1835 GB STAMPLESS LETTER SIGNED 1st VISCOUNT LYONS US CIVIL WAR BRITISH DIPLOMAT

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1835 GB STAMPLESS LETTER SIGNED 1st VISCOUNT LYONS US CIVIL WAR BRITISH DIPLOMAT:
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AMAZING HISTORICAL GREAT BRITAIN FOLDED LETTER SIGNED \"BICKERTON LYONS,\" (

Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Earl Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, 2nd Baron Lyons, 2nd Baronet, of ChristchurchGCB,GCMG,PC(26 April 1817 – 5 December 1887) was an eminent British diplomat, the favourite ofQueen Victoria. Lyons was an imperative element of British diplomacy during each of the four great crises of the second half of the 19th century: Italian unification, the American Civil War, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, and the replacement of France, by the unified Germany, as the dominant Continental power. He is best known for solving theTrent Affairduring theAmerican Civil War, for laying the foundations for theSpecial Relationship, and for predicting, 32 years beforeWorld War One, the occurrence of an imperial war betweenFranceandGermanythat would destroy Britain’s international dominance.He served asBritish Ambassador to the United Statesfrom 1858 to 1865, during the American Civil War, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1865 to 1867, andBritish Ambassador to Francefrom 1867 to 1887, the most prestigious position in the Civil Service, during one of the most important periods of Continental history .....) --

HEADLINED LONG\'S HOTEL, BOND ST, 10/14/1835, SENT TO MOTHER LADY LYONS IN PARIS FRANCE, NICE POSTMARKS, NICE CONTENT MENTIONS LORD PALMERSTON, SIR ROBERT GORDON, ETC. (Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston,KG,GCB,PC,FRS(20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was aBritishstatesman who served twice asPrime Ministerin the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period 1830 to 1865, when Britain was at the height of her imperial power. He held office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865. He began his parliamentary career as aTory, defected to theWhigsin 1830, and became the first Prime Minister of the newly formedLiberal Partyin 1859. ---Sir Robert GordonGCBGCHPC(1791 – 8 October 1847) was aBritishdiplomat.Gordon was a younger son ofGeorge Gordon, Lord Haddo(himself the eldest son of the3rd Earl of Aberdeen) and a brother of the4th Earl of Aberdeen. He was educated atSt John\'s College, Cambridge.[1]From 1826 to 1828, he wasEnvoy Extraordinary to Brazil, to theOttoman Empirefrom 1828 to 1831 and toAustriafrom 1841 to 1847. In 1830, he acquired a long-term lease ofBalmoral Castle. He died in 1847 as the result of choking on a fish bone. Albert, Victoria\'s Prince Consort, bought the estate from his trustees a year later as a gift for his wife.) ---

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Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Earl Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, 2nd Baron Lyons, 2nd Baronet.
GCB,GCMG,PC,Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Viscount LyonsBritish Ambassador to FranceIn office
1867–1887Preceded byThe Earl CowleySucceeded byThe Earl of LyttonBritish Ambassador to the Ottoman EmpireIn office
1865–1867Preceded bySir Henry BulwerSucceeded bySir Henry Elliot-Murray-KynynmoundBritish Minister to the United StatesIn office
1858–1865Preceded byThe Lord NapierSucceeded bySir Frederick BruceBritish Minister to TuscanyIn office
1858–1858Preceded byConstantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of NormanbySucceeded byPeter Campbell ScarlettPersonal detailsBorn26 April 1817Died5 December 1887(aged70)Relations

Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons(father)
John Lyons of Antigua(grandfather)
Augusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons(sister), 14th Duchess of Norfolk.
Anne Theresa Bickerton Lyons, (sister) Baroness von Würtzburg
Sir Algernon Lyons, Admiral of the Fleet(first cousin)
Richard Lyons Pearson, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police(first cousin)
Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of style=\"margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url("data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22 width=%225%22 height=%2213%22%3E %3Ccircle cx=%222.5%22 cy=%229.5%22 r=%222.5%22 fill=%22%2300528c%22/%3E %3C/svg%3E");\">
Elizabeth College, Guernsey
Homeschooled
Winchester College

Alma materChrist Church, Oxford(BA, 1838; MA, 1843; DCL, 1865)

He served asBritish Ambassador to the United Statesfrom 1858 to 1865, during the American Civil War, British Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1865 to 1867, andBritish Ambassador to Francefrom 1867 to 1887, the most prestigious position in the Civil Service, during one of the most important periods of Continental history.

