Guernsey Lanyons

The Guernsey Lanyons are descended from the Helston branch of the family.

Samuel Lanyon was the son of Charles Francis Lanyon and Alice James, he was born in 1772 at Helston. He was a currier (a specialist leather worker) in Liskeard. Charles Francis fell out with his sons over his second marriage to Jane Sampson and this may explain why Samuel left Helston and moved to Liskeard. Samuel’s first wife, Mary Doney died in childbirth and their son Thomas Doney Lanyon died in 1827 at the age of 23.

Samuel married Ann Bennicke in 1806 at Stoke Damerel in Devon. They had seven children, the youngest being James George Lanyon born in 1823.

James George Lanyon 1823-1885

James was born in Liskeard but by 1851 he had moved to St Peter Port, the capital of Guernsey, and was working as a cordwainer.

The 1851 census shows him living with a wife, Elizabeth and with three children.

Elizabeth Mary Clothier was the daughter of William Clothier and Harriette Baptiste. She and James had six children:

William James Lanyon 1850-1924
Samuel George Lanyon 1851-1941
Frederick Lanyon 1853-1922
Florence Mary Lanyon 1854-1877
Harriett Ann Lanyon 1855-1924
Emily Lanyon 1857-1922

Elizabeth tragically drowned in a boating accident on a day trip to picnic in Herm, a tiny island next to Guernsey.

Guernsey, Guernsey

In 1861 James appears on the census as a widowed bootmaker, living with his mother-in-law.

Before 1869 James married Martha Anna (Hannah) Collings, they had seven children. the youngest born 31 years after his eldest child!

Ernest James Lanyon 1869-1929
Gertrude Elizabeth Bennicke Lanyon 1871-1961
Annie Bennicke Lanyon 1873-
Agnes Lanyon 1875-1962
Harold St John Lanyon 1877-1951
John Henry Lanyon 1880-1935
Reginald Hubert Lanyon 1881-1944

The 1881 census shows them all living at 2 Kings Road, St Peter Port. The house must have been pretty crowded as there were two elderly lodgers as well!

On 20 Dec 1885 James died leaving his wife to care for their young family alone. She never remarried and finally died on 24 August 1923.

William James Lanyon 1850-1924

William was a typesetter and emigrated to New Jersey in 1867. His first marriage was to Mary Augusta Oliver on 7 Jun 1871 at New Jersey, USA.

They had four children:

Mary Lanyon 1871-
William Oliver Lanyon 1873-1939
Harriet Lanyon 1875-
James Lanyon 1878-

Mary Augusta died in 1890 and in 1891 (according to the 1900 census) William James married another Mary. I haven’t found this marriage so I don’t know her maiden name.

Samuel George Lanyon 1851-1941

Samuel George Lanyon was born in St Peter Port in 1851. On the 1881 census he was still living at home and working as a tailor but by 1891 he had married and was working as a postman.

He married Martha Julia Robin and they had two children, Frederick and Winifred.

Samuel appears on the 1921 census as a retired postman alongside his wife Martha. I have not found a date of death but some other family historians report that he died in 1941 in Ohio, USA.

Frederick Lanyon 1852-1923

Frederick was the third son of James George Lanyon and Elizabeth Clothier.

The 1871 census describes him as a carpenter. Sometime after 1871 he emigrated to New South Wales, Australia. There in 1889 he married Sarah Emily Radford (1854-1944) and they had two sons; Percy Frederick Lanyon 1891-1955 and Harold Edgar Lanyon 1894-1973.

He appears in the New South Wales Police Gazettes. It gives us a good description of him.

Ernest James Lanyon 1869-1929

Ernest was the eldest son of James George Lanyon’s second marriage to Martha Anna Collings.

He was born at St Peter Port in 1869 and by 1891 he was working as a compositer. By 1893 he had emigrated to America and married Helen Sullivan in New York. They had three children:

Cecil Ernest Lanyon 1894-1918 Killed in action in France in August 1918
Harold Collings Lanyon 1869-1959
Dorothy Mable Lanyon 1898-1979

Harold St John Lanyon 1877-1951

Harold was born in 1877 by 1891 he was working as a gardener. Sometime before 1899 he married Celestine Ingrouille in Guernsey.

They had four children:

Gertrude Emily Lanyon 1899-1981
Harold James Lanyon 1901-
Hubert Henry Lanyon 1903-1981
John Lanyon 1912-1969

Reginald Hubert Lanyon 1881-1944

Reginald was born in 1881 and in 1915 he joined the navy as an able seaman. He served at the Battle of Jutland in 1916 on HMS Cochrane and was mentioned in dispatches.

Battle of Jutland – Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

He married Emily Rhoda Yabsley and they had two children: Earnest and Angela.

Hubert Henry Lanyon 1903-1981

Hubert was born in St Peter Port in 1903 the second son of Harold St John Lanyon and Celestine Ingrouille. On 14 May 1929 he married Marie de Renault. They had three children: Megan, Mark and Maisie. Hubert worked as a baker on the small island of Sark.

Sark, Guernsey

Hubert was active in the Channel Islands Underground during the second world war.

After the British and French Armies were evacuated from Dunkirk in May and June 1940, British authorities decided not to defend the Channel Islands. The Islands were demilitarised and thousands of Islanders tried to evacuate. In total, 17,000 out of 42,000 left Guernsey and 6,600 out of 50,000 left Jersey. 471 remained in Sark and around 20 people stayed in Alderney. On 28 June 1940, German air raids on St Peter Port and St Helier killed 34 and 11 civilians respectively. Between 30 June and 4 July 1940, the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark were occupied by German forces. Islanders had no idea how long the Occupation might last or how German rule would affect their lives.

