The Lyte Family

Agnes Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 22 October 1871, in St George Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, England

Baptism:11 December 1871, at All Saints', Margaret Street, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Census:
1881: 41 Athelstone Road, Margate, Kent

Sources:

Alice Anne Maxwell (Lyte) Hulton

Birth: 31 January 1852, in Brixham, Devon, England

Baptism: 22 February 1852, in Lower Brixham, Devon, England

Father: Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Eleanora Julia (Bolton) Lyte

Married: Francis Nevile Hulton on 20 June 1900 in Kensington district, London, England

Census:
1881: Oak Hill Road Cosford, Wandsworth, Surrey

Sources:

Ann Maria Lyte

Birth: January 1821, in Sway (near Lyming­ton), Hampshire, England

Father: Henry Francis Lyte

Mother: Anne (Maxwell) Lyte

Death: February 1821

Notes: Ann's father, Rev. Henry Francis Lyte, wrote this poem in her memory:
  A Recall to my Child A.M.
                      JUNE 1, 1839
COME back, come back, my blessed child !
Come home, my own light-hearted !
Papa, they say, has rarely smiled
Since from his side you parted.—
That face which beams like opening day,
That laugh which never wearies ;
Why do they linger still away ?
Come home, dear girl, and cheer us !

I saunter sadly through my hours,—
They want one voice to mend them ;
A spell is oʼer my drooping flowers,—
They pine for you to tend them.
The fairest now look all amiss,
Too dingy, or too flaunting.—
And are they changed ? ah, no, ʼt is this-
The sweetest flower is wanting !

Young spring at last, despite the shocks
Of winterʼs lingering bluster,
Has flung her mantle oʼer our rocks,
And clothed our hills with lustre.
Music, and balm, and beauty play
In all around and oʼer us.
ʻCome, truant, come,ʼ all seem to say :
ʻCome, join our happy chorus.ʼ

ʻCome,ʼ cries the cowslipʼs fading bell ;
ʻCome,ʼ cries the ripening cherry ;
ʻCome, ere the bloom in every dell
Is turnʼd to pod and berry ;
Come, ere the cuckoo change his tone ;
Ere from her nest the linnet,
With all her little ones, is flown,
And youʼve neʼer peepʼd within it.ʼ

The sun sets not so brightly now,
Across the golden water,
As when it gleam'd upon the brow
Of my loved absent daughter.
Home has no more its cheerful tone,
Its healthful hue about it :—
When from the lyre one chord is gone
The rest sound ill without it.

Come back ; the cityʼs flaunting crowd,
The concertʼs formal measures,
The din of fashion, false and loud,
Are not like natureʼs pleasures.—
These, these alone, the heart can touch,
Are simplest and sincerest.
You have an eye, a soul for such :
Come home, and share them, dearest.

Come, at my side, again to walk
Beside the freshʼning billow.
Come, where the waves all night will talk
To you upon your pillow.
Come, where the skiff on sunny seas
For you is lightly riding ;
Where health and song in every breeze
My absent girl come chiding.

Come back ! we all from your glad eyes
New light and life will borrow.
ʼT is not papa alone that sighs,
ʻWhy leave me to my sorrow?ʼ
Each, all, in your loved converse miss
Some wonted source of pleasure,
From look, or tone, or smile, or kiss :
Come home, come home, my treasure!

Sources:

Anna Maria Maxwell (Lyte) Hogg

Birth: 20 April 1822, at "Bramble Torr", Dittisham, Devon, England

Baptised: 23 April 1822, in Dittisham, Devon, England

Father: Henry Francis Lyte

Mother: Anne (Maxwell) Lyte

Married: John Roughton Hogg on 24 June 1846 in Lower Brixham, Devon, England

Children:
 Death: 30 July 1889, at Berry Head House, Brixham, Devon, England, aged 67
The Times, Monday, Aug 05, 1889; pg. 1; Issue 32769; col A
Death Notice
On Tuesday, 30 July after a very short illness
in her 68th year at Berry Head House, Brixham, Devon
Anna Maria Maxwell, widow of the late
Rev. John Roughton HOGG
and daughter of the late Rev. Henry Francis LYTE

Buried: 2 August 1889, in Collaton St Mary churchyard, Devon, England

Will: proved 12 October 1889 (Prin. Reg., 832, 89), by Henrietta Frances Maxwell Hogg and Anna Maria Maxwell Hogg, both of Berry Head, Brixham, Devon, the daughters, two of the Executrixes.