Famous for his tact, equanimity towards foreign peoples, staunchness, stoicism, wit, and opulent dinner parties, Lyons was offered the Cabinet position ofForeign Secretaryon three separate occasions, by three separate Prime Ministers (Gladstone,Disraeli,Salisbury) and encouraged to accept the post by Queen Victoria, but declined the offer on all three occasions. He founded the Lyons School of Diplomacy and trained the diplomatsSir Edward Baldwin MaletandSir Edmund Monson, 1st Baronet, in addition to many others who proceeded to serve in the most important diplomatic posts for the 30 years after his death.[1][2]Jenkins (2014), in the most recent biography of Lyons, considers him to be the exemplar of the British diplomat, of the ‘Foreign Office mind’, who created a canon of practical norms of British imperial diplomacy, including the necessity for neutrality in domestic party politics and the necessity for extensive confidential correspondence with various Cabinet ministers.

He was the eldest son ofEdmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons, the cousin ofSir Algernon Lyons, Admiral of the Fleet and First and Principal Naval Aide-de-Campto Queen Victoria, and the cousin ofRichard Lyons Pearson, Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

Family and early life[edit]

Richard Bickerton Pemell was born inLymington,Hampshire, on 26 April 1817. His father wasEdmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyonsand his mother was Augusta Louisa, née Rogers. His siblings were:Anne Theresa Bickerton Lyons(1815 – 1894), Baroness von Würtzburg;Captain Edmund Moubray Lyons(1819 – 1855); andAugusta Mary Minna Catherine Lyons(1821 – 1886),Duchess of Norfolkand grandmother ofPhilip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian.[3]

His cousins includedSir Algernon Lyons, Admiral of the FleetandRichard Lyons Pearson, Assistance Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.[4]

Education[edit]Lyons explored the Mediterranean, during his adolescence, on his father\'s ship,HMS BlondeChrist Church, Oxford

Richard Bickerton was tutored atElizabeth College, Guernsey, by SirJohn Colborne, in classics, English, French, arithmetic, writing, and theology, where he received a Latin Prize in 1828. He and all three of his siblings accompanied their father and mother toValletta, Malta, in 1828, where they werehomeschooledin the works ofEnlightenmentphilosophy, including those ofWilliam Robertson, astrology, history, and the classics, in addition toFrenchandModern Greek, in both of which he developed fluency. After an initial tour of the Aegean, his father returned to Valletta to refit his ship,HMS Blonde, before sailing again for the Aegean on 30 January 1829: on this second journey, he took his two sons. The two sons were tutored on the boat, explored Greece on excursions into the mainland, and were introduced to prominent members of society.[5]Richard Bickerton returned toEnglandto attendWinchester College. He subsequently attendedChrist Church, Oxford, at which he graduated BA, in 1838, and MA, in 1843.[5]He later, in 1865,[6]received an honorary DCL from Oxford.[7]By the time at which he had begun his diplomatic career, he possessed, like his father, a mastery of several languages.[8]

Early diplomatic career: Athens, Dresden, Tuscany, Rome, Vatican[edit]Athens[edit]

Richard Lyons entered the diplomatic service in 1839, whenLord Palmerstonappointed him as an unpaid attaché at his father\'s legation inAthens. In this position, Lyons advocated and sought to implemented, under the authority of his father and his father’s direct successor, Thomas Wyse, policies conducive to the establishment of a stable constitutional monarchy that would not impede an Ottoman Empire which served as a bulwark against Russian expansion in the British-dominated Mediterranean.[5]

In Athens, Lyons developed the framework of diplomatic conduct for which he would become famous. He realised that a diplomat was able to win the loyalty of his subordinates with informal hospitality and courtesy, and by consulting them on matters of business. In Athens, Lyons cultivated a family atmosphere: he dined with his juniors several times per week, provided for their welfare, and sought to ease their workloads. He received their loyalty in return.[5]

It was also in Athens that Lyons decided that British embassies should impress the power of the British Empire, and that opulent dinners with foreign diplomats created amicable relationships.[5]

