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LYON

in Cambridgeshire

There were five consecutive Roberts in direct line, and some married more than an once. The records at Cottenham are in some ways incomplete, with events quite clearly absent, and in some cases dubious. With so many Roberts overlapping, it is possible that a marriage could refer to an earlier generation, and likewise some of the baptisms. There is no way of knowing. The following account is the most likely scenario.

The family moved from Cottenham to adjacent Rampton by 1670, then disappeared from view after 1727. It is believed (without proof) that the Robert born at Rampton (1709) was the one living at Croydon (1741).

In Cambridgeshire, the family was usually known as Lyon, with an occasional Lyons or Lion. In Leeds the family straightaway became known as Lyons. Later, the family of James Lyons and Elizabeth Yarrow became known as Lynes, though other members of the extended family in Leeds remained Lyons.

[LYNE581] Robert Lyon m. Edith
. [LYNE591] Robert Lyon m3. Anne
. . [LYNE601] Robert Lyon m2. [CORE602] Elizabeth Corne
. . . [LYNE611] Robert Lyon m1. [MUMF612] Elesebeth Mumford
. . . . [LYNE621] Robert Green m. [GREE622] Joan Green
. . . . . [LYNE631] Robert Lyon m. Frances
. . . . . . [LYNE641] Ariah Lyon m. [HAWK643] Sarah Hawkes
. . . . . . . [LYNE651] Robert Lyon m. [LEWE652] Ann Lewer
. . . . . . . . [LYNE661] James Lyon m. [BULL662] Sarah Bull
. . . . . . . . . [LYNE671] William Lyon &. [YARR672] Elizabeth Yarrow
. . . . . . . . . . [LYNE681] Francis Lynes m. [KEMP682] Ann Kemplay
. . . . . . . . . . . [LYNE692] Grace Beatrice Lynes m. [BODD692] Henry George Boddy

In the following burial entries marked **, the full entry has not been recorded. This information should be available at the Cambridgeshire County Record Office.

12.   [LYNE581] Robert Lyon and his wife Edith had five children born and baptised at Cottenham as follows:

Edith died at Cottenham (buried there 11th December 1602), and Robert ("old") died at Cottenham also (buried there 12th June 1612).

11.   [LYNE591] Robert Lyon (born 1586) married 1. (at Cottenham, 28th June 1603) Margaret Murton. Margaret died, and afterwards Robert married 2. (at Cottenham, 27th July 1609) Agnis Aier. Agnis died at Cottenham (**December 1610), and Robert afterwards married 3. Anne. Robert and Anne had two children born and baptised at Cottenham as follows:

Anne died at Cottenham (**October 1631).

10.   [LYNE601] Robert Lyon (born 1614, son of Robert & Anne) married 1. (at Cottenham, 30th November 1633) Mary Barber (daughter of Thomas & Ann Barber of Waterbeach).

 

 

Cottenham Church
(28 July 1993)

They had five children born and baptised at Cottenham as follows:

Mary died at Cottenham (buried there 18th November 1641), and afterwards Robert married 2. (at Cottenham, 28th April 1642) [CORE602] Elizabeth Corne. They had two children (both assumed to have been born at Cottenham about 1643-45, but the pages in the parish register have been mutilated):

Elizabeth died at Cottenham (buried there 11th June 1649), and Robert senior died at Cottenham also (**December 1653).

9.    [LYNE611] Robert Lyon, son of Robert & Elizabeth) married 1. (at Rampton, 5th November 1670) [MUMF612] Elesebeth Mumford.

Rampton Church
(28 July 1993)

They had three children born and baptised at Rampton as follows:

 

 

 

At the Hearth Tax assessment (1674) Robert had 1 hearth.

Elesebeth died at Rampton (buried there 13th April 1680, a month after their last child was born). Afterwards Robert married 2. (at Rampton, 13th February 1680-81) Mary Rogers. They had one child born and baptised at Rampton as follows:

Robert died at Rampton (buried there 22nd June 1682, five months after his last child was born).

8.    [LYNE621] Robert Lyon (born 1675, son of Robert & Elesebeth) married (at Haddenham, 19th October 1703) [GREE622] Joan Green (born 1678, see GREEN).

 

 

Haddenham Church
(28 July 1993)

They had two children born and baptised at Rampton as follows:

Robert died at Rampton (buried there 6th February 1710-11), and Joan died at Rampton also (buried there 13th February 1726-27).

7.    [LYNE631] Robert Lyon (born 1709) and his wife Frances had six children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

**** As Ann was buried on the same day that Elizabeth was baptised (4th October 1741) it is possible they were twins, and that Ann had died before being baptised. Robert (a labourer) died at Croydon (buried there 14th November 1767), and Frances died at Croydon also (buried there 17th January 1773).

6.   [LYNE641] Ariah Lyon (born 1742) of Croydon, a labourer of Croydon, married (at Arrington, 9th December 1764) [HAWK642] Sarah Hawkes (born 1743, see HAWKES), witnessed by Christ. Hawke (Sarah's father and parish clerk) and George Thomas.

 
 

Arrington Church
(27 November 1990)

They had eight children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

Christopher Lyons married 1. (at Croydon, 8th November 1802) Ann Kefford (born at Whaddon 1778, daughter of John & Elizabeth Kefford), witnessed by James Haggar and Sarah Sibley. Their banns of marriage were called during June 1802, but had to be called again in the November following. An entry in the banns book records:

It was necessary to publish again the banns of marriage ...  ... on account of Ann Kefford immediately after the former publication, leaving the parish to go to service and staying out of it near 3 months.

