GEORGE FRANCIS LYON, Esq.
Doctor of the Civil Law.
[Post-Captain of 1823.]
Is a native of Chichester and son of the late Colonel Lyon of that city. He was educated at Dr. Burney’s celebrated naval academy, at Gosport, co. Hants; entered on the books of the Royal William, flag-ship at Spithead, in 1808; and first embarked in a sea-going ship, the Milford 74, Captain {now Sir Henry William) Bayntun, Aug. 8, 1809. After serving for several months on the French coast, he proceeded to Cadiz in the same two-decker, then commanded by Captain Edward Kittoe, and destined to receive the flag of Vice-Admiral Sir Richard Goodwin Keats, whom he subsequently followed into the Hibernia, a first rate, on the Mediterranean station. On the 23d Nov. 1810, we find him in one of the Milford’s boats, engaged in an attack on several of the enemy’s gun-vessels, near Santa Maria; on which occasion Lieutenants Thomas Worth and John Buckland, of the royal marines, between whom he was sitting at the time, both fell by one unlucky shot.
Mr. Lyon’s next ship was the Caledonia 120, bearing the flag of Sir Edward Pellew (now Viscount Exmouth), who soon appointed him acting lieutenant of the Berwick 74, Captain Edward Brace, under whom he served at the reduction of Genoa, in April, 1814[1]. On the 8th of the same month, he was wounded in an attack made by the boats of the Berwick and Rainbow, in conjunction with two Sicilian gun-vessels, upon the enemy’s posts near the pass of Rona, with a view to favor the advance of the British army, under Lord William Bentinck. On this occasion, two long 24-pounders and two mortars were taken: the total loss sustained by the boats was two men killed, and five, including Mr. Lyon, wounded. His appointment to the Berwick was confirmed by the Admiralty, July 30, 1814.
