P. H. B. Lyon

P. H. B. Lyon
Born Percy Hugh Beverley Lyon
1893
Died 1986
Occupation schoolmaster
Nationality British
Period 20th century
Genres poetry
Literary movement War poetry, Georgian poetry
Notable work(s) "Now to be Still and Rest"

Percy Hugh Beverley Lyon MC (1893–1986) was a 20th-century British poet and educator, a winner of the Newdigate Prize and headmaster of Rugby School from 1931 to 1948.

Contents

Life

Lyon studied at Oriel College, Oxford, publishing a number of lyrics in Oxford Poetry between 1910 and 1914.

He interrupted his studies during the First World War, serving as a lieutenant in the Durham Light Infantry and earning the Military Cross. Taken prisoner, he was in Graudenz at the end of hostilities.[1]

Upon returning to Oxford after the war, he won the Newdigate Prize in 1919 with his poem France, although he was better known for his peace poem, "Now to be Still and Rest". In 1919 he also had a number of poems accepted for publication in Oxford Poetry: "The Secret Playroom (Graudenz, 1918)", "The Song of Strength" and "The Deserted Garden".

He went on to publish poetry in periodicals that included the London Mercury, The Oxford Magazine, The Spectator, and the Westminster Gazette.

Lyon was father to three daughters, Jill,Barbara and Elinor Lyon.

From 1931 to 1948 he was headmaster of Rugby School. While Headmaster, he was mentor and friend to John Gillespie Magee, Jr., author of the famous poem High Flight. Magee also fell in love with Lyon's daughter Elinor. After serving as headmaster, Lyon opened the Public Schools Appointment Bureau to find jobs for ex-public school boys.

Publications

Collections

In 1918 he published a volume of poetry, Songs of Youth & War, and in 1923 Turn Fortune. In 1931 a selection of his verse was published as P. H. B. Lyon in the Augustan Books of Poetry series.

Other publications

Anthologized

Poems by Lyon were anthologized in the following collections:

References

  1. ^ "All finished on the Western Front",The Guardian, 11 November 1998. Accessed 17 May 2010.

External links

Academic offices
Preceded by
William Wyamar Vaughan
Headmaster of Rugby School
1931-1948
Succeeded by
Arthur Frederic Brownlow fforde