The Lanyons

19th Dec 202213th Dec 2025

Chatherin and the Black Tudors

Having checked almost all the parish registers available for Cornwall I turned my attentions to Devon in my search for Lanyon ancestors. Naturally there are quite a few. Younger sons without a property to inherit may have headed for towns like Plymouth, Exeter or Barnstaple to make their fortunes. Others went to the great dockyards to join the navy or work as carpenters and shipwrights.

It was at Barnstaple that I came across William Lanyon and his family and discovered a part of English history that I hadn’t come across before. Black history in Tudor England.

William Lanyon was born about 1570 but I don’t know where or how he fits onto the Lanyon tree. He first appears in Barnstaple’s parish registers on 2 Feb 1596 when he married Marye Inckelldon. Marye was from an old established Devon family, the Incledons/Inckelldons of Braunton. They are listed in the Herald’s Visitations of Devon and the family can trace its roots to the 12th century. Sadly there was no trace of Marye on the Incledon tree.

In 1599 William and Marye baptised a son, Arthure at Bideford.

Bideford Parish Register – Arthure is the bottom entry.

On the 26 Oct 1600 they baptised a daughter, Philippa at Barnstaple and on the 8 Jan 1601 they buried her at the same parish.

William Lanyon was buried in 1614 and that’s all I could find about this little branch of the family.

I decided to go through the Barnstaple parish register page by page looking for any information about Arthure or Marye that may have been mis-transcribed and that’s when I stumbled on a whole new area of English history.

***On the 26 Feb 1605 William Lanyon brought Chatherin, a ‘nygor’ to be baptised***

My first instinct was outrage that William had been involved in the slave trade. My second was to do some research and find out more.

Like most people I had a rudimentary knowledge of the slave trade from history lessons at school and assumed that any black person in Britain at this time must automatically have been enslaved. Then I read Miranda Kaufman’s DPhil thesis ‘Africans in Britain: 1500-1640’ which gave me a whole new perspective. Dr. Miranda Kaufmann is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies and carried out a detailed study using parochial records, wills, and a whole host of records familiar to family historians.

In a nutshell her thesis stated that there were at least 350 documented Africans in England during the Tudor and early Stuart period (1500 – 1640) who mostly came from North and West Africa. None were regarded as being enslaved by law.

John Blanke the Black Trumpeter at Henry VIII’s Tournament – AnonymousUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

How did these Africans get to Britain?

The Spanish and Portuguese had a thriving slave trade and many Africans ended up in Europe serving their Spanish and Portuguese masters. Royals, nobles, diplomats and merchants may have had African slaves who travelled around Europe with them. Some made it as far as Britain.

After the defeat of the Spanish Armada Queen Elizabeth I allowed English privateers to capture Spanish ships and their cargoes. If the cargo included African slaves they were usually freed on reaching England. There must have been a fair number of freed Africans as Elizabeth I issued an order for their transportation out of the realm but this was never enacted.

The Deportation that never was

Jack Hawkins, one of the privateers, was England’s first slave trader. He started to trade in slaves from Guinea in 1562 and made four voyages before the Spanish decimated his ships and crew. That was the end of the slave trade in Britain until the 1640s. For most British merchants in the 16th and early 17th century Africa was viewed as a trading partner rather than a source of potential slaves. Fortunes could be made importing spices, hard woods, ivory and other commodities; and without overseas colonies there was no need for slaves. Some Africans were brought back to Britain to learn English to facilitate future trade.

Once in Britain Africans worked in a variety of jobs. Many were servants but working as a servant at this time was a respectable occupation. Some would have served as crew onboard merchant and navy ships. Some served as mercenaries in the army (Sir Pedro Negro served in Henry VIII’s army and was knighted in 1547.) Some were musicians (John Anthony of Stepney who was described as ‘Musician and Maurus’ in 1615. From the records that are available some appear to have had successful businesses (Stephen Driffield was a London needle maker).

