Donald Lyon

Ancestors

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Biography

Donald McDonald Lyon was born in Ayr in 1875. ^[1]

He was aged just two years when the family moved to Liberton, Edinburgh when his father became Grand Secretary to the Masonic Order.

At the age of 15 years Donald went to sea, signing on as a cabin boy on the S.S. Mercutio, bound from Grangemouth for Riga ; however, suffering, from chronic sea-sickness, he was discharged with a good conduct certificate at West Hartlepool in August 1890.

He subsequently joined the Royal Bank of Scotland and for many years was manager of the Queen Street, Edinburgh, branch, until he retired at the beginning of the Second World War. As his contribution to the war effort he took in soldiers and airmen from the occupied countries and who had no homes to go to when on leave. Many of these men became regular visitors, and the family continued to hear from a small number of the survivors until quite recently.

Donald married in 1908 Ann Webster [1885-1977], from Burdiehouse. ^[2]

Ann's family came from Kilconquhar in Fife, where her father and grandfather had been managers of the Burdiehouse Lime Works.

Donald and Ann had four children, Mary, Ramsay, Margaret and Helen.

Donald, known to his grandchildren as Gogle, passed away in Edinburgh in 1959. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ Birth Registration, National Records of Scotland, Births Database, 1875, Ayr, Parish Number 578, Reference Number 135.
2. ↑ Marriage Database, National Records of Scotland, 1908, St Giles (Edinburgh), Parish Number 685/ 4, Reference Number 767.
3. ↑ Death Registration, National Records of Scotland, Deaths Database, 1959, St Andrews (Edinburgh), Parish Number 685/ 2, Reference Number 89. Donald was aged 83.