During the Occupation, Frank Falla was invited to join an underground newspaper. After radios were confiscated in June 1942 and listening to the BBC made a severely punishable offence, Charles Machon, Falla’s colleague and typesetter at the Guernsey Star newspaper, decided to set up the news service. He had to be careful not to let each member of the group know who else was involved in case any of them were caught. The other members of the group were initially husband and wife team Joseph and Henrietta Gillingham, and Henrietta’s brother Ernest Legg. Later on, Frank Falla and Cecil Duquemin joined. It was Falla’s idea to name the news service GUNS (Guernsey Underground News Service). The newssheet was distributed throughout St Peter Port where all the members lived and further afield. It was also smuggled to Sark where baker Hubert Lanyon made it available to customers. The men were informed on and arrested. Henrietta’s brother and husband covered for her and she was not arrested. The five men were deported but Lanyon was fortunate to serve his sentence locally. (Guernsey Museum)

18th Apr 202318th Apr 2023

Hugh & Sarah of Plymouth Dock

Hugh Lanyon was baptised on 22 May 1719 at Madron, Cornwall, the son of Francis Lanyon and Elizabeth Thomas. Francis died in 1757 and his 1759 will mentions that son Hugh was now living at Plymouth Dock.

PLAN of the LINES round PLYMOUTH DOCK, 1756.jpg- British Library, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Hugh married Christian Williams at Madron on 6 Feb 1740. There were no children recorded from this marriage but Christian must have died as Hugh married for a second time on 19 Jan 1747 at Charles the Martyr, Plymouth, Devon to Sarah Row.

They had three children:-

Mary 1749-
Sarah 1752-1759
Hugh 1757-1760

Sometime between 1749 and 1752 they moved from Plymouth to Stoke Damerel, Devon. Hugh worked as a labourer.

Stoke

We know very little about them but Sarah appears in the Devon Quarter Session records and through that we get a tiny glimpse of their life.

‘Sarah Lanyon wife of Hugh of Stoke Damerel, labourer – bound to appear next session accused of assaulting and beating William Dobey of Plymouth, salesman,’ (24/11/1757)

Source – Devon Southwest Heritage Trust – QS/4/1758/Epiphany/RE/29

And again in 1763. ‘Sarah Lanyon late of Stoke Dam, widow, for assaulting Edward Stephens at Stoke and breaking the windows of his dwelling house.‘

Source – Devon Southwest Heritage Trust – QS/4/1763/Easter/PR/24

From these two records we can work out that Hugh died between Nov 1757 and 1763. Sarah was buried at Stoke Damerel in March 1775.

16th Apr 202312th Dec 2025

Stand and deliver!

My husband recalled being told tales of a highwayman in the family when he was a little boy but just assumed it was a made up bed time story. A little research however reveals that it was probably true!

Highwayman holds up a coach, by illustrator E. A. Holloway – Wikimedia Commons

In 1814 Thomas Lanyon, William Butler and John Rymell were convicted at Warwick Assizes of shooting at Mr J Stanley with intent to kill on the highway at Leek Wootton, just outside Warwick.

There is a short newspaper account in Aris’s Birmingham Gazette dated 25 April 1814.

The jury retired for a few minutes to consider their verdict, they found them guilty and asked for mercy but Lanyon and Rymell were hanged at Warwick for their crime.

Thomas Lanyon was buried on the 1st May at Banbury in Oxfordshire. He was just 27.

Having discovered Thomas I needed to work out where he fitted on the Lanyon tree. It didn’t take long to find his parents and siblings. He was the son of Thomas Lanyon and Priscilla Nicholls who were married at Banbury on 12 July 1785.

Their children were born shortly after:-

William Nicholls Lanyon 1786-
Thomas 1787-1814
Harriot 1788-
Charles 1790-
George 1792-
James 1796-
Sarah 1797

The parish record keeper has helpfully recorded the occupations of the men presenting their children for baptism so we know that Thomas was a hairdresser.

Banbury Parish Register – baptism of Harriot Lanyon

We don’t know if Thomas was a barber or a wigmaker, perhaps he was both.

In a crowded salon, a wigmaker fits wigs according to occupation; Coloured etching by J.E. Marcus after J. Smies, c. 1810.

Priscilla Lanyon was buried in February 1814 and her husband Thomas was buried on 11 Dec 1826 at Banbury.

There is a record of a Thomas and Mary Lanyon presenting a son John for baptism in 1803. This Thomas is also noted as being a hairdresser. It seems likely that this is the son Thomas who was executed, although he would be barely 16 years old.

Where did Thomas Lanyon senior come from? After quite a search there was just one Thomas who seemed to fit the bill. Thomas baptised 13 July 1760 at Madron, the son of Richard Lanyon and Margery Riccault.

Having worked out where they came from the family disappears and I cannot find where they went. Perhaps the stigma of an executed brother was too much for them to remain in Banbury? Perhaps they changed their names? Perhaps they emigrated?

28th Sep 202213th Nov 2025

Peter Lanyon’s Grandchildren and the Great Migration

Peter Lanyon (1769-1827) had three wives, eight children and twenty six grandchildren! His eldest grandson was born in 1811 and his last grandchild was born in 1843. This post is about the grandchildren who carried on the Lanyon name.

In the 1860s the price of metals fell and many mines were no longer profitable. Mines closed and miners were unemployed. Many decided to emigrate. Wherever there were mines, there were Cornishmen! Whole towns sprang up and carpenters, blacksmiths and masons were needed to build them.

The Great Migration

Peter Lanyon & Ann Barnicoat Matthews

Francis Lanyon 1811-1888

Francis’ father was transported to Australia and he was raised by his mother Ann Barnicoat Matthews in Penzance. In 1836 he married Catherine Harris and they had seven children

Hannah Maria 1837- Hannah is on the 1851 census, living at home and working as a household servant, no further trace
Catherine 1839-1931 married James Olsen, a mariner, at Madron and they emigrated to Canada.

Francis 1841-1911 – Francis was an engineer who emigrated to Pennsylvania, USA, no trace of his wife Susan Honeychurch. She appears to have been abandoned by her husband and by 1871 she was living with her parents and working as a charwoman. She had 6 children but only Theophilus and Catherine appear to have been fathered by Francis.
William Henry 1845-1875 was a soldier, a corporal in the 65 Foot who was invalided out of the army aged 29. He was described as 6’3_^1/2” dark hair, brown eyes, sallow complexion, delicate constitution and could only do ‘light work’. He died age 31. He had served overseas.
Charles Winks 1848-1881 emigrated to Canada
Alfred Winks 1852-1881 emigrated to Canada, no trace of a marriage or children
John Theophilus Winks 1856-1864 died age 7 of Scarlatinal Nephritis

Francis Lanyon after 1881 with his grandchildren

Following his wife’s death Francis emigrated to Canada in 1881 and died there in 1888. Of his surviving children four of them emigrated to Canada and the USA.