The Africans intermarried and had children and appear to have been an accepted part of society. They are mentioned in wills and receive bequests from grateful employers, they also made bequests. William Offley’s will of 1600 stated “to ffrancis my black a moore I geve for her releife the some of tenne poundes and a gowne of twelve shillings the yarde“. (£10 was a huge sum, his other maids received 50 shillings.) Francis appears to have stayed in service to Lady Anne Bromley (formerly the wife of William Offley) and in 1625 she left a legacy of £10 to the poor of St Mary’s parish in Putney.

How did Chatherin end up in Barnstaple?

A search through the Barnstaple parish records shows that Chatherin was not the only black person in the town. Barnstaple is on the north coast of Devon and was a successful maritime trading town.

Barnstaple

Perhaps Chatherin arrived on a seized Spanish or Portuguese ship which docked in Devon?

The earliest entry for a baptism of a black person in the Barnstaple Parish Register is 18 Jun 1565, the baptism of Anthony a ‘blackemore’ in the household of Mr Nicholas Witchalse. In 1570 Nicholas left his black servant 5 shillings “Item I geve unto Anthonye my negarre v s so that he remaine withe my wife otherwise yf she mynde not to kepe him to give hym v markes and lette hym go.”

Clearly Anthony is not enslaved but an employee who will be compensated with the amount of 5 marks if Mrs Witchalse does not keep him on after her husband’s death.

The next entry in the Barnstaple register is a baptism of Grace on 6 Apr 1596 ‘a Neiger’ in Richard Dodderidge’s house. There are at least half a dozen more entries in the next decade.

10 Apr 1598 Baptism of Elizabeth in Mrs Ayer’s house
22 May 1605 Baptism of Mary daughter of Elysabeth in Mrs Ayer’s house
26 Feb 1606 Baptism of Chatherin in Mr Lanyon’s house
10 Nov 1606 Baptism of Elysabeth daughter of Susanna ‘a nygor’ – they appear to be independent of any household
8 Jul 1605 Burial of Mary daughter of ‘Elysabeth a negro servante to Mrs Ayer’
12 Dec 1607 Burial of Susanna – ‘ye childe of a negor’

We don’t know what happened to Chatherin. William Lanyon died in 1614, if he left a will it has been lost so we have no clues about his family or Chatherin. There are a couple of mentions of a ‘Katherine’ in other parish registers in that part of England and its tempting to think they could be her but that is pure speculation on my part.

4 Jan 1612 Christ Church Bristol – Burial of Katherine a ‘blacke negra’ she was ‘a servant at the horshed’ – this was the Horshed Tavern in Christmas Street
31 Jan 1635 St Andrew’s Plymouth – Baptism of Margery, daughter of Katherine a ‘blackmoore’ and Fredericke Daniel

If you want to find out more on this subject I recommend:

Black Tudors – Untold Stories

6th Dec 202213th Dec 2025

The Lanyons of St Germans

There was a tiny branch of Lanyons in St Germans in North Cornwall and so far I haven’t managed to link them to the main tree.

St. Germans

St German’s parish register lists the marriage of a John ‘Junior’ Lanyon to Rebecca Biddeck/Beddek in 1756. Presumably if John is called ‘junior’ then he is the son of John Lanyon ‘senior’ so I pencilled in a John Lanyon ‘senior’ born about 1700-1720. There is no record of a John Lanyon being baptised at St Germans so where did John Junior Lanyon come from?

There was also a marriage between John Lanyon and Sarah Roxely/Roscely/Roskelly in 1762. There was a burial of a Rebecca Lanyon in 1760 however this Rebecca is listed as being 75 years old when she was buried giving her a date of birth about 1685! Could she really be the Rebecca Biddeck who married John ‘junior’ in 1754? How old is John ‘junior’? There were no children recorded from the marriage of John and Rebecca.

John and Sarah (his second wife) had two sons:

John baptised 1763
William baptised 1765

Sarah Roxely died in 1795 age 66 and was buried at St Germans.

John Lanyon 1763

John married Joan Spiller at St Germans in 1788 and they had two daughters:

Sarah 1789-1875
Ann 1795-1796 died in infancy

Joan died in June 1796. Her husband John died in 1846 (50 years after his wife) aged 83 and was buried at St Germans.

