Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons
Encyclopedia
Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons (1922–1993) was a notable Welsh photographer, novelist and linguist.
Born in Langland, Glamorgan, Wales on 7 March 1922, the son of Captain John Algernon de Courcy Lyons, M.C. and Doris Ada Campbell Young. In his lifetime, he was normally just called Islay . (Source unspecified: Lyons was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire and Grenoble University. He was at Grenoble when World War II broke out. He made a daring escape over the Pyrenees, was caught and imprisoned in Spain from where he manage to escape and work his way back to England where he joined up and served in the Royal Air Force for the rest of the war. He served first in North Africa and then he was sent to the Far East to learn Japanese in 3 months. He did this with amongst others, Richard Mason, who was a lifelong friend and cousin by marriage. Lyons is portrayed by the character 'Peter' in Mason's book 'The Wind Cannot Read'.)
The photographs of Lyons illustrate the works of several twentieth century literary figures, including Bryher
and Graham Greene
.
Lyons had been the last lover of the film-maker, Kenneth Macpherson
, both of them living in the ‘Villa Tuoro’ on Capri. Norman Douglas
was their constant companion, there, during the last years of Douglas’s life. Both Macpherson and Lyons were at Norman Douglas’s bedside when he died.
Lyons was a close friend of photographer, Canadian, Roloff Beny
.
Lyons died on 17 November 1993, in Chiang-Mai, Thailand.
Part of Lyons’s inheritance to his adopted Thai son, Manop Charoensuk, was a large quantity of photos, books, and letters relating to the life of Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen
, the novelist and poet, on the island of Capri. It is believed that Fersen bequeathed the inheritance to Norman Douglas, the Scottish writer, who, in turn, had bequeathed it to Kenneth Macpherson. On Macpherson’s death, Lyons inherited the estate. Charoensuk sold it to an American millionaire. In 2002, the complete collection was offered by Sotheby’s in London to the American antiquarian David Deiss, but it was eventually bought by an unknown British dealer. It is probable, although unconfirmed, that most, if not all, of this inheritance, is what the Beinecke acquired in 2008 and now forms part of the 'Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition)'.(See reference 5 below).
Some of De Courcy Lyons’s work is held in various collections in the United States, notably the Catherine Walston/Graham Greene Papers at Georgetown Library, the Nancy Cunard
Collection at the Harry Ransom
Humanities Research Center and the Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition) at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
, Yale University.
Born in Langland, Glamorgan, Wales on 7 March 1922, the son of Captain John Algernon de Courcy Lyons, M.C. and Doris Ada Campbell Young. In his lifetime, he was normally just called Islay . (Source unspecified: Lyons was educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire and Grenoble University. He was at Grenoble when World War II broke out. He made a daring escape over the Pyrenees, was caught and imprisoned in Spain from where he manage to escape and work his way back to England where he joined up and served in the Royal Air Force for the rest of the war. He served first in North Africa and then he was sent to the Far East to learn Japanese in 3 months. He did this with amongst others, Richard Mason, who was a lifelong friend and cousin by marriage. Lyons is portrayed by the character 'Peter' in Mason's book 'The Wind Cannot Read'.)
The photographs of Lyons illustrate the works of several twentieth century literary figures, including Bryher
Bryher
Bryher was the pen name of the novelist, poet, memoirist, and magazine editor Annie Winifred Ellerman. She was born in September 1894 in Margate. Her father was the shipowner and financier John Ellerman, who at the time of his death in 1933, was the richest Englishman who had ever lived...
and Graham Greene
Graham Greene
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
.
Lyons had been the last lover of the film-maker, Kenneth Macpherson
Kenneth Macpherson
Kenneth Macpherson was born in Scotland, 27 March 1902, the son of Scottish painter, John 'Pop' Macpherson and Clara Macpherson. Descended from 6 generations of artists, Macpherson was a novelist, photographer, critic and film-maker...
