Peter Stanley Lyons

Peter Stanley Lyons (6 December 1927 – 28 November 2006) was an prominent English chorister, choral conductor, and headmaster of Witham Hall School.

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)
OccupationChorister, Choral conductor, Headmaster
Known for
Spouse(s)Bridget Webb-Jones (m. 1957, Wells Cathedral)
RelativesJames W. Webb-Jones (father-in-law)

Early life

Lyons was born in Atherfold Road, London, SW9.[1] He was educated at Alleyn's School,[2][3] Rossall School,[1][2] where he was Captain of Soccer,[4] and 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 colours for soccer in the 1949 - 1950 season, and was a member of the team that won the Inter-Collegiate Cup for soccer.[2]

Lyons was educated at Rossall School.

Lyons 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 at Rossall School.[4] His early 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] Lyons also played the piano and the violin.[1] He was an expert on the compositions of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan.[1] At Alleyn’s School he formed what would become a lifetime friendship and collaborative partnership with John Lanchbery, who would become Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet from 1959 to 1972, and with Kenneth Spring, co-founder of the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.[1][6]

Lyons boxed for the British Army during his National Service.[1] Lyons was a cricketer for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC),[1] for which he played during the 1960s;[7] for the Jesters Cricket Club, of which his father-in-law, James W. Webb-Jones, was a member;[8] and for the Dulwich Public Schools Association.[7]

Musical career

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)[9]
  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

Lyons, who was a friend of the Banks family who owned Witham Hall,[10] was appointed Headmaster of Witham Hall School in 1961, two years after the foundation of the school. Witham Hall flourished under Lyons's 29 year leadership, the number of pupils increasing from 20 at the time at which he started to 150 by the time he retired,[1] in 1989, by which time the school had become a feeder school for Eton College, in addition to the local Oundle School, Uppingham School, and Oakham School.[10][11] Under Lyons's leadership, the School developed a reputation for musical prowess; was inspected by the Ministry of Education and subsequently granted the status of an educational trust, in 1978; and began to admit girls, in 1983.[10] There is a school house at Witham Hall, Lyons, that is named after Lyons,[12] and there was until 2016 a sports' hall (which when opened in 1987 was one of the largest in the country) that was named the 'Lyons Hall' after Lyons.[13] The Lyons Hall was demolished in 2016 to create space necessary for a larger sports centre.[13]

Marriage

On 31 July 1957, at Wells Cathedral, Lyons married Bridget Webb-Jones,[1][2][3][14] who was the daughter of the choral conductor and educator James W. Webb-Jones[1][15][16] (who was the son of the trans-European steamship agent Ernest William Jones)[14] and of Barbara Moody[16] (who was the daughter of Colonel Richard S. Hawks Moody CB).[14] Bridget Lyons's godmother was Lady Walford Davies[10] who was the wife of composer Sir Henry Walford Davies, who had composed his most famous work, God Be in My Head, at Witham Hall, and who subsequently was the wife of Julian Harold Legge Lambart, Vice-Provost of Eton College (from 1959 to 1967)[17] for which Witham Hall is a preparatory school.[10][11] Lyons and his wife had two daughters, one son, and four grandchildren.[2]

Later life

Lyons died on 28 December 2006.[2] During his retirement, Lyons became a member of the Young Musicians Support Group, which is part of the Dartington Hall Trust,[1] of which Imogen Holst, daughter of the composer Gustav Holst, was also a member.[18] Lyons was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC),[1] for which he played during the 1960s,[7] and a member of the Jesters Cricket Club.[1]

References
  1. Obituary of Peter Stanley Lyons, Rutland and Stamford Mercury, Friday, 20 April 2007.
  2. Lyons, Peter S., The Eagle, St John's College, Cambridge, 2007, pp.258-259
  3. "Entry for Lyons, Peter S. (1948)". Register of Twentieth Century Johnians, Volume I: 1900-1949. St John's College, Cambridge. 2004. p. 279.
  4. 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. Schofield, Susannah. "Alleyn's in the 1940s". Alleyn's School, Dulwich. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  7. "Peter Stanley Lyons, Profile, Cricket Archive".
  8. "James William Webb-Jones, Profile at Cricket Archive".
  9. "Peter Lyons, Residential Staff, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  10. Peter S. Lyons and Witham Hall, Lincoln, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Friday, February 8, 1985
  11. Tatler, Guides, Schools Guide 2014, Prep, Witham Hall School
  12. "Houses, Witham Hall".
  13. "Lincolnshire Life, Educational Supplement". Lincoln: County Life. May 2017. p. 170. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
  14. "WEBB-JONES, James William (1904–1965)". Who's Who, Oxford Index. Oxford University Press.
  15. "Entry for James William Webb-Jones, Headmasters of Vanbrugh Castle School, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  16. "Profile for James William Webb-Jones, Vanbrugh Castle School".
  17. Charles Mosley (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, 107th edition, 3 Vols. Vol. 1. p. 722.
  18. 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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