William Lanyon 1765

There is no trace of a marriage for William and he died at St Germans in 1829.

Sarah Lanyon 1789

Sarah Lanyon married Robert Felloon/Falloon at St Germans in 1810 and they had one daughter Eliza Ann born in 1811. Robert was an assistant surgeon in the navy and came from Stoke Damerel in Devon.

Robert died before 1822 as Sarah married for a second time to Jacob Lane at Duloe in Cornwall in that year. Jacob was a victualler and Sarah ran a lodging house. Jacob died in 1860 at Plympton St Mary in Devon and Sarah died in 1875.

Where were John ‘junior’ and ‘senior’ born and why did they move to St Germans? Perhaps one day we’ll be able to answer that question.

6th Dec 202213th Dec 2025

Rocketman – Lost in Translation!

The Lanyons moved all over the world; the collapse of the Cornish mining industry led to thousands of cornishmen and their families emigrating to countries with mines in search of work. One of those countries was Chile.

In the 1850s John Lanyon arrived in Chile to work for an English mining company at the El Morado mine. He was quickly renamed Juan and married a local girl – Josefa Eloisa Villafana at Copiapo, Atacama on 10 July 1858.

So where did this John/Juan Lanyon come from?

I wasn’t the first person to ask this question, William Lamparter also discovered a family called Lanyon in Chile and wrote to them. Their responses (in Spanish) led to this post. Thankfully I had Google translate and have managed to piece together this story which may or may not be right! The letters are written by Juan Jose Lanyon b.1880, the son of John/Juan Lanyon.

The letters were written in 1948/49 and it quickly becomes apparent that both William and Juan have an obsession: William is obsessed by genealogy and Juan is obsessed with the ‘missile’ he has designed, el Meteoro!

William is trying his hardest to prise family history from Juan who is obsessed with finding someone to market and sell his missile design.

There is however a slight problem: unbeknown to Juan, William is a gay furniture retailer from North Carolina who has not the slightest interest in Juan’s invention and Juan has clearly designed a missile that will never work!

Juan writes a twelve page ‘epistle’ laying out the history of his invention and his attempts (all unsuccessful) to market it to the Americans and British.

Juan admits that “….some engineers and industrial institutions to whom I proposed to do it, considered it delusional.” The British consul was a bit kinder with his rejection “…both Mr Englehurst and Mr Latorre were greatly surprised by the apparatus as a whole and they believed that it was going to have some ‘resonance’ (I bet they did!)…..a few weeks later the secretary of the English consulate returned the documents to me stating that the consulate officer whom they had consulted did not consider it practical.“

Juan also mentions his other inventions – “I have also devised a warship that is invulnerable to torpedoes and becomes invisible to the enemy by sea (but not to planes).“

Juan explains that his idea for the missile came from watching fireworks at festivals when he was young. Perhaps the designers of the V2 rocket also gained inspiration from watching fireworks when they were young. The difference is that Juan’s missile was based on the Catherine Wheel firework!

Juan tells William he “…will surely win honours and awards in life and perhaps a statue” if he can get a North American company to build his missile!

And so the correspondence continues with William asking questions about Juan’s Lanyon forbears and Juan responding “I have vague memories that the parish where he was baptised was Madron…..now regarding my invention called Meteor….“

In January the following year he writes again and mentions Madron again and moves straight on “….regarding my invention called Meteor…“

At this point I think William realises that he will not get any further with this little branch of the Lanyon family and abandons the correspondence. I’ve picked up the baton and found out the following information.

John/Juan Lanyon was baptised at Illogan, Cornwall on 9 Nov 1833. His parents were William Lanyon and Sarah Jackson. John was the seventh of nine children. Four of them died in childhood.

Elizabeth 1821-1879 emigrated to Australia
Frances 1822-1823 died in infancy
William 1824- bef. 1861 married two children and died before 1861
Frances 1827-1895 emigrated to Australia
Joseph 1829-1840 died age 11
James 1831-1837 died age 7
John/Juan 1833-1912 emigrated to Chile
Richard 1836- no trace
Edward 1837-1839 died in infancy

John’s father William Lanyon died in 1839, he had consumption (TB). His death certificate states that he was aged 42 giving a date of birth about 1797. William was a miner and had married his wife at Illogan on 14 October 1820 and that was all I could find out. There was no trace of a baptism anywhere in Cornwall or Devon. As he died before the first census in 1841 I couldn’t see where he was born.