John Lanyon & Rebecca Jane

William Lanyon 1826-1899

William married Caroline Jacka at Truro in 1848 and they had ten children! He was a miner at Chacewater.

John James 1849-1936 tin miner, married Elizabeth Whitty in 1872 – 11 children
Thomas John 1850-aft. 1871, miner, married Emily Scobie – 3 children
Mary 1851-1858 died young
William Henry 1853-1858 died young
Harriet Jane 1855-56 died young
Joseph Charles 1856-aft. 1871 – grocer, there is a Joseph Charles Lanyon working as an auctioneer and a member of the Freemasons in Burma in 1891, after that no trace.
Richard Francis 1858-1896, tin miner, married Mary Ellen Williams 1879 – 6 children
William Henry 1860-1908, miner, married Caroline Jeffery 1883 – 12 children
Edwin Ernest 1862-1863 died young
Harriet Jane 1864-1945 – spinster

James Lanyon 1828-1891

James was also a tin miner at Chacewater. He married Caroline Pearce in 1850. They had 8 children.

Emma 1850- no trace after 1861
John 1852-1936 emigrated to Michigan USA became a mining foreman and married Elizabeth Jane Bennetts – 3 children
Rebecca Jane 1854- married William Matthews emigrated to Colorado USA – 2 children
Elizabeth 1856- no trace after 1871 census may have died or emigrated
James Henry 1856-1943, emigrated to Minnesota USA, married Agnes Jane Stewart and became a mining captain – no children traced
Lavinia 1861- domestic servant and no trace after 1881 census
Caroline ‘Kate’ 1864-1941 married James Pascoe in 1885 – 9 children
Frederick 1869-1921 miner, married Susanna Tregoning – 6 children

Thomas Lanyon 1828-1891

Thomas was a tin miner, he emigrated to Victoria Australia. No trace of a wife or children.

Francis Lanyon & Catherine Rundle

Francis & Catherine married at Paul in 1822. He was a cordwainer. They had five children.

Mary Anne 1822-1880 spinster
Thomas 1825- no trace after 1841 census
Catherine 1827-1891 married Henry Barnes five children
Anne Marie 1829- married Thomas Savage, one illegitimate son, Edwin Lanyon b. 1858 died infancy
Francis 1831-1895

Francis Lanyon 1831-1895

Francis was a cabinet maker in Penzance. In 1854 he married Mary Hannah Clyma – four children:

Mary Thornton 1855-1856 died in infancy
William Henry 1856- no trace after 1871 census
Elizabeth 1860-1938 married Joseph Cox in New Zealand and lived with Robert Scott. From Robert there were seven children some known as Scott, some as Lanyon.
Thomas J 1863-1937 emigrated to New Zealand, married Elizabeth, no trace of children

William Lanyon & Ann Wills

William James Lanyon 1830-1924

William was a shoemaker, like his father, in Penzance. In 1851 he married Mary Ann Ancell (1831-1860), they had four children. Mary died giving birth to her fourth child, Mary Ann who died a few months later.

Louisa 1853-1857 died in infancy
Alice 1857- no trace after 1871 census
Ellen 1858-1937 emigrated to New Zealand and there married Henry Williamson – 11 children
Mary Ann 1860-1860 died in infancy

In 1869 William married Caroline Uren, a boot binder. They had a further four children:

Frederick 1870-1956, he was a newspaper compositor and married Edith Collins – 2 children
William James 1877 age 14 he was working as an errand boy – no further trace
Walter 1879-1880 died in infancy
Caroline 1881-aft. 1911 no further trace after 1911 census

Frederick Lanyon 1839-1869

Frederick was born in Penzance, married Mary Jane Branch and they emigrated to Australia and had four children. Frederick was killed in 1869 by a falling gum tree.

Gum Trees – Dorrit Black (1891 – 1951), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

David 1862-1943 married Johannah Lacey Dodds Jewaskiewitz in 1888 Adelaide Australia, 4 children
Mary 1864-1866 died in infancy
Elizabeth Mary 1866-1929 was born in Australia, married George Baldwin and emigrated to New Zealand – 11 children
Sarah Ann 1868- born in Australia, no further trace

28th Sep 202213th Nov 2025

The Penzance Cordwainers

Francis Lanyon 1653-1723

Francis was the son of Francis and Rosamon Lanyon of Penzance, he was born about 1653. When his grandmother died in 1655 she left him a ewe in her will.

We don’t know the name of Francis’ wife, their marriage wasn’t recorded but he did have a son also called Francis in 1680.

Like his father, Francis was a cordwainer in Penzance. In 1695 he is mentioned as the principal creditor of Edmund Lanyon who died whilst aboard HMS Weymouth.

Edmund Lanyon’s administration AP/L/969 signed by Francis and William Landry

We don’t know where Edmund fits on the Lanyon tree as there are many gaps in the records.

Francis Lanyon abt. 1680-1757

Francis was the only son of Francis Lanyon. His baptism was not recorded but he was probably born about 1680. He married Elizabeth Thomas at Madron in 1708. They had seven children:

Francis 1713-1758 married Anne Lutey
Ann 1716-1757 married Richard Lembry – one daughter
Hugh 1719- aft.1759
Charles 1721-1757 bachelor, no children
John 1723-1727 died in infancy
Elizabeth 1726-aft. 1759 no further trace
John 1729-aft. 1759 living abroad- no further trace

So many in this family died in such a short time period that there was probably some sort of epidemic in Penzance. Francis senior died in April 1757, in November Ann & Charles both died. Jan 1758 Elizabeth senior died and in June 1758 Francis junior died. In 1757 there was a smallpox outbreak which may have reached Cornwall and also epidemics of measles and scarlatina and in 1758 an influenza epidemic. Perhaps one or a combination of illnesses affected this family. Daughter Elizabeth had to administer her father’s estate as the widow and heir had both died.

