# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lysons, Samuel (1806-1877)

​LYSONS, SAMUEL (1806–1877), antiquary, born on 17 March 1806, was the eldest surviving son of the Rev. Daniel Lysons (1762–1834) [q. v.] of Hempstead Court, Gloucestershire, by Sarah, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-colonel Thomas Carteret Hardy, of the York fusiliers (Burke, Landed Gentry, 4th edit. p. 921). He matriculated at Oxford from Exeter College on 24 Nov. 1826, graduated B.A. in 1830, with a third class in classics, and proceeded M.A. in 1836 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715–1886, iii. 887). He became rector of Rodmarton, Gloucestershire, of which he was the patron, in 1833. In 1834 he succeeded to the family estates. When in 1838 he took up his residence at Hempstead Court, he found the adjoining suburb of Gloucester, known as High Orchard, a comparative wilderness. Lysons built a church there (consecrated as St. Luke's on 21 April 1841), furnished it with a small endowment, and officiated in it himself. Schools were erected, charitable clubs organised, and a scripture reader provided at his expense. Altogether he spent between 5,000l. and 6,000l. for the benefit of the district, which rapidly improved. In 1866 increasing years led him to resign the charge, but he divested himself of the patronage by placing it unreservedly in the hands of the bishop. From November 1865 to February 1876 he was rural dean of Gloucester, and on 24 Dec. 1867 he was installed as honorary canon of Gloucester Cathedral. He died on 27 March 1877. He married, first, on 1 Jan. 1834, Eliza Sophia Theresa Henrietta, eldest daughter of Major-general Sir Lorenzo Moore, and by her, who died in 1846, he had four sons and two daughters; secondly, on 11 March 1847, Lucy, daughter of the Rev. John Adey Curtis-Hayward; and thirdly, in 1872 Gertrude Savery, second daughter of Simon Adams Beck of Cheam, Surrey. Lysons, who was F.S.A., contributed frequently to the local press, and occasionally lectured at local literary and scientific societies. He was author of: 1. ‘Conjectures concerning the Identity of the Patriarch Job, his Family, the time in which he lived, and the Locality of the Land of Uz,’ 8vo, Oxford, 1832. 2. ‘The Romans in Gloucestershire, and the results of their Residence in this Country, considered in an Historical, Social, and Religious point of view,’ 8vo, London, 1860. 3. ‘The Model Merchant of the Middle Ages, exemplified in the Story of Whittington and his Cat, being an Attempt to rescue that interesting Story from the region of Fable,’ &c., 8vo, London, 1860. 4. ‘Claudia and Pudens; or the early Christians in Gloucester; a Tale of the first Century,’ 8vo, London, 1861. 5. ‘Gloucestershire Illustrations. No. 1. Machin and Madeira: an Attempt to investigate the Truth of the Discovery … of that Island,’ 12mo, Gloucester, 1861. No more was published. 6. ‘What has Gloucestershire achieved? Being an enumeration of some of the principal points in which that County has taken a prominent lead in matters Religious, Moral, … and Scientific,’ 8vo, Gloucester, 1861. 7. ‘Our British Ancestors: who and what were they? An Inquiry serving to elucidate the traditional History of the Early Britons by means of recent Excavations, Etymology, … Inscriptions, Craniology, &c.,’ 8vo, London, 1865. 8. ‘Our Vulgar Tongue. A Lecture on Language in general, with a few Words on Gloucestershire in particular. … With Appendix containing Tables of the world-wide Affinity of Languages,’ 8vo, London, 1868.
[Gloucestershire Notes and Queries, ii. 514–516, 533; Crockford's Clerical Directory; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
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