I found Sarah, his wife, on the 1841 census with four of his children: William, Frances, John and Richard. Sarah was listed as a widow and 15 year old William was a miner and probably supporting his whole family. I couldn’t find her on the 1851 census and suspect she has been mis-transcribed. By 1861 she was living with a niece and was called Sally Lanyon.

I found four of her children living together on the 1851 census: her daughter Frances age 22 was a mine labourer, sons John age 17 and Richard age 15 are copper miners. Her daughter Elizabeth, was married and now called Williams, was also living with Frances and her young children.

Shortly after the 1851 census both girls emigrated to Victoria, Australia. William was married and had two children but died before the 1861 census. I don’t know what happened to Richard but John headed to South America.

I turned to the early 1948 letters from Juan Jose Lanyon.

“My father kept many documents that he revoked the Edict of Nantes and the Huguenots were persecuted. Many of them fled to Germany. Among them my great grandfather. The last name was Lanion but he changed the ‘i’ to a Greek ‘y’ registering as Lanyon on arrival in England.“

That threw the cat among the pigeons! It was the first time there had ever been any mention of Lanyons from Germany. I couldn’t find any evidence that the Lanyons had ever lived in Germany in the 18th Century.

He went on to mention that his father’s brother Pablo had died in the Canadian war of Secession (I couldn’t find anything to support that) and another brother Federico died of yellow fever in Tocopilla where he was buried (I couldn’t find anything to support that either.)

He went on “…my father also told me that the Lanyon family by direct maternal descent was related to Jorge Stephenson the inventor of the locomotive.“

A little research revealed that Juan’s mother Sarah/Sally Jackson was the daughter of William Jackson and Frances Trevithick of Illogan who must have been related to Richard Trevithick from Illogan. Richard Trevithick did indeed invent a locomotive. Bingo!

Richard Trevithick – John Linnell, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The story about George Stephenson wasn’t exactly wrong but something had been lost in translation. I went back over what Juan’s son had written. Perhaps they weren’t Huguenots but just non-conformists, perhaps Germany was really St Germans in Cornwall?

Whilst we can’t say for sure where this little branch of Lanyons originated we can say that a tiny strand of Richard Trevithick’s DNA lives on in Chile!

2nd Dec 202226th Dec 2022

Henrietta’s Lectern

Henrietta was the eldest daughter of Henry and Isabella Lanyon (see the post Captain Cork!)

Henrietta was born in 1818, her brother Henry Scott a year later. He died aged 19 of a fever. Elizabeth Caroline was born in 1824 and died aged 14 of water on the brain. Charles was born in 1826 and died aged 16 of TB.

Henrietta, as the sole surviving child, set out to commemorate her parents by installing a beautiful stained glass window at St Allen church in their memory.

She also made a number of donations to Truro cathedral, including her father’s jewelled sword and gold snuff box. These items are now lost.

But her pièce de résistance was the lectern at Truro cathedral!

Postcard of Truro Cathedral showing the pulpit, Bishop’s throne and lectern.

The eagle was chosen to represent St John the Evangelist. Henrietta paid £550 for the lectern, a huge sum in those days and despite that they spelt her name incorrectly on the commemorative plaque! Harriett rather than Henrietta!

2nd Dec 202212th Dec 2025

Press Gang

Britain may have ruled the waves with its huge navy of sailing ships but the only way it could man all those ships was by impressment or the ‘press gang’. From the late 17th century until the early 19th century men between the ages of 18-55 could be forced to serve in the navy. Today we’d probably call it kidnapping!

Charles Joseph Staniland, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The navy preferred sea faring men so merchant seaman and fishermen were liable to be ‘pressed’ and this made coastal communities particularly vulnerable. Merchant seamen ashore (easily identifiable by their uniforms) would be asked to volunteer to join the navy, if they refused they could be seized or plied with drink and taken. Many seamen were ‘pressed’ whilst at sea. Their ships, usually homeward bound, would be stopped and the merchant seamen seized and placed on the navy ships.