Before he left Athens, Lyons made a decisive contribution to the resolution of the Don Pacifico Affair: this was acknowledged by those privy to the negotiations, but, unfortunately for Lyons, unrecognised in London.[5]

In 1844 he was made a paid attaché and transferred to Dresden,Saxony. He then served as Ambassador to theGrand Duchy of Tuscany.[3]

Papal States[edit]

Lyons next appointed, byLord John Russell, as an unofficial representative of Britain to the Papal States, as which he was expected to pursue the reform of the unpopular Papal government. Lyons’s analyses of the issues, his clarity in his dispatches, and the integrity of his counsel made him admired at the Foreign Office. Russell was impressed with Lyons’s achievement of regaining the favour and of the Papal authorities for Protestant Britain, which had enabled Lyons to dissuade the Vatican from the pursuit of the establishment of a Catholic hierarchy in Scotland, which might have caused Anti-Catholic sedition in Britain. Lyons achieved this restoration of favourable relations with the Vatican by refusing to condemn actions, however disagreeable to him, that Britain had no ability to prevent. Lord Russell was so impressed with Lyons that, when Russell succeeded to the Foreign Office in 1859, he urged his nephew, Odo, who had succeeded Lyons in Rome, to imitate the policies and conduct of Lyons.[5]

Between 1856 and 1858, Lyons was Secretary of the British Legation at Florence. He was the British Minister at Florence between February 1858 and December 1858.[9]

British Ambassador to the United States[edit]Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons caricature inVanity Fair(April 6, 1878). Lyons\'s diplomatic influence is demonstrated by the subtitle used instead of his name: \'Diplomacy\'.

Lyons’s first major appointment came in December 1858 when he succeededLord Napieras British envoy to theUnited StatesinWashington.

One month previously, Lyons had succeeded to his father’s titles: he arrived in the United States, two years before the outbreak of theAmerican Civil War, as 2nd Baronet and 2nd Baron Lyons, of Christchuch, Hampshire. He would later receive the higher noble titles of Viscount (1881) and Earl (1887).

The British Government considered Lyons to be the best choice for the position of Ambassador to the United States. However, US PresidentJames Buchanan, ignorant of Lyons’s precocious ability, was unhappy with the appointment as a consequence of Lord Lyons’s young age and his few years as a diplomat: Buchanan stated that he wanted a “man whose character was known in this country.\"[10]It is likely that Buchanan was anxious because both of Lyons’s predecessors at Washington, (Napier andCrampton), had been recalled because of scandals. Lyons considered President Buchanan to be thoroughly inept and described him as ‘too weak to wring his hands’.[7]

Diplomatic style[edit]

Lord Lyons contended that the British ‘were the chosen people of history’ and his political sympathies were monarchical. However, he was unprejudiced towards Americans and French, towards whom he behaved with unfailing equanimity, to an unprecedented degree. In America, he was ‘witty and erudite’, ‘tactful and discreet to the point of parody,[11]and possessed ‘a subtle intelligence and a steely resolve’.[7]

Geoffrey Madanrecords Lyons as the author of two somewhat surprising aphorisms:[12]

Americans are either wild or dull.
If you\'re given champagne at lunch, there\'s a catch somewhere.

Lord Lyons detested displays of emotion: according to Lord Newton, ‘he [Lyons] had never been in debt, never gambled, never quarrelled, never as far as was known, ever been in love’ and he detested outdoor life, exercise, and sport.[8]Lord Lyons became famous for his luxurious dinner parties, both when Ambassador to the United States and when Ambassador to Paris. Lyons’s dinner parties ‘nothing could exceed’ in ‘dignity and faultless taste’. He loved gastronomy, agreed with Palmerston’s remark that ‘dining is the soul of diplomacy’, and offered at least five courses ofMoet and Chandonchampagneat his diplomatic dinners because he found that it made United States senators more pliant.[7]

Jenkins states that Lyons sought to create, amongst each ambassadorial community within which he served, the structure of ‘a boys school of which he were the headmaster’.[5]Lyons contended that British legations and embassies should impress the notion of Britain’s grandeur by splendour of furnishings and banquets, but his banquets were not exclusive: he often invited junior members of the diplomatic community.[5]

The Civil War[edit]Early American actions[edit]

