Samuel Lysons FRS  was a notable English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 engraver and antiquary

Antiquarian

An antiquarian or antiquary is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient objects of art or science, archaeological and historic sites, or historic archives and manuscripts...

 of the late 18th and early 19th century, who - with his older brother, Daniel

Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons was a notable English antiquary and topographer of the late 18th and early 19th century, who published the four-volume The Environs of London ....

 - published the four-volume The Environs of London (published 1792 to 1796). He was also one of the first archaeologists to investigate Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 sites in Britain, where he specialised in the study of mosaic

Mosaic

Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...

s.

The son of the Reverend Samuel Lysons (1730–1804) and Mary Peach Lysons of Rodmarton, Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....

, Lysons studied law in Bath, was called to the Bar at Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 in 1798 and, choosing the Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 Circuit, practiced law until December 1803.

Lysons served as director of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

 from 1798 to 1809. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

 in 1797 and later served as vice-president and treasurer (1810–1819) of the Society. Shortly before he died, he also served as antiquary professor in the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

. As a notable public figure, his portrait was painted by, among others, academicians Sir Thomas Lawrence

Thomas Lawrence (painter)

Sir Thomas Lawrence RA FRS was a leading English portrait painter and president of the Royal Academy.Lawrence was a child prodigy. He was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper. At the age of ten, having moved to Bath, he was supporting his family with his...

 and George Dance the Younger

George Dance the Younger

George Dance the Younger was an English architect and surveyor. The fifth and youngest son of George Dance the Elder, he came from a distinguished family of architects, artists and dramatists...

.
He illustrated his brother's Environs of London, and both worked on Magna Britannia, Being a Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain

Magna Britannia

Magna Britannia, being a concise topographical account of the several counties of Great Britain was an ambitious topographical and historical survey published by the antiquarians Daniel Lysons and his brother Samuel Lysons in several volumes between 1806 and 1822...

, published in several volumes from 1806 to 1822.

Lysons also engraved 156 plates in Reliquae Britannico-Romanae (1801–1817). Relating to his native county, Lysons also produced plates for Views and Antiquities of the County of Gloucestershire (1791) and A Collection of Gloucestershire Antiquities (1803). He also wrote An Account of the Remains of a Roman Villa Discovered at Woodchester

Woodchester

Woodchester is a Gloucestershire village in the Nailsworth Valley, a valley in the South Cotswolds in England, running southwards from Stroud along the A46 road to Nailsworth....

 in the County of Gloucestershire (1815) (this included his discovery of the 'Orpheus' pavement at Woodchester Roman Villa

Woodchester Roman Villa

Woodchester Roman Villa was situated at Woodchester near Stroud in the English county of Gloucestershire.It is one of many Roman villas discovered in Gloucestershire and was occupied between the early 2nd and late 4th centuries AD. There is now nothing visible of the villa above ground and the site...

 in 1793) and published several works on Roman mosaics, including papers in Archaeologia, published by the Society of Antiquaries in London. He was also Keeper of the Records in London from 1803 until his death in 1819.

Lysons died close to his Rodmarton birthplace, dying at Cirencester

Cirencester

Cirencester is a market town in east Gloucestershire, England, 93 miles west northwest of London. Cirencester lies on the River Churn, a tributary of the River Thames, and is the largest town in the Cotswold District. It is the home of the Royal Agricultural College, the oldest agricultural...

, Gloucestershire in June 1819.