AdmiralSir George Hamilton D'Oyly LyonKCB (3 October 1883 — 19 August 1947) was a distinguished Royal Navy officer as well as an English sportsman who played cricket at first-class level and played rugby union at international level for England, captaining the side in 1909. Beginning his career in the Royal Navy in 1899, Lyon saw action during the First World War and following the conclusion of the war, he moved through the senior ranks of the navy, holding various commands, both at the Admiralty and at sea. He would eventually reach the rank of admiral during the Second World War.
Early life and education
The son of George Kenneth Lyon, of the Bengal Civil Service, and his wife, Ellen (daughter of Sir Warren Hastings) he was born in British India at Bankipore in October 1883.[1] He was educated in England at King's School in Bruton, where his uncle was about to become school governor.[2] At King's, he partook in singing and acting, and was active in sports. At the age of 12, he was considered the most promising batsman in the school cricket team, while also playing as a forward for the school football team.[2]
Lyon served throughout the First World War as gunnery officer on board HMS Monarch,[1] during which he was present at the Battle of Jutland.[5] In the closing months of the war, he was promoted to the rank of commander in June 1918.[1] Following the end of the war, he was appointed to the Naval Ordnance Department at the Admiralty in February 1919, before being appointed commander of Portsmouth Barracks in 1921.[1] Lyon was promoted to captain in December 1922,[6] and from 1923 to 1925, he was an assistant director of plans at the Admiralty. From there, he spent two years commanding the 2nd Destroyer Flotilla in the Mediterranean.[1] He returned to the Admiralty as director of physical training and sport in 1927, where he spent two years. From there, he was sent to Greece in 1929 as head of the British Naval Mission to the Hellenic Republic;[1] following the conclusion of his appointment, Lyon was made a Commander of the Order of the Redeemer by the Hellenic Republic.[7]
Lyon made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Sussex at Portsmouth in the 1907 County Championship, with him making a second appearance for Hampshire in the same competition against Worcestershire, also at Portsmouth.[13] He would later make two further appearances in first-class cricket, either side of the First World War. The first, in 1911, came for a combined Army and Navy cricket team against a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team at Portsmouth, followed in 1922 with an appearance for the Royal Navy against the British Army cricket team at Lord's.[13] His 1911 appearance was his most successful in first-class cricket, with Lyon top-scoring in the Army and Navy first innings with 90, before taking 4 for 51 with his medium pace bowling in the Oxford and Cambridge second innings, which contributed toward a six wickets victory for the Army and Navy.[14] In four first-class matches, he scored 185 runs at an average of 26.42, while with the ball he took 7 wickets at a bowling average of exactly 20.[15]