Lord Lyons resolved theSan Juan Islandcrisis in 1859 (the \"Pig War\") by ignoring his orders and showing to the United States, in secret and informally, the ultimatum that he had been instructed to deliver to them: this enabled the United States to realize the position of Britain and thereby enabled an agreement to be reached before the animosity engendered violence.[7]

Lyons regularly attended Willard’s Hotel, a centre of political gossip, to covertly discern the opinions of American notables.[7]

Lyons planned and organized the successful tour, in 1860, ofBritish North Americaand the United States by thePrince of Wales, of whom he was a close personal friend until his death.[13][5]Lyons chose a route that included the centres of Republican Party sentiment in New York, Massachusetts, and Ohio, and included meetings with the politicians Sumner and Chase.[7]For this tour, Lord Lyons received the praise of both theUnited States, including that ofPresident Buchanan, and that ofGreat Britain, including that ofQueen Victoria. As a consequence of these two successes, Lyons was made aKnight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George(GCMG).

American Civil War[edit]Lyons consideredAbraham Lincolnto be an unmannered charlatan, but nevertheless developed an amicable relationship with him.Lyons was the favourite diplomat ofQueen Victoria, who said that she would be prepared to allow him to represent Great Britain \'at any court in the world\'.

A few weeks after the Prince\'s tour, in November 1860, the election ofAbraham Lincolnas President initiated theSecession Crisis. Lyons considered Lincoln to be a social nobody and an unrefined westerner, and considered Lincoln’s Secretary, Seward, to be an anti-British exhibitionist.[7]

Lyons wrote toLord John Russell, the Foreign Secretary, \"It seems impossible that theSouthcan be mad enough to dissolve theUnion.\"[14]However, as the conflict intensified, Lyons revised his opinion. He foresaw an increasingly bloody conflict in which the Union would prevail, but after which the Union would disintegrate as a consequence of internal animosities. Lyons considered Lincoln’s policy of reunion to be inept, and preferred a policy of peaceful separation.[5]

Lyons advocated British non-intervention and instructed his staff to be neutral with dealings with both North and South: he had a network of covert spies reporting on the activities of each side. Lyons feared that American politicians would attempt to distract public attention from domestic problems by increasing their attacks on foreign powers, such as Britain, and was extremely suspicious ofWilliam H. Seward, Secretary of State toAbraham Lincoln. Lyons rigorously pursued negotiations intended to preclude the occurrence of a conflict between Britain and either the North or the South: he advocated the continual rejection of French invitations for Britain to join in joint-intervention with France.[5]

Lord Lyons successfully resolved numerous issues, such as the defence of Canada, which he believed would be the first foreign target for an offensive by the Northern States: missions behind the US border were performed byRoyal Engineersin Canada.[5]

Lyons was prepared to destabilise the Union, and recognise Confederate independence, in order to ensure the security of the cotton supply to Britain, from theConfederacy, after Lincoln’s decision to order a blockade of the southern coast. However, he also worked to develop a personal friendship with Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State, to provide for the eventuality, which proceed to arise, in which British favour for the North were in Britain\'s best interests. Lyons wanted to create what he called a \"golden bridge\" that would enable the Union to retract the policies that damaged the British cotton trade without humiliating itself.[5]

In the words of Jenkins, \"by sidestepping questions of principle, he [Lyons] avoided a collision and reached an understanding with Seward\".[5]Lyons maintained such a convincing semblance of genuine honesty that, after the Civil War, the Union praised him for his honesty:[5]Lyons\'s artifice so deceived Seward that Seward was led, by his perception of Lyons’s apparent honesty, to consider an Anglo-American special relationship to be a possibility.[5]In Britain, Lyons’s deceptive powers led the Foreign Office to consider him to be \'one of Britain\'s most intelligent and skilful diplomats\'.[5]

Lyons believed, in the words of Jenkins, that the Union \"had to be disabused of the notion that there was no limit to his nation\'s [Britain\'s] forbearance\".[5]During the Trent Affair, he advised the British Government to prepare the Military.[5]