Christopher and Ann had two children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

  • Francis (baptised 10th April 1803), married (at Croydon, 24th August 1823) Martha Taylor;

  • Sarah (baptised 13th October 1805).

Ann died (age 33) at Croydon (buried there 28th February 1813), and afterwards Christopher married (at Croydon, 22nd August 1814) Ruth Chapman (born July 1791, daughter of Henry & Ann Chapman), witnessed by Mary Lyon (probably Christopher's sister), James Porter and Samuel Rose. Ruth was 15 years younger than Christopher. They had four children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

  • Mary Ann (baptised 2nd June 1816), married (at Croydon, 30th January 1843) James Gates, witnessed by William Gates (James' brother) and Mary Lyon;

  • Samuel (baptised 10th January 1819), died (age 24) at Croydon (11th January 1843, buried there 13th January 1843);

  • Charles (baptised 3rd October 1821), died (age 8 months) at Croydon (buried there 11th June 1822);

  • James (baptised 23rd October 1821), married (at East Hatley, 16th September 1844) [YARR672] Elizabeth Yarrow, see later.

Ruth died (age 62) at Croydon (buried there 23rd March 1853), and Christopher died (age 84, of decay of nature) at Caxton Workhouse (7th February 1861, buried at Croydon 9th February 1861).

(Returning again to the children of Ariah and Sarah, there were two more at Croydon:)

Sarah died at Croydon (buried there 14th May 1804), and Ariah died at Croydon also (buried there 12th November 1813).

5.   [LYNE651] Robert Lyon (born 1768) married (at Croydon, 20th May 1794) [LEWE652] Ann Lewer (born 1768, see LEWER), witnessed by John FitzJohn and John White.

 

 

Croydon Church
(28 July 1993)

Ann had had an illegitimate daughter born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

Robert and Ann had four children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

Ann died (age 61) at Croydon (buried there 13th March 1830), and Robert died (age 76, of old age) at Croydon also (buried there 9th April 1844). They will be mentioned again.

4.   [LYNE661] James Lyon (born 1795, son of Robert) of Croydon married (at Longstowe, October 1815) [BULL662] Sarah Bull (born 1789, see BULL). They had seven children born and baptised at Croydon as follows:

James (an agricultural labourer) died (age 42) at Croydon (buried there 17th August 1836), and Sarah died (age 80, of natural decay) at Croydon also (31st December 1857, buried there 3rd January 1858).

3.   [LYNE671] William LYON (born 1828) had an illegitimate child at Tadlow by [YARR672] Elizabeth Lyon (born 1826, formerly YARROW), whilst she was married to James Lyon (1821, see later):

William moved down to Leeds for work around 1853-55, and the story is continued under LYNES in Leeds.

 

It is necessary at this point to take up the story of:

JAMES LYON, SON OF CHRISTOPHER LYON AND RUTH CHAPMAN

James Lyon (born 1821, son of Christopher & Ruth, see earlier), labourer, married (at East Hatley, September 1844) [YARR672] Elizabeth Yarrow (born 1826, see YARROW), of East Hatley, a minor, witnessed by George Clark and Sarah Yarrow (Elizabeth's sister). James was a grandson of 6. [LYNE641] Ariah Lyon mentioned above.

 

 

East Hatley
Church
(27 November 1990)

(now a nature
 reserve)
 

James and Elizabeth had five children born at Croydon as follows:

There was a gap between the first and third, and in this gap, Elizabeth registered a male child (first-name left blank) on 28th December 1846 at Tadlow, father’s name given as William Lion, labourer. The mother was shown as Elizabeth Lion formerly Yarrow, of Tadlow. She made her mark: 

On the assumption that the facts as declared by Elizabeth were correct, this means that James Lyon’s wife Elizabeth had had an illegitimate child to James’ relative William. The child was born at Tadlow, rather than Croydon, which suggests Elizabeth had gone back to her parents to have the child. Perhaps James was at that time out of the way in prison, and perhaps he never knew the child was not his. There was a James Lyon, age 25, who was imprisoned (for 9 months) at the Cambridgeshire County Assizes (19th March 1842) for "Poaching in the night time" but no further information has been obtained.

When the baby was 6 weeks old it was baptised Francis at East Hatley (31st January 1847), shown as the son of James & Elizabeth Lyon of East Hatley. The child was brought up by James and Elizabeth at Croydon, and no-one was any the wiser. Perhaps the only problem in Francis’ mind was where he was born. In the 1851 census the place is shown as Tadlow; in 1861 as “Atley”; in 1871 as Croydon and 1881 as simply “Cambridgeshire". In 1891 and 1901 Francis declared it to be Croydon. The correct answer was Tadlow!

The family moved to Leeds about 1856, and the story is continued under LYNES in Leeds.

APPEARANCES AT QUARTER SESSIONS

There are several mentions, see QUARTER SESSIONS.

 

FRANCIS FULFORD

(RECTOR OF CROYDON)

Towards the end of 1842 the Rector of Croydon wrote a frank account of his parishioners. For what he had to say about some of the above families, see FRANCIS FULFORD