In 1754 Vesuvius erupted and that caused poor weather and sickness in subsequent years. The 1750s seems to have been a time of natural disasters and disease. Gangrenous sore throat and Angina Maligna (an obsolete term for: Acute necrotising ulcerative gingivitis; Diphtheria; Pseudomembranous pharyngitis) are described as being ‘very fatal’.

Vesuvius erupting in 1754 – CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Francis Lanyon 1713-1758

Francis married Anne Lutey in 1734 at Madron. They had six children.

Robert 1735-
Sarah 1736- in 1767 she married Thomas Shepherd, a hatter, they had three children.
Peter 1741-1771
Henry 1743-1747 died in infancy
David 1746-1768 unmarried
Anne 1748- married Richard White no children traced

Hugh Lanyon 1719- aft.1759

Hugh was baptised at Madron in 1719 and he married Christian Williams at Madron in 1740. There are no children from this marriage and she must have died before 1747 as Hugh married for a second time to Sarah Row at Charles the Martyr, Plymouth, Devon.

Plymouth – Charles the Martyr – bombed during the blitz

From Francis’ will of 1759 he mentions son Hugh and children now living at Plymouth Dock. There are three children traced.

Mary 1749-
Sarah 1752-59
Hugh 1757-1760

There are later marriages and burials of Lanyons at Plymouth but we can’t say if they are related to Hugh & Sarah.

Marriage register Plymouth Charles the Martyr 1747

Hugh was buried at Stoke Damerel on 17 Dec 1760.

Robert Lanyon 1735-

Francis and Anne Lutey’s son Robert was baptised at Madron in 1735 and in 1759 he married Martha Dyer at Plymouth St Andrew. Perhaps after his father’s death he went to join Uncle Hugh in Plymouth?

They had two documented children:

Sarah 1764- who married William Gains at Plymouth in 1784.
Mary Jensen 1772- no further trace
Possibly John Jenkinson Lanyon 1770-1835

Baptism register Plymouth St Andrew 1772

The researcher Jane Veale Mitchell believed that John Jenkinson Lanyon (see Irish branch) was the unrecorded son of Robert and Martha. The names Jensen and Jenkinson are both unusual and don’t appear anywhere else in the tree. John Jenkinson Lanyon used a ring with the Madron coat of arms to seal his letters so he must have had a connection to this branch of the tree somehow.

Peter Lanyon 1741-1771

In 1767 Robert’s brother Peter married Mary Carpenter at Madron. Peter was a cordwainer at Madron. They had three children

Peter 1768-1768 died in infancy
Elizabeth 1768- no further trace
Peter abt. 1769-1827

Peter senior died aged 30 and left Mary to raise the children.

Peter Lanyon abt. 1769-1827

Peter, son of Peter and Mary Carpenter had three wives. He married for the first time at Madron in 1789 to Grace Cock (1771-1793). There were two children from this marriage.

Peter 1790-1852
John 1793-1857

Grace may have died, possibly in childbirth, in 1793 as Peter remarried in 1795. His second marriage was to Mary Wall (1772-1806). This marriage produced three children.

Francis 1797-1857
Richard 1799-1973 was a grocer, he married Caroline Johns at Helston in 1822, no children
Ann 1803-1886 spinster died age 82

Mary died in 1806 and Peter married for a third time in 1807 to Ann Michell (1770-1839). They had three children.

Elizabeth 1807-1886 she married Charles Andrew at Madron in 1827 – six children
William 1810-1889
David 1813-1846 was a mason, he married Catherine Rebecca Davies in 1838 – one daughter died in infancy.

Peter was aged 58 when he was buried at Penzance in 1827. He had eight children and 26 grandchildren!

Peter Lanyon 1790-1852

Peter’s eldest son was also called Peter and like his father he too had three wives! In 1810 at the age of 20 he married Ann Barnicoat Matthews (1789-1822)

Francis 1811-1888
Peter 1813-1846 he was a mason who died in Bodmin Asylum a pauper with a ‘disease of the brain’
John Matthews 1815- John married Mary Addison Edmonds at Madron in 1836, they had one daughter Rebecca Addison 1838-1898 who married James Eva in 1855

A ‘disease of the brain’ could be anything from a disease to a head injury. Clearly it was serious as he died aged just 33.

UK Lunacy Patients Admission Registers 1846-1912

Bodmin Asylum is still a forbidding place today.

In 1817 Peter senior was convicted of larceny and sentenced to be transported for seven years. His wife and three young sons were left to fend for themselves. Peter arrived at Sydney, Australia on the ship Lady Castlereagh on 1 May 1818. He was described as 5’5″, dark complexion, dark hair and hazel eyes. He was a mason.

The Lady Castlereagh’s last journey

Having served his seven years penal servitude Peter was granted his certificate of Freedom but he wasn’t able to return home to Cornwall.

New South Wales, Australia Certificate of Freedom 1818

He appears on the 1828 census:

Item: 62824 Surname: Lanyard (Lanyon) First Name: Peter Ship: Lady Castlereagh 1818

Date: 1828 Place: Patrick Plains Source: 1828 Census

Details: Stonemason aged 36. Employed by Archibald Bell

Source: https://www.freesettlerorfelon.com

In 1824 he married Sarah Whittle at Parramatta NSW, Sarah must have died because in 1836 he requested and was granted permission to marry Bridget Delaney.

NSW Register of Convicts’ Applications to Marry 1826-51

Peter died in Australia in 1852, he never saw Cornwall or his Cornish children again.

John Lanyon 1793-1857

Peter’s brother John was a miner and in 1823 he married Rebecca Jane (1795-1870) at Kea in Cornwall. They had five children.

Joseph 1826-1889 he was a tin miner, he married Cecilia Rose Emidy in 1848. Cecilia had an illegitimate daughter Julia. Joseph had no children.
William 1826-1899
Emma abt. 1827-aft. 1871 was a tailoress who had two illegitimate children
James 1828-1891
Thomas 1828-1891 was a tin miner, he emigrated to Australia, no trace of any children

John died in 1857 at Chacewater. Chacewater was the centre of the mining world and there are a number of mines in the area. In the 1860s metal prices started falling and mining declined.