The Trent Affair[edit]Main article:Trent Affair

Lyons’s most famous diplomatic success, whilst Ambassador to the United States, was the resolution of the Trent Affair, during the autumn of 1861, in which two politicians from the South, (James MasonandJohn Slidell) who had been sent to Europe to attempt to secure formal recognition for the Confederacy, were abducted from the neutral British mail steamer,Trentwhich was intercepted by a vessel from the Northern States. This stimulated the animosity of the British public and war between Britain and the United States seemed imminent, but, through idiosyncratic ‘tact and firmness’, Lyons compelled the United States government to release the two envoys, and the likely conflict was averted.[3]Lyons achieved this by two actions: first, he deliberately withheld the official statement of the British response for an extended period after the date on which he was ordered to give it, in order to make the Americans distressed by the uncertainty;[5]second, during the later stages of this period, he used the same technique that he had used, successfully, to resolve the San Juan Crisis: he disclosed to the Americans, without British authorization, and in a manner that suggested the disclosure were an accident, a version of the British policy that deliberately overstated the severity of the British keenness to use force, a number of days before issuing the official British response.[7]

For this victory,Queen Victoriastated that she would be pleased for Lyons to ‘represent Her at any court in the world’.[5]

For this victory, Raymond Jones has described Lyons as ‘Britain\'s greatest mid-century ambassador.’[15]

Lyons resigns from Washington[edit]

In December 1864, Lord Lyons left Washington, suffering poor health. Before he left, Lyons had amiable final meetings withAbraham Lincolnand Seward, both of whom wished for his rapid convalescence and his return to the position of British Ambassador at Washington. However, Lyons’s health deteriorated further and, in the spring of 1865, compelled Lyons to resign his position as Ambassador to the United States. Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister,Lord Palmerston, attempted to persuade Lyons to return to Washington, but he would not. Lyons nominatedSir Frederick Bruceas his successor: the Queen and Palmerston immediately accepted his suggestion, demonstrating their possession of the utmost confidence in Lyons\' ability to read the diplomatic situation.[3]

After his resignation, Queen Victoria remarked to Palmerston that she was so pleased by Lyons\' service in the United States that she would be happy to have Lyons \"represent Her at any Court\" in the world. Victoria considered Lyons to have a ‘sterling reputation for integrity’.[5]

Three Volumes of Lyons’s American Civil War despatches were published in 2005.[5]

Ambassador to Constantinople[edit]

Subsequent to his resignation from the position of Ambassador to the United States, Lord Lyons served as Ambassador to theOttoman EmpireatConstantinople, for a period of less than two years. He replacedSir Henry Bulwer, who was embroiled in a humiliating scandal: despite the fact that the Ottoman Government had bought Bulwer an island estate, several thousand pounds had disappeared from the Embassy Accounts. In contradistinction, the newForeign Secretary,Lord Clarendonwas confident that Lord Lyons was an ‘honest man’ who would easily restore amicable Anglo-Ottoman relations: Lyons did so within two years. In this position, Lyons forecast that the Ottoman Empire would disintegrate, and he advocated a policy of British defence of the Ottoman Empire\'s territory only until the point at which the implementation of this policy would entail British military involvement, at which, he contended, British support should cease.[5]

Lyons successfully persuaded the Court of the Sublime Porte to decline to make concessions to France that would have provided for French control of theSuez Canal, which was an important route for the British supply of the Indian Empire.[5]

Lyons\'s success was impeded by the injury that Bismarck had inflicted on British credibility during the crisis of Schleswig-Holstein. Lyons responded by cajoling the French Minister into a partnership with himself: this provided for the resolution of the issue of the Danubian Principalities in a manner amenable to British interests. Lyons’s success at Constantinople recovered the Ottoman favour for Britain that had been lost by his predecessors: as a consequence, he was appointed to the most senior position in the diplomatic service, British Minister to France.[5]

Ambassador to Paris[edit]

In October 1867, after the resignation ofLord Cowley, Lord Lyons was appointed to the most prestigious position in the British Diplomatic Service:British Ambassador to France, at Paris. The twenty years Lyons spent in Paris coincided with a crucial period in French history which included the last years of theSecond French Empire, theFranco-Prussian War, theParis Commune, the establishment of theThird Republicand the beginning of theBoulangercrisis, which threatened to destruct the republican settlement. Lyons served in this position for a continuous period of twenty years, making him one of the longest serving occupants of the position. He was also one of the most successful: Lyons maintained absolute political neutrality, which he considered to be an imperative quality for a diplomat,[5]that enabled him to develop amicable relationships with Liberal ministers to whose political sympathies he was fundamentally averse:[5]according to Jenkins, ‘the presence of such a reliable and conciliatory man in the most sensitive and important post in Europe gave bothLiberalandConservativeBritish Governments an essential guarantee that their instructions would always be carried out according to the terms determined in London’.[3]The fact that Lyons remained absolutely politically neutral demonstrates that his promotion to the highest ambassadorial rank, by the Tories, was a consequence of \'[his] professional not political considerations\'.[5]

