4th child and 3rd son of Catherine( nee Buckley) and Stephen Lyons.
1859 Born 21/04/1859 at 3, Trows Court, St.Johns, Southwark. Father was recorded as a wharf labourer. The birth was registered on 27/5/1859. Birth Certificate B3. He was recorded as baptised at Our Lady of Salette & St.Joseph, 14 Melior Street, Bermondsey , on 10/04/1859, having been born 9/04/1859, so possible he was not thought likely to survive. Godparents given as John Daley & Anna Riordan.[ maybe state record is wrong with its birth date] . His 2 sisters, Mary & Elizabeth, were also baptised here: http://www.findachurch.co.uk/churches/tq/tq37/ourlady/
Stephen[ & Mary] must have been baptised then in the original Webb Street Chapel.
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1861 Census . Appears as a 2 yr. old at 26, College St., Horsleydown, Bermondsey, with his parents and older siblings, Timothy, 8, & Mary, 6. Ref. S61.0.
1871 Census. Listed under surname "Lynes", age 11, living at 36 Brunswick Court with his parents.
1878. Joins up, for a12 year period, with the 2nd Dragoon Guards: Army Record . No address given, but next of kin is Catherine. He served for 8 years in the Dragoons [ entititling him to a pension], then 4 years in the Reserves. He had a bald patch on his crown at age 19. His habits were regular, conduct good and he was temperate. But, within 2 months of joining up, he had syphylis, and spent ~250 days between 1878 and 1885 in hospital, being treated for this and for gonorhea. He never went abroad but was stationed in Ballincollig, Dublin, Ballingale??, Belfast, Longford, Manchester, Aldershot, Southcliff? and Canterbury between 1878 & 1886..
1881 Census. Does not appear with his parents, Stephen and Catherine Lyons and younger sister Elizabeth. S81.1.. I scrutinised 845 'rough' matches of his name, b.1857-1861, on Ancestry and still no trace!. This is because he was serving with the Dragoons for 12 years from July 1878
1888. His father Stephen is admitted to St. Olave's workhouse as 'destitute', from 30/7/1888 to 17/9/1888. . He is not in Bermondsey, and might have lost touch with him, his next of kin even in 1878 being given as 'Catherine London'
1890. Father Stephen dies, 1/03/1890, in St. Olaves Infirmary. Brother Michael [informant on d.c.] then living at 3 Cross Street., and his father had also lived there. .
1890. He is discharged in July 1890 and would seemingly rejoin his mother & sister
1891 Census.
Living at 2, Hanover Buildings, Horsleydown. Still single.
Catherine Lions wid. head 61 b.Ireland Cork
Stephen s. 32 Labourer Waterside b. St. Olaves
Elizabeth s. 27 Bookfolder b. St. Olaves .
Brother Timothy in Kinross Street with wife & 3 children : ref. T91.1 .Michael in Curlew St. with wife and his 4 children.
1891. Aged 32, he joins the Militia in July, the Royal Fusiliers, profession given as Groom.[presumably acquired this skill with the Dragoons] . States he has been living at 14 Magdaline Square, [ cannot find this, although there is a Magdalen Streeet - but Hanover Buildings also in Tooley Street, near intersection with present day Tower Bridge Road ] Tooley Street for 5 months, and before that at 2 Millstream Road for 2 1/2 years, ie from ~August 1888-February 1891, so seemingly he was never part of a family unit with brother Michael & father Stephen at Cross Street . But this info. conflicts with the 1891C which gives him at 2 Hanover Buildings - but maybe just there for a quick visit!!
His papers also say that as well as 8 years with the Dragoons and 4 years in the Army Reserve, he had served 2 trainings with the Surrey Militia & with the 3rd Btn E.Surrey Regiment. . By now he has a scar on the back of his head. His employer was Mssrs Leach of Shad Thames, Tooley Street [ cannot find any info. on them - just a 16year old female leach working there as a servant in 1891C]]. He attended 8 annual training camps 1892-1899, was embodied [ for the Boer War, but never sent out] for 5 months in 1900 and afterwards attended annual training up till 1907, when he was discharged.
1892. His mother, Catherine Lyons, is admitted to St. Olaves Infirmary 4/3/1892 and there till 30/5/1892, reason given as 'own request'. On 10/8/1892 she is admitted to St. Olaves Workhouse, reason given as 'sons neglect', sons being listed as Michael of 12 Curlew St. and Timothy & he, Stephen of unknown address. She is discharged from there on 18/8/1892. Then on 22/8/1892 she is admitted to St.Peters House, Lambeth, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor - Catherine was living in Dockhead, & she was recommended by the Sisters of Mercy who were working in Dockhead at the time. Have both Stephen & Elizabeth parted company with her from after April 1891?? Catherine lives there for 10 years until her death in 1902.. Does Stephen then continue living with his sister Elizabeth[ who does not marry until 1898] somewhere? Electoral Roll books containing 2 Hanover Buildings 1891-2 do not exist
1892/3. From 1894 b.c of his son & 1901C, he seemingly married Mary Ann Magee who was born in Belfast[given in 1911C]. Cannot find this marriage in Ireland or England. St.Georges RCC has no record for it. No marriage found on BMD round about, just one in Chorley 1894- not him [think I got this once but now,Oct 2008, cannot find it]. I have searched all permutations of spelling of his 2 names! Have also searched for the marriage in Ireland. He had been stationed in Belfast for a year 1880-1881 and this was probably where he met Mary Ann Magee.
