Commemorated: | |||
| 1. Grave: | Arlington National Cemetery | Virginia | |
Awards & Titles: | Member of Parliament | ||
Early Life :
A complete biography, written by Dr. Kathryn Rix can be found in The History of Parliament.Lyell was born in 1875, the only son of Leonard Lyell, 1st Baron Lyell, and was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford. He married Rosalind Watney in 1911, and had one son, Charles Anthony Lyell (later 2nd Baron Lyell) and one daughter.
Lyell was elected to represent East Dorset in a 1904 by-election, and was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary, in 1906. He was re-elected at the 1906 general election, but failed to win election in the January 1910 general election, where he contested Edinburgh West. He was elected for Edinburgh South at a by-election in April, and won re-election in the December general election. He was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to H. H. Asquith, the Prime Minister, in February 1911, and stood down from the seat in May 1917.
Education & Career :
"Lyell was educated at Eton – where he became a member of a volunteer battalion of the Oxfordshire Light Infantry, 1893-4 – and New College, Oxford. After leaving Oxford, he travelled abroad, before spending some time as a resident of Oxford House, Bethnal Green, ‘in order that he might study the housing question in its practical bearing’. Oxford House was part of the ‘settlement movement’ which saw university graduates live in deprived areas in order to offer assistance to the poor through a variety of social and philanthropic activities. Lyell acted as private secretary to the chairman of the London County Council, Andrew Torrance MP, in 1901-2, and served on the Mansion House Committee on the ‘dwellings of the poor’."
Service Life:
Campaigns:
- The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.
| Unit / Ship / Est.: Royal Garrison Artillery |
| Action : Natural Causes |
Natural causes is attributed those deaths due to causes that were not directly associated with the war. Included in this are wartime deaths resulting from, for example, theSpanish Influenza pandemic and its associated pneumonia problems and other attributions such as age and exhaustion. It also groups those who through Post Traumatic Stress committed suicide as a result of their experiences.
Detail :
CWGC: Major;RGA; 18/10/18; Asst Mil Attache, British Embasy, Washington; ( ex MP S Edinburgh);
Lyell was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Forfar and Kincardine Artillery Militia in 1900, and served until 1908 when the Militia was dissolved under the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907. He then served as the Vice-Chairman of the County Territorial Association for Forfarshire. On the outbreak of the First World War, he was gazetted a captain in the Fife Royal Garrison Artillery, and in May 1915 made a major in the Highland Battery of the Fife RGA.
Charles Henry Lyell died on 18th October, 1918 of pneumonia during the global Spanish influenza pandemic while serving as Assistant Military Attaché to the United States.
"Lyell’s death in October 1918 meant that his four year old son, Charles Antony (1913-43), became heir to the family title. He succeeded his grandfather as 2nd Baron Lyell in 1926, but died in April 1943 at the age of 29 while serving with the Scots Guards during the North African campaign in the Second World War. He was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his ‘outstanding leadership, gallantry and self-sacrifice’ in attacking two German gun positions."
A further biography and account can be found WW1 Sacrifice - Military Attaches.
Charles is commemorated at his grave at the Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, also at the Parliamentary War Memorial at Westminster Hall and within the House of Commons.
Masonic :
| Type | Lodge Name and No. | Province/District : |
|---|---|---|
| Mother : | Apollo University No. 357 E.C. | Oxfordshire |
Initiated | Passed | Raised |
25th January 1898 | 15th March 1898 | 15th April 1898 |
Initiated 1898 whilst a 22 year old undergraduate of New College, Oxford University. Erased after arrears in 1906 under Rule 175.
Source :
The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:
- The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- The (UK) National Archives
- Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
- ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry
Additional Source:
- Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
- Researcher : Bruce Littley