, both of them living in the ‘Villa Tuoro’ on Capri. Norman Douglas
Norman Douglas
George Norman Douglas was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel South Wind.-Life:Norman Douglas was born in Thüringen, Austria . His mother was Vanda von Poellnitz...
was their constant companion, there, during the last years of Douglas’s life. Both Macpherson and Lyons were at Norman Douglas’s bedside when he died.
Lyons was a close friend of photographer, Canadian, Roloff Beny
Roloff Beny
Roloff Beny, OC was a Canadian photographer who spent the better part of his life in Rome and on his photographic travels throughout the world...
.
Lyons died on 17 November 1993, in Chiang-Mai, Thailand.
Part of Lyons’s inheritance to his adopted Thai son, Manop Charoensuk, was a large quantity of photos, books, and letters relating to the life of Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen
Jacques d'Adelsward-Fersen
Baron Jacques d'Adelswärd-Fersen was a novelist and poet of the early 20th century; his modern fame is based on a mid-century fictionalised biography by Roger Peyrefitte....
, the novelist and poet, on the island of Capri. It is believed that Fersen bequeathed the inheritance to Norman Douglas, the Scottish writer, who, in turn, had bequeathed it to Kenneth Macpherson. On Macpherson’s death, Lyons inherited the estate. Charoensuk sold it to an American millionaire. In 2002, the complete collection was offered by Sotheby’s in London to the American antiquarian David Deiss, but it was eventually bought by an unknown British dealer. It is probable, although unconfirmed, that most, if not all, of this inheritance, is what the Beinecke acquired in 2008 and now forms part of the 'Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition)'.(See reference 5 below).
Some of De Courcy Lyons’s work is held in various collections in the United States, notably the Catherine Walston/Graham Greene Papers at Georgetown Library, the Nancy Cunard
Nancy Cunard
Nancy Clara Cunard was a writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class but strongly rejected her family's values, devoting much of her life to fighting racism and fascism...
Collection at the Harry Ransom
Harry Ransom
Harry Huntt Ransom was a faculty member and administrator at the University of Texas, becoming the university's president in 1960, and ultimately served as the Chancellor of the University of Texas System from 1961 to 1971...
Humanities Research Center and the Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition) at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library was a 1963 gift of the Beinecke family. The building was designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft of the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, and is the largest building in the world reserved exclusively for the preservation of rare books...
, Yale University.
Publications
The Lyre & the Lotus. London: Harvill (1968). An historical novel set in the time of Galen.Photography
- Gate to the Sea - Bryher (Pantheon Books, New York, 1958) Photographic illustrations by Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons.
- A Visit to Morin - Graham Greene. (London, Heinemann, 1959) Photographer Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons
- Gandharan Art In Pakistan - New York (1957) Photography by Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons
- Catherine Walston/Graham Greene Papers – Various Works (Georgetown Library)
- Nancy Cunard: An Inventory of Her Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
- Norman Douglas Collection (2008 Addition) (GEN MSS 614)
- Islay Lyons - Photographs. Introduced by William Warren Privately Printed: Éditions Didier Millet (1996). (Photographs of Graham Greene, Harold Acton, Bryher, Noel Coward, Janet Flanner, Peggy Guggenheim, Sybille Bedford, Margot Fonteyn, Kenneth Macpherson and many others. Also included are landscapes and Italian cityscapes).
- Omnes Eodem Cogimur: Some Notes Following the Death of Norman Douglas. (Kenneth Macpherson) Privately Printed: [Turin] (1953). A memorial album with twenty-five photographs by Islay Lyons of Douglas and his friends, including Nancy CunardNancy CunardNancy Clara Cunard was a writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class but strongly rejected her family's values, devoting much of her life to fighting racism and fascism...
, Graham GreeneGraham GreeneHenry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English author, playwright and literary critic. His works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world...
, Somerset Maugham and many others.