Sir Lyonel Lyde, 1st Baronet (1724–91), also known as Lionel Lyde, was a tobacco merchant. Lyde was born in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, where his father served as mayor. The Lyde family had interests in the

tobacco plantation A plantation economy is an economy based on agricultural mass production, usually of a few commodity crops, grown on large farms worked by laborers or slaves. The properties are called plantations. Plantation economies rely on the export of cash ...

s of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and in

slave trading The history of slavery spans many cultures, nationalities, and Slavery and religion, religions from Ancient history, ancient times to the present day. Likewise, its victims have come from many different ethnicities and religious groups. The socia ...

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked wit ...

describes Lyde as a tobacco merchant and a director of the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

, but also indicates that the Lyde fortune came from the slave trade. Lyonel and his brother Samuel formed a partnership dealing with the family's business affairs in London. Lyonel was made a director of the Bank of England in the 1760s. The

American war of Independence The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

subsequently created difficult conditions for the tobacco trade.

Homes

Lyonel acquired a country estate at

Ayot St Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence is a small English village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, west of Welwyn. There are several other ''Ayots'' in the area, including Ayot Green and Ayot St Peter, where the census population of Ayot St Lawrence was included in ...

, which had belonged to his uncle and father-in-law Cornelius Lyde. He partially demolished the existing church there, and built a neo-classical church,

St Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...

's, with twin

mausolea A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or Chamber tomb, burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum ...

for himself and his wife Rachel. Lyde and his brother also leased houses in

Bedford Square Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the Borough of Camden in London, England. History Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square has had many distinguished residents, inclu ...

, a fashionable new development in London.

Baronetcy and legacy

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

was created for him in 1772. The baronetcy became extinct upon his death in 1791. The Ayot House estate passed to relatives, some of whom changed their name to Lyde. For example, Lionel Ames, who inherited the estate in 1806, assumed the surname and arms of Lyde.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyde, L 1724 births 1791 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Burials at Ayot St Lawrence People from Ayot St Lawrence Tobacco in the United Kingdom British merchants