1894. Bernard Stephen Lyons born, 7/02/1894, at 11 Tanner Street Bermondsey, father Stephen Lyons, stevedore, mother Mary Ann Lyons, formerly Magee. Thus our Stephen appears to have married. Have b.c B21.The only Mary Ann Magee b.Ireland in 1891C is , aged 32, widow, servant in Lancashire. Also a Mary Magee 20, born St Leonards Sussex, servant, living in Croyden: seemingly too young and not born Ireland - so, I rule both these out!. This child not baptised at St.Georges RCC nor at La Salette. Would a search for Electoral Roll for Tanner St. show whether sister Elizabeth was living with them?
My thought is that there was never a legal marriage
1901 Census. Stephen Lyons, aged 42 ,b.Bermondsey, stevedores labourer, married to Mary, 38, jam factory hand, b.Ireland, with a son Stephen, 7, b.Bermondsey. Living 2 Elim St.,Bermondsey: this near Wilds Rents, where his brother Timothy was living. . This child must be Bernard Stephen born 11,Tanner St.Bermondsey, St. Olave, 7/02/1894 ; his b.c. shows his mother is Mary Ann Magee. Suspect her father was a Bernard Magee. Thus this family is NOT the Chorlton[south Manchester] marriage[wife here was Mary Ann O'Brien, from BMD ] of 1894, the only Stephen Lyons marriage on BMD 1891-1901: Marriages Jun 1894 LYONS Stephen O'Brien Mary Ann Chorlton 8c 1206
No mention of how many rooms.
Need to look up 11 Tanner Street 1892-1901 & 2 Elim Street 1894 - 1911 in Electoral Roll books.
I have searched the original marriage entries[on Ancestry] 1891-Jun 1894 and can find no marriage of a Stephen Lyons, nor any of a Mary Magee to any name vaguely ressembling his. Have also fed mispellings and various combinations into BMD search.
Perhaps Stephen Lyons married Mary Ann Magee in her home country, Ireland? But seemingly no legal marriage: I have searched - Pilot Site - Irish Marriages 1891-1895 and no Stephen Lyons marries a Magee. The fact that he is missing from 1881C suggests he could have been in the army: does the 1881C include Army details??
1911C. Stephen Lyons, 52, Dock Labourer, b.Bermondsey, living in 2 rooms at 57 Snowsfield [very near Our Salette Church in Melior Street] St. Olave Bermondsey with Mary, 48, charwoman , married 18 years,1 child, none died, b. Belfast, and Stephen 17, [no occupation noted on census] b. Bermondsey. The statement that they had been married 18 years would indicate a date of 'marriage' of April 1892-April1893.
Census entry from Ancestry.com?? Electoral Roll Books for 57 Snowsfield 1901-1914 & 6 White Lion Court 1911-1919??
1917. Dies 23/06/1917, in Bermondsey Infirmary, age 54, of 6, White Lion Court Bermondsey, a Wharf Labourer. He died of Valvular Heart Disease and General Dropsy. The informant was M.A. Lyons, widow of the deceased, present at death, same address. D.c.20 . He was buried in St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery on 29/6/1917.
The age given on the d.c. differs by 4 years to the cemetery entry: the latter is correct. This is 'our' Stephen, 1859: he is next of Kin, in 1914, to son Bernard Stephen Lyons with address of 6 White Lion Court. This was off the eastern end of Snowsfield before it became Crucifix Lane . On my paper map 7.86 London Bridge Station. I do not know why the cemetery has the body coming from 4 White Lion Court: maybe that was unoccupied and the body lay there from the death.
Think his burial is noted in Dockhead ?? church records and he is buried in St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery Leytonstone.
Need to search Relations Book for Bermondsey Infirmary, if it exists.
When does his widow die?- she also a Mary Ann Lyons,b.~1863 , as is Michael's wife, b.~1861 . Probably Dec 1920 LYONS Mary A 57 Camberwell 1d 585
The following are all the Stephen Lyons births in England 1858-1868.
Births Jun 1859 Lyons Stephen St Olave 1d 43 Ours
Births Sep 1860 LYONS Stephen Bridgnorth 6a 529
Births Dec 1862 LYONS Stephen George Alfred Bethnal Gn 1c 235
Births Mar 1863 LYONS Stephen Manchester 8d 179
Births Dec 1863 LYONS Stephen John Plymouth 5b 230
Births Sep 1866 Lyons Stephen Bury 8c 393