Understandably the press gangs were very unpopular and fights often broke out when men were seized from their communities. Wives and children suffered from poverty and hardship when their husbands and fathers were seized. Having been seized it was difficult to return and deserters could face the death penalty.

The Neglected Tar – Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

At Trafalgar half of the navy’s 120,000 men were pressed into service.

Richard Lanyon of Marazion

This post is about Richard Lanyon of Marazion and what happened when the Press Gang arrived in town.

Richard was born in 1770 the youngest son of William Lanyon and Florence Michell. In 1794 he married his cousin Jane Lanyon (the daughter of James Lanyon and Catherine Brownfield) at St Hilary in Cornwall. (See St Hilary branch of the Lanyon tree.)

Richard was the blacksmith at Marazion. The town opposite St Michael’s Mount.

Marazion

Richard also served as a sergeant in the 2nd Regiment of Mount’s Bay Volunteers. Britain was at war with France and all over the country there were volunteer regiments prepared to defend the country in the event of an invasion.

Marazion : St Michael’s Mount Wall Painting by Lewis Clarke, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

On the 9 October 1804 the volunteers had been at a field day practising their fighting skills. The day went well and the officers bought the men a ‘few’ drinks to celebrate. That evening the press gang, led by Lieutenant Andrew Wills arrived in town in search of seamen who had deserted. Accompanied by the constable they went to a home expecting to find one of the deserters, instead they found Richard Lanyon with several others.

Richard was still wearing his uniform, sash and sword and several of the men with him still had on their volunteer uniforms. Lanyon in particular abused and insulted the lieutenant and his party and obstructed them in searching for the deserters. “Lanyon then ordered the drum to beat to arms and sent for ball cartridges.” A great riot ensued and the lieutenant and his people in their retreat to their boat were pelted with stones, fired at with ‘balls’ and some of them were assaulted.

A letter to Earl Spencer from J. Le Blanc explaining what had happened stated “Lanyon was somewhat intoxicated“!

Richard and his nephews James and Benjamin Rodda were arrested and tried before Mr Baron Graham at the summer assizes at Bodmin in 1805. They were convicted on an indictment charging them with “riotously and tumultuously assembling with many other persons armed at Marazion in Cornwall with intent to obstruct one Andrew Wills and others in the execution of a warrant to impress seamen…“

The trial was the transferred to the Court of the King’s Bench in Westminster, London.

The Roddas were sentenced to one year in prison and Lanyon was sentenced to two years. After a year he appealed for an early release. Mr Gryles, a gentleman of considerable property in Marazion, gave a reference and stated that Lanyon was of previous good character and always a ‘man of fair and upright character’, he also had a wife and several children who had suffered ‘the severest deprivations by means of the long confinement’ but the appeal fell on deaf ears and Richard served two years.

Richard eventually returned home and was still living in Marazion in 1841. He’s listed on the census living with his youngest daughter Julia. His wife Jane had died in 1820. Richard died shortly after the 1841 census.

Press gangs finally came to an end with the fall of Napoleon in 1815.

1st Dec 202212th Dec 2025

The Southwold Fire

In the 17th century if a house caught fire it could have devastating consequences for the whole town. Wooden buildings burned easily and without a fire brigade to fight the fire the flames could consume huge areas.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 is probably the most famous fire. It started in Pudding Lane and spread rapidly and destroyed over 13,000 homes, 87 churches and St Paul’s Cathedral in the medieval city. Miraculously the death toll was relatively small.

1666 Great Fire of London – Museum of London, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1659 the town of Southwold in Suffolk suffered a devastating fire. Over 450 buildings were lost and many families faced poverty and ruin. In the space of four hours the town was changed forever.

Southwold

The fire left many open spaces and the town didn’t rebuild on them. This created natural fire breaks and has resulted in the town having lots of green spaces today.