When Lyons arrived in Paris during the last months of 1867, at the height of the Paris Exhibition, theSecond French Empirewas stable. Lyons was entrusted byNapoleon III,[6]but consideredNapoleon\'s war with Prussiato be idiotic, and predicted, again correctly, that it would culminate in the destruction of the French Empire.

Lyons\'s correspondence provides valuable contemporaneous commentary on the siege of Paris, on the insurgency of theParis Commune, on the transfer of political power to Germany, and on the various inept French attempts to establish a stable polity. Before Paris was invested, Lyons arranged an interview betweenOtto von Bismarckand M.Jules Fevre, but it failed to resolve the problem. During the investment of Paris, Lyons, to secure a position in which he would be able to continue to report to the British Government, departed for Tours, and subsequently to Bourdeaux, along with ministers of the French provisional government. Lyons was criticised in the House of Commons for identifying absolutely with the Provisional Government, but his action was correct, and his critics erroneous, because England had already recognised the Provisional Government as the de facto government.[6]

Lyons advocated the restoration of French military power because he believed that it would restore the balance of power on the Continent. Lyons worked unceasingly to create secure British relations with France, but his actions were met with French aversion to Britain: though Lyons had succeeded to the office as a Francophone, he had lost the favour with which he had considered the French by the time of his resignation.[5]

When travelling through Paris, Queen Victoria often stayed to spend time with Lyons.[5]

Advocacy of an Entente with France and forecast of World War[edit]

Lord Lyons did not consider parliamentarydemocracyto be a viable system for France. He favoured powerful leaders, such asNapoleon IIIandLéon Gambetta, believing that only such were able to pacify French society, which was necessary for the perpetuation of the French entente with Britain and its adherence to a free-trade policy.[5]

The later years of Lyons’s tenure in France included those in which theEastern Questiondetermined international policy; those in which France invadedTunisiaand pursued imperial expansion; and those in which the Egyptian Question became an important issue. As the response to all of these issues, Lord Lyons advocated a close association, in international politics, between France and Britain: prophetically, Lyons advocated policies that he thought would prevent a conflict between France and Germany, which he forecast, and that, therefore, would secure the perpetuation of British dominance within Europe. Subsequent to the British Action in Egypt in the summer of 1882, and the formal abolition of the dual rule in Egypt, Lyons became ensconced in a confrontation between Britain and France that lasted until 1904: he worked diligently to ease it, but with little success, although his characteristic quality of gracefulness towards those whose interests were antithetical to the British interest, of which his defence was absolute, prevented the antipathy from evolving into animosity. Unlike many members of the British Government, Lyons contended that Britain should, having established its authority over Egypt, not withdraw from the task into which she had entered herself: he advocated a British reform of Egyptian finances and a British observance of French financial rights in Egypt.[5]

Lyons’s competence in France led the Prime Minister,Salisburywith the support of Queen Victoria, to offer Lyons the position of Foreign Secretary, on the formation of the second Salisbury administration, in 1886: this was the third occasion on which Lyons had been offered the Foreign Office, and for the third time, Lyons declined.[5]

Lyons, who had inherited the titles of 2nd Baronet and 2nd Baron Lyons, after the death of his father, Edmund Lyons, in 1858, also received the higher noble titles of Viscount, in 1881, and Earl, in 1887, though he died before he had been formally invested with the latter.[5]

Lyons, photographed byMathew Brady

Lyons agreed to remain Ambassador to France until the close of 1887: this was against his wishes, but according to those of Salisbury. Lyons finally relinquished this post in October 1887, whereupon it was to be declared that he was to be raised from Viscount to Earl. Lyons was succeeded as Ambassador to France by theEarl of Lytton, who had been his Secretary whilst he had served in the post.[5]