Census:
1861: Tormoham, Torquay, Devon; aged 38 b. Dittisham, Devon (RG9/1412 F15, p24). Anna is living with her husband, five children and 13 staff and servants (Governess, Butler, Housekeeper, Servant, Nurse, Ladiesmaid, Parlourmaid, Cook, Kitchenmaid, Youngladies maid, Housemaid, Nurserymaid, Coachman)
1871: "Sorrento", Lower Warberry Rd., Tormoham, Torquay, Devon; aged 48, a widow and Landowner and farmer of 460 acres, employing 13 men, 3 women and 3 boys. Anna is living with two children, and 9 staff and servants.

Sources:

Arthur Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 10 April 1881, in St George Hanover Square district, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 5 May 1881, at All Saints, Margaret Street, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Education: Eton College

Married (1st): Agnes E. R. Gore-Browne in 1919 in St George Hanover Square district, London, England

Married (2nd): Ismay Nesta Pryce on 16 July 1925 in Forden district, Montgomeryshire, Wales. Ismay was the daughter of Edward Stisted Mostyn Pryce and Henrietta Mary Beauclerk.

Sources:

Beatrice Katharine Maxwell (Lyte, Lewall) Tinnie

Birth: 23 June 1858, in Bagnères de Bigorre, France

Father: Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Eleanor Julia (Bolton) Lyte
 
Married (1st): Charles Laird James Albert Lewall on 20 March 1890, in St Mary's Priory, Chelsea, London. Charles was of Buenos Ayres, Argentine Republic. He was born in June 1840 in Schloss Oberwerth, near Coblentz, Rhenish Prussia, the son of John Charles Lewall, Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Jena 1838 and Sarah Mary Bolton.

Children:
Married (2nd): _____ Tinnie

Buried: in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Census:
1881: Oak Hill Road Cosford, Wandsworth, Surrey

Sources:

Cecil Henry Maxwell Lyte

Cecil Henry Maxwell Lyte signature
Signature of Cecil Henry Maxwell Lyte
Birth: 26 August 1855, in Bagnères de Bigorre, France

Father: Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Eleanor Julia (Bolton) Lyte

Married: Mary Lucy Agnes Stourton on 4 October 1894, in St Mary's Catholic Church, Chelsea, London, England. Mary was the daughter of Alfred Joseph Stourton, 24th Baron Segrave and Mary Margaret Corbally. Mary died on 11 October 1950.

Occupation: Secretary of a Bank (1881)

Death: 26 January 1926

Census & Addresses:
1881: Oak Hill Road Cosford, Wandsworth, Surrey
1897: 7 Cyde Street, Redcliffe Square, London (Visitation of England and Wales Vol 5  p156 pub 1897)
1907:  1 Portman Mansions, York Place, London (The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: The Anne of Exeter Volume p553 pub 1907)

Sources:

Edith Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 30 October 1872, in St George Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 30 November 1872, at All Saints, Margaret Street, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Notes: Edith was evidently a friend of the author Augustus Hare, who left her a framed drawing of Civita Castellana in his will, as well as the copyright of his books on Sussex and Shropshire. Augustus also left Edith's mother, Frances two framed views of St Peters and Torre dei Schiavi by Arthur Strutt.

Census:
1881: 41 Athelstone Road, Margate, Kent

Sources:

Edward Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 22 August 1844, in Gothenburg, Sweden

Baptism: 30 December 1844, in the English Church of the British Legation (now St. Albans Church), Copenhagen, Denmark

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Occupation: Edward was an army officer. Hart's Annual Army List (1863) p335-6 lists Edward in the 61st (The South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot, as an ensign with 1 year of service (ensign as of 1 April 1862). He later became Captain and Adjutant of the 7th Dragoon Guards

Bulletins and Other State Intelligence p686 (1862)
61st Foot, Edward Maxwell Lyte, Gent., to be
Ensign, by purchase, vice James Alexander
Rogerson, who retires. Dated 1st April 1862

Death: 3 March 1880, in Kensington district, Middlesex, England, aged 36. The death record uses the surname Maxwell-Lyte.