So why am I mentioning this on a Lanyon website? On the 2 October 1659 the church warden at St Michael Penkevil Church in Cornwall held a collection for the inhabitants of Southwold in Suffolk who had ‘suffered fire’. He collected £2. 8/- 1d.

The church warden was John Lanine, he was described in the Parochial History of Cornwall by Davies Gilbert as ‘a sea sand barge daily labourer’. He was the father of John Lanyon who is the subject of the post ‘Poisoned’.

The stone that commemorates the 300th anniversary of the fire.

1st Dec 202212th Dec 2025

Horse Stealing

James Lanyon was arrested for stealing a horse rug on 11 May 1873 and stealing a horse (presumably to go with the rug!) on 26 May 1873. The horse belonged to William Uren of the Devon and Cornwall Artillery Militia. James appeared at the midsummer assizes at Bodmin and was tried by Sir Charles Brune Graves Sawle.

James appears to have been caught ‘red handed’ as he plead guilty and was sentenced to six months hard labour at the house of correction at Bodmin. That meant the dreaded treadmill.

Bodmin Jail was pretty grim! Robert Linsdell from St. Andrews, Canada, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I found a second conviction for James in 1873. he was found guilty of stealing Fras. Osborne’s trousers at Camborne. He was described as crippled in his right hand and having an ‘enlargement in right breast’. Again he was sentenced to the treadmill.

In 1874 he was convicted of trespassing on the land of Gustavus Lambart Basset esq, in Illogan, in search of game. His description is as follows: Roman nose, eyes rather small, right forefinger small and useless. Again he was sentenced to the treadmill.

British Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

James Lanyon was aged just 19 at his conviction in 1873 (born in 1854) and a labourer. James is quite a common name in the Lanyon family but it didn’t take long to find him on the tree.

James was the son of William Lanyon and Mary Maddern.

James’ grandfather, William Lanyon 1767-1836, was transported to Australia!

James’ parents married in 1841 at St Buryan and by 1861 they were living in Lelant. By 1871 James was no longer living at home but I can’t find him on the census. He may have been avoiding the authorities!

After jail we lose track of James but he may be the James Lanyon aged 21 who sailed to Australia in 1875 and was described as a copper miner. He may have died, prison wasn’t conducive to good health and a long life.

1st Dec 202212th Dec 2025

Guilty

John Rodolphus Lanyon was born on the 20th September 1839 at Stithians in Cornwall. He was the son of Richard Lanyon and Mary Anne Lanyon (cousins).

John was also the half brother of Richard Sampson Lanyon, the father of Arthur Richard Lanyon who was found guilty of larceny of post office letters.

John was a solicitor in London. He married Emily Anne Hearle in 1867 and they had six children.

In 1893 John forged the will of Mary Wellington with the intention to commit fraud along with Richard Stevens an insurance agent. They were tried on the 7th and 8th of November 1893 and found guilty. Both men were sentenced to seven years penal servitude.

John was described as 5’4″, dark complexion, brown hair and blue eyes, with a cast in each eye. He’s also described as being born in 1841 which is wrong, he was born in 1839.

He was released from prison in 1900.

1st Dec 202212th Dec 2025

Stole a Letter

Arthur Richard Lanyon was born in Plymouth in 1861, he was the son of Richard Sampson Lanyon 1828-1903 and Eliza Jane Mare.

Richard was a gunpowder manufacturer (like his father) and a merchant in Plymouth. Arthur was one of nine children. They were a very respectable family. When Arthur left school age 16 he joined the post office as a clerk and worked in Exeter. The post office soon noticed that letters were going missing so they ‘posted’ a letter containing three half sovereigns which were marked and they waited to see what would happen.

When the letter went missing Arthur was searched and the marked sovereigns recovered. Arthur was charged with larceny of postal letters, found guilty on the 29 October 1881 and sentenced to five years penal servitude. Appeals for leniency due to his age were ignored. His parents offered to send him to Canada instead, the appeal fell on deaf ears. Arthur was sent to Pentonville Prison.

Newspaper report of his conviction from his prison file.

On entering prison Arthur was a healthy young man and his prison medical record notes nothing untoward.

