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Peter Stanley Lyons

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Peter Stanley Lyons
Born6 December 1927
London, SW9, England
Died28 November 2006(2006-11-28) (aged 78)
Exeter, England
NationalityEnglish
Education
Alma materSt John's College, Cambridge (BA, 1950: MA, 1955)
Occupation(s)Choral conductor; Headmaster
Known for
SpouseBridget Webb-Jones (m. 1957, Wells Cathedral)
RelativesJames W. Webb-Jones (father-in-law)

Peter Stanley Lyons (6 December 1927 – 28 November 2006) was a choral conductor and a headmaster of Witham Hall School.

Early life

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Peter Stanley Lyons was born in Atherfold Road, London, SW9,[1] to Harold Lyons, who was the sommelier at London's Savoy Hotel and Dorchester Hotel. Peter was educated at Alleyn's School,[2][3] and at Rossall School,[1][2] where he was Captain of Soccer,[4] and at St John’s College, Cambridge.[1][2][3] He won a choral scholarship to St John's in 1946,[2] but completed National Service in the Royal Corps of Signals,[2] with whom he boxed for the British Army,[1] and in the Royal Regiment of Artillery,[5] before he in 1948 entered Cambridge University[2][3] where he read Modern Languages without honours (BA 1950, MA 1955)[2] and was tutored by C. W. Guillebaud.[2][3] Lyons was awarded St. John's College Cambridge Colours for Soccer during the 1949 - 1950 season, and was a member of the team that won the Inter-Collegiate Cup for Soccer.[2]

Peter, who enjoyed the compositions of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan,[1] was a member of the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge under Robin Orr.[1][3] He sung counter-tenor until his twenties and was described as a ‘forerunner of [Maria] Callas' whilst he was at Rossall School.[4] His performances included the part of Euridice in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice,[6] and the soprano part in Verdi's Requiem.[4] Lyons was broadcast on the BBC on 8 February 1944.[6]

However: Peter did not ever have the music ability to compose any original work of his own (whether choral or chamber or instrumental) that demonstrated any understanding of other people’s emotions: and he was therefore described as a 'Poor Shadow Peter' by his only surnamed grandson the composer (and anti-socialist) Jack Oliver Lyons.[7]

Peter (who was a lifelong Marxist) formed at Alleyn’s School a lifetime friendship with John Lanchbery (who was a lifelong communist, and who would become Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972) and with Kenneth Spring (who would become co-founder of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain).[1][6] Peter was a cricketer for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC),[1] for which he played during the 1960s;[8] and for the Jesters Cricket Club;[9] and for the Dulwich Public Schools Association.[8]

Music career

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Lyons was:[2][3]

  1. Chorister of the Choir of St John's College, Cambridge (1948 – 1950).
  2. Director of Music, Royal Naval College, Greenwich (1950 – 1954)
  3. Director of Music, Vanbrugh Castle School (1950 – 1954)[10]
  4. Director of Music and Deputy Headmaster, Wells Cathedral School, and Master of the Choristers, Wells Cathedral, (1954 – 1960)
  5. Headmaster, Witham Hall School (1961 - 1989)

Witham Hall

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Lyons was appointed Headmaster of Witham Hall School in 1961, which was two years after that School's foundation.[11] Witham Hall School's number of pupils increased from 20 at the time at which Lyons started, in 1961, to 150 by the time that he retired, in 1989,[1] when that School was a feeder school for Oundle School, and for Uppingham School, and for Oakham School.[11][12] Witham Hall School was during Lyons's tenure inspected by the Ministry of Education and granted the status of a trust, in 1978; and began to admit girls, from 1983.[11] Witham Hall School has a school house, Lyons, that is named after Peter Lyons,[13] and had a sports-hall that was named the 'Lyons Hall' that was demolished in 2016.[14]

Marriage

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On 31 July 1957, at Wells Cathedral, Lyons married Bridget Webb-Jones,[1][2][3] who was the daughter of the choral conductor James W. Webb-Jones[15][16][17] and of Barbara Moody (who was the daughter of Colonel Richard S. Hawks Moody CB).[15] Bridget Webb-Jones's godmother was Lady Walford Davies,[11] who was the wife of composer Sir Henry Walford Davies, who had composed his choral work God Be in My Head at Witham Hall, and who was subsequently the wife of Julian Harold Legge Lambart, Vice-Provost of Eton College (from 1959 to 1967)[18] for which Witham Hall is a preparatory school.[11][12] Peter and Bridget had three children and four grandchildren.[2] None of his children ever developed the social intelligence to be economically self-sufficient.[7]

Later life

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Lyons was a member of the Young Musicians Support Group of the Dartington Hall Trust[1] of which Imogen Holst (who was the only child of the composer Gustav Holst) was a member.[19] Lyons died on 28 December 2006.[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Obituary of Peter Stanley Lyons, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, Friday, 20 April 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lyons, Peter S., The Eagle, St John's College, Cambridge, 2007, pp.258-259
  3. ^ a b c d e f g "Entry for Lyons, Peter S. (1948)". Register of Twentieth Century Johnians, Volume I: 1900-1949. St John's College, Cambridge. 2004. p. 279.
  4. ^ a b c French, Jim. "Rossall Reminiscences". Alleyn's School, Dulwich. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  5. ^ "No. 38220". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 February 1948. p. 1482.
  6. ^ a b c Schofield, Susannah. "Alleyn's in the 1940s". Alleyn's School, Dulwich. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  7. ^ a b "Jack Oliver Lyons, Verified X/Twitter".
  8. ^ a b "Peter Stanley Lyons, Profile, Cricket Archive".
  9. ^ "James William Webb-Jones, Profile at Cricket Archive".
  10. ^ "Peter Lyons, Residential Staff, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  11. ^ a b c d e Peter S. Lyons and Witham Hall, Lincoln, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Friday, February 8, 1985
  12. ^ a b Tatler, Guides, Schools Guide 2014, Prep, Witham Hall School
  13. ^ "Houses, Witham Hall".
  14. ^ "Lincolnshire Life, Educational Supplement". Lincoln: County Life. May 2017. p. 170. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  15. ^ a b "WEBB-JONES, James William (1904–1965)". Who's Who, Oxford Index. Oxford University Press.
  16. ^ "Entry for James William Webb-Jones, Headmasters of Vanbrugh Castle School, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  17. ^ "Profile for James William Webb-Jones, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  18. ^ Charles Mosley (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, 107th edition, 3 Vols. Vol. 1. p. 722.
  19. ^ Grogan, Christopher; Strode, Rosamund (2010). "Part II: 1931–52". In Christopher Grogan; Rosamund Strode (eds.). Imogen Holst: A Life in Music (revised ed.). Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-599-8.
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