Chacewater

Francis Lanyon 1797-1857

Peter and John’s half brother Francis was a cordwainer like his father. He married Catherine Rundle at Paul in 1822. They had five children.

Mary Anne 1822-1880 – There is a Mary Anne Lanyon convicted of larceny which may be her
Thomas 1825- possibly married Mary Whear. Father of Milly 1860-1941 who married Edward Ladner in 1885. No further trace of Thomas.
Catherine Elizabeth 1827-1891 married Henry Barnes at Penzance in 1855 – five children
Anne Maria 1829- In 1858 she had an illegitimate son, Edwin who died in infancy. In 1859 she married Thomas Savage and they had one daughter, Mary Ann.
Francis 1831-1895

Shoemaker – Paul Renouard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William Lanyon 1810-1889

Peter, John, and Francis’ half brother William was born in 1810. He was described as a ‘poor shoemaker’ on admission to the dispensary in 1829. In 1830 he married Ann Wills at Madron. They had six children.

William James 1830-1924
Mary Wills 1832-1904 married Edward Williams – no children
Louisa 1836-1904 married Richard Baxter Hocken – five children and she died in Yorkshire.
Joseph Phillips 1837-1847 died young
Frederick 1839-1869
Sarah Ann 1841-1921 married John Rose – two daughters, emigrated to New Zealand

We’ll find out what happened to Peter’s grandsons in the post ‘Peter Lanyons Grandchildren and the Great Migration’.

18th Sep 202212th Nov 2025

Francis Lanyon’s Descendants

Francis Lanyon was the eldest son and heir of John & possibly Margaret Richard and he is described as a ‘gentleman’. He married Elizabeth on 19 Jun 1607 at Madron (sadly most women did not have their surnames recorded in the Madron register so we don’t know which family Elizabeth was from.) He was a Penzance merchant.

Francis signed the Protestation return of 1641/2. He appears on the Subsidy Roll for Charles I in Oct 1641 and paid £3 on goods.

I Oct 1655 the mayor of Penzance granted him the profits of ‘key and pier’ (quay) for one year for £25.

In Oct 1656 the ship Dunkerke landed at Mousehole and Francis was paid 12/-

The Penzance mayoral records also show that Francis and Thomas Jenkin were paid 12d for repairing the quay’s mansards.

Francis and Elizabeth had three surviving children: Bennett, Sampson and Susanna.

Bennett Lanyon 1615-1661

Bennett, Francis’ son and heir, was baptised in 1615 eight years after his parents married. Perhaps there were other children born before him? He too took the Protestation Oath in 1641/2. In 1647 he married Martha. They had four children:

Agnes 1648 – married Edward Polgrean at Zennor in 1687. Their only child was Benedict. He married Elizabeth Stephens in Jun 1721 and in Jun 1722, just a month after his son Benedict’s baptism, he died.
Francis 1651-1719 he married his cousin Dorothie Noy (née Lanyon) when he was aged 50. Their only child Martha died aged 4. His estate was left to his nephew Benedict Polgrean in 1719. Less than three years later Benedict was dead too.
Elizabeth 1654-1655 died in infancy
Elizabeth 1655- married Francis Ellis (Elies) – 4 children: Bennett, Sampson, Francis and Katherine

Bennett’s line finishes here.

Sampson Lanyon 1616-

Sampson was baptised in 1616 in Madron. In 1647 he married Margaret and had four children:

Agnes 1648- no further trace
Mary 1653- no further trace
Anne 1656-1661 died in infancy
Margaret -1661 died in infancy

Sampson’s line finishes here.

Susanna Lanyon 1619-

Susanna was baptised at Madron in 1619. In 1640 she married William Tregeco. There are no further records of this family.

Here ends Francis’ line.

17th Sep 202212th Nov 2025

Alexander Lanyon’s Descendants

Alexander Lanyon married Philippa at Madron in 1614.

The parish registers have lots of gaps at this time so wills can be an additional source of information. John Lanyon’s 1634 will mentions numerous grandchildren and from that we can start to build a tree.

Anne and Maud were still alive in 1634 but there is no further trace of them. They may have married and their marriages have not been recorded or they may have died.

Alexander aft. 1616-1624
Anne 1616-aft. 1634
Maud 1617-aft. 1634
Peter 1622-bef. 1634
Joane 1628-bef.1634
Walter bef.1634-1715
John bef.1634-1673
Alexander aft. 1634-1660
William -1624

The only children who have recorded marriages are Walter, John and Alexander.

Alexander Lanyon aft. 1634-1660

Alexander wasn’t mentioned in his grandfather’s will so must have been born after 1634. He and his wife died within nine months of one another in 1660. We don’t know what caused their deaths but given that they were both only in their twenties perhaps they both died of TB which killed so many young people. They had no children so this line died out.

Walter Lanyon bef. 1634-1715

Walter was the heir and he lived at the barton of Lanyon after his father. He married Mary and they had two sons:

John 1665-1733 married Margery Ustick – one son John
Thomas 1670-1723 married Alice Baynard – no children

Walter died 8 Sep 1715 at Madron and left a will.

Walter’s will 1715 – Source CRO/AP/L/1174

The will gives his son John the barton of Lanyon, son Thomas half his goods and cattle and his wife Mary land in Boswednan, Madron and Boswarva and these lands to go to his grandson John after her death.

He also leaves his suit of ‘best apparel’ to Francis Lanyon of Penzance and £3 to his beloved henchman Richard Wallish.

Walter’s son John married Margery Ustick in 1691 and their only child John was born the following year. John died in 1733 and the estate passed to his son, Walter’s grandson.

John junior married Elizabeth Huthnance the daughter of Henry Huthnance, the vicar of Breage. They had a daughter, also called Elizabeth, born in 1718. John’s wife died but there is no record of her burial. John remarried in 1725 to a Lanyon cousin, Jane Andrew. (She was the daughter of Isabel Lanyon and Matthias Andrew of Sancreed.) They didn’t have any children.

