Joseph Lyons
Sir Joseph Nathaniel Lyons (1847–1917) of J. Lyons and Co
1847 December 29th. Born in Kennington, London, the son of Nathaniel Lyons of Newmarket and London, an itinerant vendor of watches and cheap jewellery, and his wife, Hannah Cohen.
Educated at the Borough Jewish school in the East End of London.
Apprentice to an optician. Also a painter of water colours.
1886/7 Lyons ran a stall at the 1887 Liverpool Exhibition (1886 Liverpool International Exhibition?), selling a combined microscope-binocular-compass which he had invented.
1887 Though a distant connection with the Gluckstein family he ran a tea pavilion at the 1887 Newcastle Jubilee Exhibition, under his name, because it was felt to be beneath the dignity of the Salmon and Gluckstein families to go into catering.
He ran a tea pavilion at the Glasgow exhibition and the 1889 Paris Exhibition for a private company formed by the families, and then took over the catering at Olympia and the Crystal Palace.
In 1894 a public company, J. Lyons and Co was formed and the first teashop opened in Piccadilly, London, and others followed
Lyons married Psyche, daughter of Isaac Cohen, manager of the Pavilion Theatre, Whitechapel Road. They had no children.
Chairman of the company that built the Strand Palace Hotel, London and the Regent Palace Hotel, London
1911 He was knighted for his public services
1917 June 22nd. Died at the Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge, and was buried at the cemetery of the United Synagogue, Willesden.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] DNB
- The Times, Friday, Jun 22, 1917
- The Times, Monday, Jun 25, 1917