usually, as in the British peerage, above a baron, below an earl or a count .-Etymology:...
cy (1881) and an earl
Earl
An earl is a member of the nobility. The title is Anglo-Saxon, akin to the Scandinavian form jarl, and meant "chieftain", particularly a chieftain set to rule a territory in a king's stead. In Scandinavia, it became obsolete in the Middle Ages and was replaced with duke...
dom (1887), though he died before the patent had been sealed on the latter.
The twenty years Lyons spent in Paris were of momentous importance in French history. This period saw the last years of the Second French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
, its fall and the Franco-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...
, the Paris Commune
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a government that briefly ruled Paris from March 18 to May 28, 1871. It existed before the split between anarchists and Marxists had taken place, and it is hailed by both groups as the first assumption of power by the working class during the Industrial Revolution...
, the establishment of the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
, and the start of the Boulanger crisis. Lord Lyons had decided views on the evolving situation in France. Because he did not consider a working and orderly parliamentary democracy possible in France, he constantly favoured strong men, such as Napoleon III and later the republican leader Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta
Léon Gambetta was a French statesman prominent after the Franco-Prussian War.-Youth and education:He is said to have inherited his vigour and eloquence from his father, a Genovese grocer who had married a Frenchwoman named Massabie. At the age of fifteen, Gambetta lost the sight of his right eye...
, to lead the country. He believed that only they could pacify France, heal the political and social divisions within French society, and, no less importantly, maintain a strong attachment to the entente with Britain and a commitment to free-trade policy.
These two decades were no less fraught with major international problems: the rise of and the consequences for the European order arising out of the Franco-Prussian War; the Eastern Question
Eastern Question
The "Eastern Question", in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The expression does not apply to any one particular problem, but instead includes a variety of issues raised during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including...
; the French invasion of Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...
and the start of French colonial expansion; and the Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian question. On all these issues, Lyons favoured a close understanding between France and Britain, in order to avoid a new confrontation between France and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
which would, he believed, destroy the entire European system. Following British action in Egypt in the summer of 1882 and the formal end of dual control of that country, Lyons found himself in the midst of a bitter confrontation between Britain and France which lasted until 1904. The last five years of his embassy must rank as the worst time he spent in Paris.
Unlike some in London he accepted the responsibilities facing Britain in Egypt and believed that, having decisively established its authority over Egypt, Britain should not withdraw from the task it had entered upon. He therefore advocated the best possible arrangements both for securing Egypt's finances and for respecting French financial rights there. During this difficult period Lyons contributed greatly, by his conciliatory manner, in preventing the friction between France and Britain from producing any irremediable estrangement.
By the time Lyons relinquished his post at the end of October 1887 he was an exhausted man who, after nearly fifty years of official duties, longed for some rest. On the formation of the second Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
administration in 1886, the new prime minister offered him the Foreign Office, but he declined on the grounds of ill health and age. His last days at the embassy were very trying, but in accordance with Salisbury's wish he stayed on a few more months, though not without considerable misgivings. Lord Lytton
Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
, who had served under Lyons as chargé d'affaires, succeeded him.
Although it was believed that Lyons had converted to Roman Catholicism, in fact he never did. In 1886, soon after the death of his beloved sister Minna
Augusta Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk
Hon. Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons* Born Torquay, Devon, 1 August 1821* Died Norfolk House, St James's Square, London, 22 March 1886Augusta, or Minna as she was more commonly known, was the younger daughter of Edmund Lyons by his wife Augusta Louisa .In 1838/9 Minna was residing with her...
(the dowager Duchess of Norfolk), he received permission from Lord Salisbury to study Catholicism and attend Mass. While Lyons was on the path to conversion, in November 1887 a serious stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
rendered him both paralysed and incapacitated. At the time, Lyons was staying at Norfolk House, St James's Square, London, with his nephew the Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk
Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, , styled Baron Maltravers until 1856 and Earl of Arundel and Surrey between 1856 and 1860, was a British Unionist politician and philanthropist...
. Lyons died there on 5 December and was buried beneath the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle
Arundel Castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England is a restored medieval castle. It was founded by Roger de Montgomery on Christmas Day 1067. Roger became the first to hold the earldom of Arundel by the graces of William the Conqueror...
on 10 December. Sadly, Lyons was never able to enjoy the well-deserved rest and the well-deserved retirement he had longed for.
Geoffrey Madan
Geoffrey Madan
Geoffrey Spencer Madan was an English belletrist and both a collector and a creator of aphorisms, many of which are recorded in his Notebooks.-Biography:...
records Lyons as the author of two somewhat surprising aphorisms:
- Americans are either wild or dull.
- If you're given champagne at lunch, there's a catch somewhere.
Lord Lyons' diplomatic style and his legacy were of paramount importance. He trained many of the British diplomats that held the most important diplomatic posts all over the world for some thirty years after his death. Noteworthy members of the "Lyons School" of diplomacy were Sir Edward Baldwin Malet
Edward Malet
Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, 4th Baronet, PC, GCMG, GCB was a British diplomat.Edward Malet came from a family of diplomats; his father was Sir Alexander Malet, British minister to Württemberg and later to the German Confederation. After three years at Eton College, Edward Malet entered the foreign...
and Sir Edmund Monson. [See Dr. Scott T. Cairns, "Lord Lyons and Anglo-American Diplomacy During the American Civil War, 1859-1865"; PhD Thesis, The London School of Economics, University of London, 2004.]
In Fiction
Lord Lyons appears briefly as a character in the alternative history novel Guns of the South by Harry TurtledoveHarry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
.