In 1954 William Lamparter corresponded with Miss Dorothy E B Hichens, the niece of John Hichens, who was then aged 90 and the great grandson of Richard Hichens who held the lease at ‘Lanyon’. She stated “The only thing I can tell you about Elizabeth Lanyon is a story handed down the family and told to me by my grandmother – that Elizabeth’s mother having died, the child was neglected by her father and her mother’s family paid a gypsy to steal her. They brought her up after which she presumably returned and married my ?? grandfather.”

His only daughter Elizabeth married Richard Hutchens (Hichens), they had four children: Richard, Jane, Elizabeth and Thomas.

John Lanyon was without a male heir and when he died in 1784 aged 92 he left the barton of Lanyon to his favourite granddaughter, Jane Hutchens. John was the last Lanyon to live at the old ancestral home.

John Lanyon’s will 1784 – Source CRO/AP/L/1878

Jane Hutchens renounced the bequest and from 1784 Mr John Hosking of Landithy, Madron took a 99 years lease of Lanyon for his two sons John and Thomas who failed to make a success of the farm and Mrs Elizabeth Hutchens’ grand sons, Richard and Thomas took the remainder of the lease and much improved the Lanyon estate. The old manor house was pulled down and a new house built. Thomas’ son, Richard Hutchens, died at Lanyon in 1889.

Jane Hutchens renounces the bequest from her grandfather. Source – CRO/AP/L/1878

This is the end of Walter’s line.

On 29 March 1927 Jane Veale Mitchell wrote the following:-

“Last Tuesday the weather improved and I went off to keep an appointment at Carne, in Morva with Mr John Hichens (St Ives family) whose great-grandfather Richard held Lanyon in Madron and Rissick in Madron, under 99 years lease or remainder. (For several weeks I have missed him when he came into Penzance; then we met and I went out). How glad I was, you can imagine when he brought in a great armful of oldish deed for me to see. Between us (and you too) we are sworn to secrecy in regard to these deeds, as the man would be pestered for them; as it is, he gave me the one I longed for and which explicitly explained what my instinct told me must be a fact i.e. that a Lanyon, as his fathers before him, lived and died at Lanyon in Madron in the year 1784, the very last one in the old Manor House, before Mr Hosking (who renewed the lease from Philip Rashleigh’s assigns) tore it down and built the present farmhouse.”

John Lanyon – bef. 1634-1673

John was the second surviving son of Alexander and Philippa. John Lanyon married Blanche about 1648, the marriage was not recorded but their first child was born about 1650.

They had seven children:

Mary – 1654 died in infancy
Margaret 1649-aft. 1673 no further trace
Bennett abt. 1650-aft. 1673
David 1650-1656 died in infancy
Dorothie 1659-1732 she married Thomas Noye in 1678 – six children. Then in 1701 she married her cousin Francis Lanyon – they had one daughter Martha who died age 4.
Rebecca 1661-1706 she married Humphrey Stodden – three children
Philippa 1666-aft. 1673 no further trace
Mary – 1654 died in infancy

We’re covered Dorothie in the post ‘Lanyons, Trewrens and Noys’.

Bennett Lanyon abt. 1650-aft. 1673

Bennett was born about 1650. He was the executor of his father’s will. We know he married but we don’t know his wife’s name. He had six children:

Mary 1673-1673 died in infancy
John 1673-1733 married Blanche Pendar
Mary 1675-1676 died in infancy
Ann 1677- married Alexander Johns in 1706 no further trace
Blanch 1678- no trace
Walter 1681- no trace

John Lanyon 1673-1733

John and Blanche married in 1723 when John was aged 50. His son John may have been from an earlier unrecorded marriage.

John died in 1733 and his will begins “being penitent and very sorry for my sins”. One wonders what he had done!

John Lanyon’s will 1733 source: CRO/AP/L/1371

There is no record of John and Blanche’s son being baptised, married or buried. His father left him 1/- in his will which suggests he had already inherited. In 1752 he had the role of Accessionable Manor’s Commissioner and we know nothing else about him.

And this is where we must leave Alexander’s line, there are no more traceable Lanyon descendants.

Interestingly on 5 Mar 1781 an Alexander Lanyon died in Penzance aged 100. There is no record of any Alexander Lanyon being baptised about 100 years earlier. Could he be a descendant of this line?

3rd Sep 202211th Nov 2025

John Charles Lanyon 1828-1903

John Charles Lanyon was the eldest son and heir of John Charles Lanyon and Mary Mead of Redruth.

By the age of 22 he was a partner in the British Arsenic Company and and in 1849 he set sail for Adelaide, Australia on the ship ‘Candahar’ to establish a hardware and ironmongery business. On the journey he met George Peter Harris and they were founding partners of a very successful business which became Harris Scarfe, a major supplier of a range of household, agricultural and industrial items in Australia.

In 1855 John Charles left the partnership and returned to London where he opened a buying house for Harris Scarfe and other businesses in Australia. the London end of the business was JC Lanyon & Sons. There were several subsidiary companies: Australasian China & Glass Co, Australasian Implement & House Furnishing Co, The Adelaide Rope, Nail and Barb Wire Manufacturing Co.

LanyonHarrisAgreement1851 Download

Harris Scarfe on Wikipedia

In the 1860s with the decline in the copper industry he purchased £12,000 worth of equipment from Poldice Mine and JC. Lanyon & sons became a major dealer and exporter of mining equipment. In 1873 he bought £7,750 worth of equipment from Wheal Busy.

By 1887 he and his brother Alfred had set up the Cornish Tin Smelting with John Branwell and John Jose, they were also major shareholders in the lucrative East Pool mine where most of the ore for their new works came from. (Source: Barton 1967)

East Pool Mine, engine house by SMJ, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1857 he married Jane Stacy Bennett, the daughter of Charles Bennett and Jane Stacy.

Jane was born in 1837 in Redruth. Jane’s family lived at 15 Fore Street next door to the Lanyons at number 16. Charles Bennett was a merchant and draper.