On release his parents sent him to Canada. It was a chance of a new life. Arthur died in Vancouver on 5 August 1888 at the age of 27.

30th Nov 202211th Dec 2025

The Knocklong Ambush

This post is about the Irish War of Independence 1919-1921.

This story starts on 21 January 1919 at Soloheadbeg when the Third Tipperary Brigade of the IRA ambushed and murdered two policemen of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) who were escorting a consignment of explosives. The four men who carried out the ambush were Sean Hogan, Daniel Breen, Sean Tracy and Seamus Robinson, known as the ‘Big Four’.

Following the attack they went on the run and spent months moving around and often sleeping rough.

Sean Hogan was the ‘most wanted man in Ireland’ and in May 1919 he was finally captured and would almost certainly have faced the death penalty.

Sean Hogan – Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hogan was to be transferred by train to Cork. A member of the RIC, who was also an IRA informant, hatched a plan to rescue him from the train.

The ambush took place at the Knocklong station in Limerick on 13 May 1919. It was the day of Hogan’s 18th birthday.

Knocklong

Hogan was escorted by four armed RIC officers (Michael Enright, Peter Wallace, John Thomas and Jeremiah Ring). The train was attacked by a group of armed men as it passed through the station. Sean Tracy and Ned O’Brien entered the car carrying Hogan and they opened fire on the police officers. Constable Michael Enright was killed immediately. A hand to hand fight then broke out on the train and more IRA volunteers joined in. Sgt Peter Wallace was shot and later died of his injuries.

Hogan was freed and he and the volunteers escaped, although some were injured. David O’Byrne, the local butcher, used his meat cleaver to break open Hogan’s handcuffs. The wounded were taken to Shanahan’s farm at Glenlora where they were treated. A huge manhunt began but Hogan and most of the attackers escaped.

Constable John Thomas was awarded the Constabulary Medal ‘for exceptional courage’. A year later he was abducted by the IRA to prevent him giving evidence at the trial of one of the Knocklong gang. Fortunately he escaped.

The IRA informant was Constable Jeremiah Ring.

Eventually three men were charged with the murders: Edward Foley, Paddy Maher and Michael Murphy. Edward Foley had taken part in the ambush but Maher and Murphy were innocent men.

Foley and Maher in prison – Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

There were two civilian trials where they were found not guilty. The authorities then decided on a third military trial and the men were court-martialled.

All three were found guilty. Foley and Maher were sentenced to death and Murphy imprisoned. Maher and Murphy were completely innocent of the crime.

Foley and Maher (not Mayer as stated in the newspaper) sentenced to death

Edward Foley and Paddy Maher were hanged at Mountjoy prison on 7 Jun 1921 and were buried within the prison grounds. They were part of the ‘Forgotten Ten’ who were buried there after being executed during the uprising. Their bodies were eventually moved and they were given a state funeral on 14 October 2001.

Michael Murphy was imprisoned and freed after the truce. He had been a private in the First Battalion Irish Guards and served in France. His army number was 10236. The lawyer for the defence described him as “a man of the most distinguished service with the Irish Guards in France.“

So why is this post of any interest to the Lanyon family?

Lieutenant Thomas Smythe Lanyon M.C. was the Intelligence Officer for the Fermoy Brigade in 1919. He was called to attend the court-martial but doesn’t appear to have actually given evidence.

Thomas was in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry during the First World War and was awarded a Military Cross:-

“For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty during a hostile raid on our trenches. Throughout an intense bombardment of all kinds of projectile he moved about the line, encouraging the men and setting a splendid example to all ranks. At one moment he was buried by a trench mortar on his way to visit one of his posts; and finding, on reaching it, that the whole garrison had become casualties, he promptly made a block with fresh men and repulsed the raiders with rifle and machine-gun fire. His fearlessness and energy were most marked.”
Shropshire Light Infantry Facebook Page

Where does Thomas fit on the tree?

Thomas married Vera Wrangle in 1922 and I don’t know what happened to him afterwards. It seems strange that I can discover so much and then hit a brick wall!

The military files relating to this were classified as Secret and sealed for 100 years and were only opened this year. (Source- NA WO/35/105)