Buried: 8 March 1880, in Brompton Cemetery, London, England

Will: None. Administration granted in the Principal Registry 13 May 1880, to Emily Gooch of 41 Courtfield Gardens, London, the mother and only next of kin.

Sources:

Eleanora Gertrude Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 11 February 1857, in Bagnères de Bigorre, France

Father: Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Eleanora Julia (Bolton) Lyte

Death: 11 December 1864, in Bagnères de Bigorre, France

Sources:

Ellen Maxwell (Lyte) Hoey

Birth: 22 February 1848, in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

Baptised: in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Married: Clement James Hoey on 4 June 1869, in Leamington, Warwickshire, England

Children: Sources:

Emily Anne Maxwell (Lyte) Steward

Birth: 1841/2, in Gothenburg, Sweden

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn Popplestone

Married: Thomas Burton Steward on 4 March 1862, in St. Leonard's, Sussex, England. (The place of St Leonards, Sussex, is given in the Visitation. St Leonards is in Hastings district, while the marriage was registered in Hailsham district, Sussex). Thomas, of  Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, was the son of Arthur Steward of Great Yarmouth, and Mary Burton. After Emily's death, Thomas married Anna Brown.

Death: 29 April 1867, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, aged 25

Buried: at Bradwell, Suffolk, England

Sources:

Ethel Frances Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 19 June 1855, at Bradwell House, Bradwell, Suffolk, England

Baptised: 25 November 1855, at Bradwell, Suffolk, England

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Death: 7 December 1855 in Mutford district, Suffolk, England

Buried: 14 December 1855, in Saint Nicholas Churchyard, Church Walk, Bradwell, Suffolk, England

Sources:
Farnham Maxwell Lyte
Farnham Maxwell Lyte
image from www.cybermuse.gallery.ca
Farnham Maxwell Lyte
Farnham Maxwell Lyte
image from www.cybermuse.beaux-arts.ca
Maxwell Lyte, Farnham - Cascade d'Enfer a Luchon, Pyrenees
Cascade d'Enfer a Luchon, Pyrenees photographed by Farnham Maxwell Lyte
image for sale at www.vintageworks.com
Maxwell Lyte, Farnham - Pont d'Orthez, Basses-Pyrenees
Pont d'Orthez, Basses-Pyrenees photographed by Farnham Maxwell Lyte
image for sale at www.vintageworks.com
Farnham Maxwell Lyte signature
Signature of Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 10 January 1828, in Brixham, Devon, England

Baptism: at Lower Brixham, Devon, England

Father: Henry Francis Lyte

Mother: Anne (Maxwell) Lyte

Education: Christs College, Cambridge, which he entered in 1846, obtaining a B.A. in 1851 and an M.A. in 1863.
Alumni Cantabrigiensis has:
Adm. pens. at CHRIST'S, May 6, 1846. S. of the Rev. Henry Francis [B.A., Dublin, 1814, author of "Abide with me," for whom see D.N.B.].
B. Jan. 10, 1827, at Brixham, Devon.
Matric. Michs. 1846; B.A. 1851; M.A. 1863.
Associate, Society of Civil Engineers; Fellow of the Chemical Society.
One of the early workers in photography, 1854-70, inventing the (so-called) "honey" process; originated the borax and phosphate toning-baths still in use, and introduced the use of iodide. Hon. Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
Member of the Fellowship of the Order of Merit of Frederick Francis, Grand-Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
Married, 1851, Eleanor Julia, dau. of Cornelius H. Bolton, of Faithlegg, Co. Waterford, and had issue.
Resided in France, because of ill-health, 1853-80, being well known at Baguères in the Pyrenees, where he engaged in meteorological observations.
Bought a salt-mine which was unsuccessful.
Died suddenly, Mar. 4, 1906, aged 79; buried at St Mary Boltons, Kensington. (Peile, II. 496; The Times, Mar. 6, 1906.)  "

Married: Eleanora Julia Bolton on 6 February 1851, in Norton Fitzwarren, Somerset, England. Eleanora was born on 11 June 1828, in Trull, Somerset, the daughter of Cornelius Henry Bolton, of Faithlegg, county Waterford, Ireland, and Alicia Sutton. Eleanora died on 7 November 1896 in Kensington district, London, aged 68, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

Children:
 Occupation: Mining Engineer

Death: 4 March 1906, in Kensington district, London, England, aged 78
 
Buried: St Mary Boltons, Kensington, London, England

Notes: Although a mining engineer by trade, Farnham Maxwell Lyte is best remembered as a pioneer of several photographic techniques. He lived in France from 1852 until 1880, for health reasons, moving first to Luz and later to the southwestern town of Pau, where he encountered the group of photographers, including John Stewart and Jean-Jacques Heilmann, who worked in that area. All his known views are of the Pyrenees.