After marriage they moved to Croydon in Surrey as John was working in London. John and Jane had eight children:

Alice Mary 1859-1942 married Walter Paton Hindley – four children
Jane Stacey 1861-1949 spinster
John Charles 1862-1862 died in infancy
Sydney Howard 1864-1914 bachelor, rejected by the army and committed suicide in front of his nephew by jumping off Westminster Bridge on 24 Oct 1914. His body was found at Rotherhithe on 4 Nov.
Arthur Herbert 1866-1947 married Catherine Septima Lamotte
Vivian 1868-1941 married Esther Eliza Crowe, his nurse. He went to Jesus College, Cambridge and worked as a colonial agent. No children.
Mabel 1870 married James Charles Buckley, a doctor, they had four children
Alfred Leonard 1871-1871 died in infancy

In 1878 they purchased Birdhurst in Croydon.

Birdhurst became a school after the Lanyons left in 1908.

“an agreeable and retired residence delightfully situated with gardens and plantations in a beautiful valley leading from the town of Croydon to Croham House”
Mabel (May) Lanyon’s diary.

John Charles Lanyon died in 1903 and was buried in Queen’s Road cemetery, Croydon. He left an estate valued at £199,134.

Grave site of John Charles Lanyon Queen’s Road Cemetery in Croydon, Greater London, England, United Kingdom from BillionGraves

2nd Sep 202218th Apr 2026

John Charles Lanyon 1800-1868

The Family Tree of John Charles Lanyon of Redruth

John Charles Lanyon was the son of John Lanyon and Grace Halls, he was born in Helston in 1800 but later moved to Redruth and in 1824 he opened an ironmongers in Fore Street. In 1840 by mutual consent the business ‘JC Lanyon & Thomas Lanyon Ironmongers, Curriers & Saddlers’ in Helston was dissolved and John Charles concentrated on his business interests in Redruth. He went on to become a partner in the gas works and other industrial concerns in the town.

In 1845 he was described as an ‘adventurer’ and was involved with Wheal Tehidy, Illogan & Redruth mine. By 1851 he was described on the census as a ‘merchant tanner, merchant shipowner and ironmonger’. In 1861, the census described him as a ‘merchant tanner’ who lived at Sparnon House. He retired on 31 Dec 1861.

On 21 Jun 1825 he married Mary Mead, the daughter of Simon Mead and Mary Andrew. Simon was a Redruth shopkeeper.

They had ten children of which seven survived to adulthood.

Mary Mead 1826-1903 married Francis Truscott who was a classics tutor from Trinity College Dublin. They had six daughters and one son.
John Charles 1828-1903 (see separate post)
Elizabeth 1830-1904 married Edward Broadlake Dingley who was a draper with 8 assistants, there were no children
Selina 1832-1916 married Thomas Cooper, a merchant, no children
George 1833-1921 married Susan Ida Crisp
Alfred 1835-1915 married Elizabeth Victoria Teague
William 1840-1853 died young
Sarah 1844-1844 died in infancy
James 1845-1913 married Mary Anne Sargent
Harold 1850- died in infancy

John Charles was interested in all sorts of things and the Science Museum has a letter from him dated 1860 sent to Francis Trevithick (son of Richard) stating that he’d ‘been making enquiries respecting Murdoch’s little engine…’ and giving Francis the information he obtained as a result of these enquiries. (Source: Science Museum TREVF/4/66).

In 1847 he was sworn in as a special constable during the Redruth Corn Riots.

John Charles Lanyon died on 23 Nov 1868 at Redruth and left an estate worth £35,000. His wife Mary was listed on the 1871 census as an imbecile (presumably she was suffering from dementia) and died shortly afterwards.

George Lanyon 1833-1921

John Charles’ son George was born 1833 and became a tanner in Falmouth. He married Susan Ida Crisp in Hobart, Tasmania in 1861.

They returned to Falmouth and had six children:

Katherine Rosina 1863-1928 she was an artist and spinster who lived with her parents
Theodore Tasman 1864-1949 married Bessie Michell Jose & Katherine Parry
George Edward 1867 married Polly Bullmore
Norman Crisp 1869-1917 married Dorothy Mead
Hilda Maud 1873-1922 married Edward Augustus Bullmore, two sons
Mabel 1879-1879 died in infancy

Hilda married Edward Bullmore, the brother of Polly Bullmore, who conducted a long correspondence with Jane Veale Mitchell (early 20th century Lanyon researcher) about the history of the Lanyon family.

George and Susan’s children L-R in order of age.

Alfred Lanyon 1835-1915

Alfred Lanyon was born in Redruth in 1835. He too started off as an ironmonger but his interests moved to gas and he was the proprietor of the Redruth Gas Works and he established the British and Foreign Safety Fuse Company.

Alfred married Elizabeth Victoria Teague in 1859 and they had eleven children:

Charles Alfred 1860-1890 bachelor died of kidney disease, heart disease and exhaustion
Ernest Alexander 1861-1863 died in infancy
William Herbert 1862-1936 married Lilian Priscilla Vivian
Victoria Grace 1864-1898 spinster
Sidney Howard 1865-1922 married Susan Tremayne
Elsie Mary 1867-1953 married William Thomas Lawrence – one daughter
Edward Arthur 1868-? he may have emigrated and died in Tasmania in 1950
Edgar Temple 1869-1949 married Beryl Gardner – one daughter
Annie Ethel 1871-1956 spinster
Ida Winifred 1873-1933 married William John Cropley no children
Frederick Harold 1873-1908 stock broker, bachelor

In later life he had one of the largest tin smelters in the world. The output of tin from his smelting works amounted to £1,000,000 a year. He was also an alderman and Justice of the Peace.

He and his large family lived at Tolvean House in Redruth.

Alfred died of pneumonia on 5 Mar 1915 and left an estate valued at £239,934.

James Lanyon 1845-1913

John Charles’ youngest surviving son was James born in 1845. He moved to Lancashire and became a cotton and linen merchant. He married Mary Anne Sargent in 1868 and they had two children:

Gordon Dingley 1869-1935 married Nellie Barnes
Cleeland Mead 1873-1949 married Joseph Richard Buckley – two children

Grandsons

Theodore Tasman Lanyon 1864-1949

Theodore was the eldest son of George Lanyon and Susan Ida Crisp, he was born in Falmouth. In 1897 he married Bessie Michell Jose at Perranarworthal, Cornwall. They had four children. In 1938 he married for a second time to Katharine Myvanwy Jean Macleod Parry who was 46 years younger! Theodore was Fleet Paymaster for the Royal Navy.

