Life

Lyons, born at Cork

Cork (city)

Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...

 in 1826, was son of Sir William Lyons (1794–1858), a merchant there, who was mayor in 1848 and 1849, and was knighted by the queen on her visit to Cork on 3 August 1849. His mother was Harriet, daughter of Robert Spencer Dyer of Kinsale.

Robert was educated at Hamlin and Porter's grammar school, Cork, and at Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

, where he graduated in 1848 as a bachelor in medicine. He became a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

The Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland , is a Dublin-based medical institution, situated on St. Stephen's Green. The college is one of the five Recognised Colleges of the National University of Ireland...

 in the following year, and in 1855 was appointed chief pathological commissioner to the British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 in the Crimea, where he reported on the disease then prevalent in the trenches before Sebastopol. On 8 September 1855 he was awarded the Crimean and Turkish medals and clasps for Sebastopol. In 1856, he married Marie, daughter of David Richard Pigot

David Richard Pigot

David Richard Pigot PC, KC was one of the leading Irish judges of his time.Pigot was born in Kilrush, the only son of John Pigot, a doctor. He went to school in Fermoy and graduated from the University of Dublin...

, lord chief baron of the exchequer in Ireland.

In 1857, he undertook a voluntary mission to Lisbon to investigate the pathological anatomy of the yellow fever which was raging there, and for his report on that subject received from King Pedro V of Portugal

Pedro V of Portugal

* Duke of Barcelos* Marquis of Vila Viçosa* Count of Ourém* Count of Barcelos* Count of Arraiolos* Count of Guimarães-Honours:* Knight of the Garter* Knight of the Golden Fleece-Ancestry:...

 the cross and insignia of the Ancient Order of Christ. He then joined St. George's Hospital, Dublin, where he took an active share in the education of the army medical staff. He was also professor of medicine in the Roman Catholic university medical school, a senator of the Royal University, 1880, crown nominee for Ireland in the General Medical Council of the United Kingdom on 29 November 1881, physician to the House of Industry hospitals, and visiting physician to Maynooth College.

In 1870, he was invited by Mr. Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...

's government to act on a commission of inquiry into the treatment of Irish treason-felony prisoners in English prisons, and in connection with this inquiry he visited many French prisons and reported on the discipline exercised in that country. He enthusiastically recommended the reafforesting of Ireland, and with concurrence of government collected information on forests from foreign countries, which was embodied in an article in the Journal of Forestry and Estate Management, February 1883, pp. 656–9.

He sat in the British House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 for the City of Dublin as a liberal from April 1880 till the general election in 1885, and spoke on the Parliamentary Oaths Act 1 May 1883.

He died at 89 Merrion Square, Dublin, on 19 December 1886.

Biography

1. ‘An Apology for the Microscope,’ 1851.
2. ‘A Handbook of Hospital Practice, or an Introduction to the Practical Study of Medicine at the Bedside,’ 1859.
3. ‘A Treatise on Fever,’ 1861.
4. ‘Intellectual Resources of Ireland. Supply and Demand for an enlarged System of Irish University Education,’ 1873.
5. ‘Irish Intermediate Education and the Civil Service of Cyprus,’ 1878.
6. ‘Forest Areas in Europe and America, and probable future Timber Supplies,’ 1884.