Lyons was exhausted by the time of his retirement: he had served as an Ambassador to the world’s most important courts for a continuous period of 50 years. In November, one month after his retirement, he suffered a severe stroke that rendered him paralysed and incapacitated: on 5 December, he died, atNorfolk House, the residence of his nephew,Duke of Norfolk. Lyons was never able to enjoy the retirement which he had intended to begin.[5]

Retirement and burial[edit]Lyons developed cordial relations with theHouse of Rothschild, especiallyAlphonse James de Rothschild(pictured) and his brothers.Conversion to Roman Catholicism[edit]

In 1886, Lyons’s sister, theDuchess of Norfolk, died. Lyons had devoted the first two weeks of his retirement to the study of Catholicism, had received permission from the Prime Minister to attendMass, and had expressed his desire to convert to Catholicism. He had not converted to Catholicism by the time of his stroke/seizure, which paralysed and incapacitated him to the extent that ‘it is extremely doubtful to what extend he retained consciousness’: however, the Bishop of Southwark, Dr. Butt, with whom Lyons had had several conversations about Catholicism in the short period between the beginning of his retirement and his loss of consciousness, ‘felt so convinced of his [Lyons’s] disposition and intention that he received [Lyons] into the [Catholic] Church and administered to him extreme unction’ whilst Lyons lay unconscious and unable to communicate. Lyons was not conscious for the rite and never regained consciousness: he was, however, in the way aforementioned, converted.[16]

Earldom[edit]

Lord Lyons died before he had formally received the title of Earl: however, because the notice of his possession of this title had appeared in the London Gazette, he is usually, nevertheless, termed 1st Earl Lyons, as in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,[3]the Dictionary of National Biography,[6]and the American Civil War, Round Table UK Profile.[7]

Lyons never married and died without issue. His only brother had predeceased him, without issue, in 1855. All of Earl Lyons\'s titles became extinct on his death.[6]He left the possessions and decorations of his father, Edmund, 1st Baron Lyons, to the Dukes of Norfolk, in the hope that they would be kept at Arundel Castle.[4]

Burial[edit]

Lord Lyons’s funeral occurred on 10 December 1887 at theFitzalan ChapelatArundel Castle. He is buried under the Chapel, which is the burial ground of the traditionally Catholic Dukes of Norfolk. His sister, the Duchess of Norfolk, her husband, the 14th Duke, and his father, Edmund, 1st Baron Lyons, are buried alongside him.[4]

Numerous members of the British aristocracy attended the funeral at the Fitzalan Chapel.Queen Victoria, thePrince of Wales,Gustave de Rothschild,Alphonse James de Rothschild, andEdmond James de Rothschildsent floral tributes.[4]

Diplomatic legacy: the Lyons School of diplomacy[edit]

Lord Lyons’s Obituary in the Morning Post describes him as ‘the idea of a pattern and ideal diplomatist’ who ‘knew the contents of every modern dispatch’ ‘by heart’.[13]

He founded the Lyons School of Diplomacy and trained the diplomatsSir Edward Baldwin MaletandSir Edmund Monson, 1st Baronet, in addition to many others who proceeded to serve in the most important diplomatic posts for the 30 years after his death.[17][18]

Jenkins (2014), in the most recent biography of Lyons, considers him to be the exemplar of the British diplomat, of the ‘Foreign Office mind’, who created a canon of practical norms of British imperial diplomacy, including the necessity for neutrality in domestic party politics and the necessity for extensive confidential correspondence with various Cabinet ministers.

Other legacy[edit]

Through his nephew, the Duke of Norfolk, Lyons was the great-granduncle of the writerMaisie Ward, and the great-great-granduncle of the translator Rosemary Sheed and the writerWilfred Sheed.

Lyons appears briefly as a character in the alternative history novelGuns of the SouthbyHarry Turtledove. He also appears in theSouthern Victory SeriesnovelThe Great War: American Frontalso by Turtledove, where he was a diplomat who was sent toWashington, D.C.after the Battle of Camp Hill to adviseAbraham Lincolnthat theUnited KingdomandFrancewere set to offer recognition to theConfederate, and that if the U.S. did not do the same, Britain would defend the C.S. by use of its military. This, in addition to the claim of the Lord Lyons character that he envisioned a time where both the U.S. and C.S. would \"stand together, [as] a pair of sturdy brothers,\" is historically untrue. He was also a minor character in the historical novelFreedombyWilliam Safire.

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