George Edward Lanyon 1867-1916

George was the second son of George and Susan. He was a doctor and in 1902 he married Polly Bullmore. They had six children.

Polly with a child on her knee, sitting in front of her father-in-law, George Lanyon

Norman Crisp Lanyon 1869-1917

Norman was the third son of George and Susan. He married Dorothy Mead, a cousin, and they had three children. Norman died on 16 May 1917 when he was shipwrecked in the English Channel by a torpedo.

William Herbert Lanyon 1862-1935

William was the third son of Alfred Lanyon and Elizabeth Victoria Teague. The 1901 census described him as a professor of music but earlier and later censuses describe him as having no occupation and having ‘private means’. He married in 1916 at the age of 54 to Lillian Priscilla Vivian. They had two children:

Lysbeth Mary Priscilla 1917-2008
George Peter 1918-1964 – (see post ‘Soaring Flight – The Artist Peter Lanyon’)

Sidney Howard Lanyon 1865-1922

Sidney was the fourth son of Alfred and Elizabeth. He was a gas engineer in his father’s business and in 1892 he married Susan Tremayne. They had three children.

Alfred 1903-1964
Lawrence 1906-1995
George 1910-1982

2nd Sep 202218th Apr 2026

John Lanyon the first Ironmonger

John was born in 1769 in Helston the son of Charles Francis Lanyon and like his four brothers he was a cordwainer and currier however he also diversified into ironmongery. When he died in 1835 after “a very long affliction” his estate was worth £4000.

John married Grace Halls (the daughter of Jacob Halls and Grace Rundle) on 3 May 1796 at St Austell.

John and Grace had nine children of which seven survived to adulthood.

Jacob Hall 1797-1827 married Mary Hammill – one child
John Charles 1800-1868 married Mary Mead – ten children (see post about John Charles Lanyon)
Thomas 1802-1855 married Margery Lawrey Trelevan – nine children
George 1805-1851 married Caroline Penberthy – ten children
Samuel James 1807-1809 died in infancy
Silena 1809-1870 spinster
Elizabeth Rundle 1812-1828 died young
Joseph James 1817-1887 married Elizabeth Cunnack – four children
Alfred 1819-1842 unmarried

Jacob Hall Lanyon 1797-1827

John and Grace’s eldest son and heir Jacob died before his father.

Jacob was an ironmonger and must have known he was going to die as he made a will three months before his death. He leaves Mary, his wife, an annuity of £10, the piano, a mahogany chest of drawers and a mahogany desk. His business interests he leaves to his father John.

Jacob and Mary’s only son was born in 1827 and only survived a few months.

Thomas Lanyon 1802-1855

Thomas was born in 1802 and was an ironmonger and currier employing three men in Falmouth. He married Margery Lawrey Trelevan and they had nine children:

Thomas Halls 1828-1866 married Elizabeth Jane Studden – six children, five daughters and a son the Rev Thomas Studden Lanyon who married Ann Glencross and emigrated to Australia – one daughter.
Jacob Halls 1833-1913 married Hephzibah Basham – ten children
Elizabeth Ellen 1833-1833 died in infancy
Jane 1835-1907 spinster
Mary 1836-1882 married Edmund Handcock – five children
John 1839-1900 was a currier’s shopman, he emigrated to Canada and died of pneumonia in 1900, he never married.
William 1839-1841 died in infancy
William 1841-1865 died young
Elizabeth Ellen 1842-1921 married Ralph Davenport Waller in 1898, no children

Thomas died suddenly of apoplexy in 1855.

George Lanyon 1805-1851

George was born in 1805 and worked as a master saddler and ironmonger. He lived in Church Street in Helston and married Caroline Penberthy in 1841. They had three sons and seven daughters.

Georgiana 1842-1844 died in infancy
George William 1842-1909 married Mary Symons Woolcock – three children
Caroline Mary 1844-1913 spinster
Emily 1845-1923 spinster
Alfred 1846-1846 died in infancy
James Penberthy 1847-1887 worked as a cashier in Brazil and married Mary Treloar whose father worked at the Don Pedro North Del Ray Mines in Brazil, they emigrated to Australia – four children
Selina 1848-1850 died in infancy
Ada 1849-1850 died in infancy
Mary 1850-1939 married Charles Comber Hoadley – four children
Laura 1851-1932 spinster

The last child, Laura was born after her father’s death in April 1851, aged just 46. He had been suffering with Rheumatic fever for six weeks and died of heart failure.

Joseph James Lanyon 1817-1887

Joseph James was born in 1817 and was a currier and ironmonger in Madron. His first marriage was to Elizabeth Cunnack who died in 1854, his second wife was Anne Nicholas who died in 1880. George didn’t hang around and aged 65 he married his third wife, Mary Jane Rowe in 1881. He had three surviving daughters from his first marriage: Elizabeth, Hannah and Caroline. Joseph died in 1887.

Alfred Lanyon 1819-1842

John and Grace’s youngest son Alfred was born in 1819 and died at the age of 24. His death certificate states that he died of ‘decline’, this usually meant TB. He was a druggist and lived with his brother George in Helston. He never married.

John and Grace’s second son and eventual heir was John Charles Lanyon. He moved from Helston to Redruth an opened an ironmongers on Fore Street. In 1840 by mutual consent ‘JC Lanyon & Thomas Lanyon Ironmongers, Curriers & Saddlers’ in Helston was dissolved and John Charles concentrated on his business interests in Redruth. See more about him in the post – ‘John Charles Lanyon 1800-1868’.

Jacob Halls Lanyon 1833-1913

Jacob was the second son of Thomas Lanyon and Margery Trelevan. he emigrated to Victoria, Australia and married Hephzibah Basham in 1862. They had ten children:

Ada Rebecca 1863-1935
Mary Helen 1864-1952
Florence Jane 1867-1957
Harold Trelevan 1868-1938
Kate Trelevan 1870-1954
Arthur Martin 1872-1952
Amy 1873-1957
Jessie May 1876-1916
Athelstane Edward 1878-1965
Raymond Rivers 1881-1946

Ada Rebecca Lanyon and her husband Alfred Collis Morton

The lovely photo really brings them to life!