Francis Stewart Leland Lyons (11 November 1923 – 21 September 1983) was an Irish historian and academic who served as the 40th Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1974 to 1981. FSLL grave

Biography

Leland Lyons was born in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, in 1923, the son of Northern Bank official Stewart Lyons and Florence May, née Leland. He was known as Le among his friends and family. The Lyons family were

Irish Protestant Protestantism is a Christianity, Christian community on the island of Ireland. In the 2011 census of Northern Ireland, 48% (883,768) described themselves as Protestant, which was a decline of approximately 5% from the 2001 census. In the 2011 ...

, of

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

and

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...

background, descended from a

cadet branch A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

of the

landed gentry The landed gentry, or the gentry (sometimes collectively known as the squirearchy), is a largely historical Irish and British social class of landowners who could live entirely from rental income, or at least had a country estate. It is t ...

Lyons family, formerly of Old Park, Belfast, After his birth, his family soon moved to

Boyle, County Roscommon Boyle (; ) is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located at the foot of the Curlew Mountains near Lough Key in the north of the county. Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, the Drumanone Dolmen and the lakes of Lough Arrow and Lough Gara ...

, Ireland. He was educated at Dover College in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and later attended

The High School, Dublin The High School is a 12–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Church of Ireland, Independent school, independent secondary school in Rathgar, Dublin, Ireland. It was established in 1870 at Harcourt Street before moving to Rathgar in 1971. It amal ...

. At Trinity College Dublin, he was elected a Scholar in Modern History and Political Science in 1943. He was a lecturer in history at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

and then at Trinity College Dublin. He became the founding Professor of Modern History at the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

in 1964,Townshend, Charles. "Lyons, (Francis Stewart) Leland (1923–1983)", revised, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...

'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2004 serving also as Master of Eliot College from 1969 to 1972.Martin, Graham. ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'', University of Kent at Canterbury, 1990, pg. 259; Lyons became Provost of Trinity College Dublin in 1974, but, relinquished the post in 1981 to concentrate on writing. He won the Heinemann Prize in 1978 for his work in ''Charles Stewart Parnell''. He wrote ''Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939'' which won the

Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize The Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize was created in 1977, in memory of Christopher Ewart-Biggs, British Ambassador to Ireland, who was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army The Provisional Irish Republican Army (Provi ...

and the Wolfson Literary Prize for History in 1979. Lyons was also awarded honorary doctorates by five universities and had fellowships at the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

and the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

. He was Visiting Professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. His principal works include ''Ireland Since the Famine'', the standard university textbook for Irish history from the mid-19th to late-20th century, which ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' called "the definitive work of modern Irish history" and a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...

. Lyons was critical of

Cecil Woodham-Smith Cecil Blanche Woodham-Smith ( Fitzgerald; 29 April 1896 – 16 March 1977) CBE was a British historian and biographer. She wrote four popular history books, each dealing with a different aspect of the Victorian era. Early life Cecil Woodham-Sm ...

's much-acclaimed history of the

Great Irish Famine The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger ( ), the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland lasting from 1845 to 1852 that constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact o ...

and has generally been considered among the "revisionist" historians who reconsidered the role of the British state in events like the Famine. Lyons married his wife Jennifer Ann Stuart McAlister in 1954, and had two sons, one of whom,

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

, is a former

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

. Following a short illness, Lyons died in Dublin in 1983, just shy of his 60th birthday.

Bibliography

* * *''Internationalism in Europe 1815–1914'' (1963) *''

John Dillon John Dillon (4 September 1851 – 4 August 1927) was an Irish politician from Dublin, who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for over 35 years and was the last leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party. By political disposition, Dillon was a ...

: A Biography'' (1968) *''Ireland Since the Famine'' (1971) *''Charles Stewart Parnell'' (1977) *''Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939'' (1979) – won the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, FSL 1923 births 1983 deaths Academics of the University of Kent Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize recipients Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Historians from Northern Ireland 20th-century Irish historians Male non-fiction writers from Northern Ireland People educated at The High School, Dublin Scholars and academics from Derry (city) People from Boyle, County Roscommon Provosts of Trinity College Dublin Revisionist historians (Ireland) Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Historians of the Land War Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom Scholars and academics from County Roscommon Wolfson History Prize winners