Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Private Charles Lyon, 21st Canadian Infantry, late Bedfordshire Regiment

Queen’s South Africa 1899-1902, 2 clasps, Cape Colony, Orange Free State (6657 Pte., Bedford. Regt.); King’s South Africa 1901-02, 2 clasps (6657 Pte., Bedford Regt.); 1914-15 Star (59612 Pte., 21/Can. Inf.); British War and Victory Medals (59612 Pte., 21-Can. Inf. ) note: on last two surname spelt ‘Lyons’, first two with contact marks, nearly very fine and better (5) £240-280

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of medals awarded to those having the surname 'Lyon'.

View
Collection

Charles Lyon was born in Hamilton, New Zealand on 3 August 1874. He was the fifth of seven children of Colonel William Charles Lyon, a descendant of the Lyons of Glamis, Earls of Strathmore. He attested for the Corps of Dragoons at London on 3 March 1899, aged 24 years, 6 months but was transferred to the Bedfordshire Regiment in November the same year. With them he served as mounted infantry in South Africa, June 1900-April 1905. Lyon was transferred to the Army Reserve in March 1906 and discharged on 2 March 1911. He then worked as a Lumberman, in Haliburton, Canada and he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in November 1914, subtracting three years from his age in order to do so. He sailed to England aboard the R.M.S. Metagama in May 1915 and embarked for France in October. He was slightly wounded in March 1916, suffering a gunshot wound to his right eyebrow and lower lip. In September he was posted back to England and spent the rest of the war on the strength of various Canadian military hospitals. Charles Lyon was honourably discharged in April 1918 and at first lived once more in Haliburton, Ontario but by the 1930’s had returned once more to England. Lyon died at Matfield on 8 Oct 1960.

With extensive copied research, including: copied British and Canadian Army Service papers, New Zealand Birth Certificate; U.K. Marriage and Death Certificates; copied and modern photographs; family tree; together with an original photograph of the recipient in uniform, with an associated newspaper cutting titled, ‘Honored Soldier Returned’ (to Haliburton), in which it was stated, ‘.... He was three times wounded in action, once so badly that he was erroneously reported killed. ....’ Also with copied article, ‘The Elusive Photograph’, by Dan Lyon, taken from Medal News, October 2005, together with a further article accepted for future publication in the O.M.R.S. Journal.