Autograph Letter Signed by Catharine Lyons Regarding Admiral Lyons’s Military Service
Autograph letter signed (ALS), dated August 10 1856. Catharine Lyons (likely the sister-in-law of Admiral Edmund Lyons) offers to provide further information about her “brother’s” naval career, noting that “too little mention has been made… when my brother’s service has been recounted, of the Acarnanian attack on Fort Castelnuovo – 17 Oct. 1824.” She also references a speech by Sir John Key made when Lyons received the Freedom of the City of London and expresses a desire to ensure her brother’s accomplishments are properly acknowledged. Though the signer is not definitively identified, she appears to be a close relative of Admiral Lord Lyons (1790–1858), one of the most prominent British naval commanders of the 19th century, who played pivotal roles in the Morea expedition, the Bombardment of Acre (1840), and the Crimean War, eventually becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet and British Ambassador to France.
Three pages on a single bifolium (folded sheet), measuring approx. 7" x 9". Penned in a neat hand and signed “Catharine Lyons” from Wormley Bury, Hoddesdon. Addressed to an unnamed correspondent who was preparing a biographical notice of Admiral Edmund Lyons. In near fine, with light fold lines and minimal handling wear. A uncommon letter, shedding light on contemporary perceptions of Lyons’s legacy and underscoring a neglected episode in his early Mediterranean service. Protected in an archival sleeve.
