Soldiers who Survived
Maurice LYON
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Regiment
Rank / Number
Date of Birth
Residence
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Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Able-Seaman / AA1028
14th July 1887
1891 - Lawton Road, Rainhill
1901 - Birkenhead 1911 - Edenbridge, Kent |
Maurice was the second son of William and Jessie Eleanor Lyon of Rainhill. His elder brother, Kenneth served with the Royal Field Artillery. Maurice's chosen profession was architecture and he worked for Lanchester, Stewart and Rickard and the Liverpool School of Architecture both before and after the war.
Maurice initially served as an Able-Seaman in the Volunteer Reserve with the regimental number London AA/1028. His war-time service began in March 1915 at the training establishment H.M.S. President; then with the armoured cruiser H.M.S.Bacchante which provided naval gunfire in support of the Anzac landings at Gallipoli. After passing through the naval base “Europa 1” in Mudros, which was the jumping off point for Gallipoli, Maurice was commissioned as a probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Air Service in October 1915.
He attended the Balloon Section Training School at R.N.A.S. Roehampton where he was classed as an “Efficient officer; a careful and accurate spotter”. He ended his probationary period and was confirmed in the rank of Flight Sub-Lieutenant. He was posted to No.14 Kite Balloon Section in the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force. There he was a skilled artillery spotter working from the basket suspended beneath a hydrogen balloon alongside a colleague who was the commander. He spotted for the land batteries of the Royal Artillery and the gunboats on the River Tigris below.
Maurice was commended and 'Mentioned in Despatches' in 1917 and awarded the Distinguished Service Cross later in the same year.
He left Mesopotamia for a while and served over the British Channel before being posted to Malta as Temporary Acting Flight Commander in early 1918. In April 1918 the R.N.A.S. became part of the R.A.F. and Maurice served as a Captain and acting Major in the R.A.F. He then served with No.2 Balloon Base in Egypt until he was posted on the unemployment list on 3rd April 1919.
After the War Maurice worked for a while as an architect to the King of Egypt. He qualified for the 1914-15 Star; British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Maurice died at Kington-upon Thames in 1970.
Acknowledgement: Alan Greveson