Lyte was responsible for several technical innovations, including a technique for printing skies, improved methods of working with collodion and waxed paper, and a process he called metagelatin, which was adopted by several of his peers. He helped to found the Société française de photographie and was a member of the Photographic Society of Great Britain. Lyte exhibited frequently in the 1850s-60s, receiving several international medals and awards for his work.

Census & Addresses:
1881: Oak Hill Road Cosford, Wandsworth, Surrey
1897: 60 Finborough Road, South Kensington, London (Visitation of England and Wales Vol 5  p156 pub 1897)

Sources:

Henry Francis Lyte

Henry Francis Lyte
Henry Francis Lyte
image from www.cyberhymnal.org
Henry Francis Lyte
Henry Francis Lyte
image from www.cyberhymnal.org
Henry Francis Lyte signature
Signature of Henry Francis Lyte
Title: Reverend

Birth: 1 June 1793, at The Cottage, Ednam, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Baptised: 13 June 1793, at Ednam, Roxburghshire, Scotland

Father: Thomas Lyte

Mother: Anna Maria (Oliver) Lyte

Education: Portora Royal School, Eniskillen, Ireland, then Trinity College Dublin which he entered in 1811. Henry graduated BA in February 1814, and later M.A. in 1830. He was admitted ad eundem at Oxford on 10 June 1834.

Married: Anne Maxwell on 21 January 1818, at Queen Square Chapel, Bath, Somerset, England. Henry was curate at Marazion in Cornwall when he met Anne Maxwell, who was staying there with a maiden aunt due to her ill health.

Children: Occupation: Clergyman. Henry was ordained deacon on 18 December 1814. His first cur­acy was in Taghmo in county Wexford, where he stayed for eighteen months, but his frequent attacks of asthma led him to resign this post. He then travelled through France on horseback from September 1816 to summer 1817. After his return to England, Lyte was moved from one curacy to another before eventually being given a position at the chapel of ease in Marazion in Cornwall, on 24 June 1817. In January 1820 the family left for Sway (near Lymington), Hampshire, to live in temporary retirement. Early in 1822 the family moved to Dittisham, Devon. Henry held no full-time position at Dittisham, but while there he was asked to do temporary duty at the chapel of ease at Lower Brixham. In May 1822 he was invited by the trustees of the chapel to remain at Brixham permanently. He refused, and went instead to Charleton in Devonshire where he became curate on 6 July 1822. He stayed for almost two years, before moving back to Brixham in April 1824. Lyte began by ministering in two churches, St Mary's Church, Brixham, and the new district church of Lower Brixham. He joined the schools committee, and by June 1824 had become its chairman. He took a keen interest in the development of education, and in addition to conducting annual school examinations he established the first Sunday school in the Torbay area; he also undertook to teach in his recently established Sailors' Sunday School. Six-foot-two tall, he was a Pied Piper to the local children, of whom he mustered more than 700 in his Sunday School, which boasted a staff of 80. On 13 July 1826, Henry was instituted as the first incumbent of All Saints Church in Lower Brixham, a post he held for the remaining 23 years of his life, and in which he was followed by his son-in-law Rev. John R. Hogg

Henry is best remembered as the author of the hymns Praise my soul the King of Heaven and most famously Abide With Me the first verse of which is:
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, O abide with me.
The hymn is traditionally sung at Wembley before the FA Cup final, originally at the suggestion of King George V, whose favourite hymn it was reputed to be. Henry also wrote a number of poems, some of which were published as Miscellaneous Poems by Henry Francis Lyte, Poems: Chiefly Religious and The Poetical Works of the Rev. H. F. Lyte

Death: 20 November 1847, at the Hotel de la Pension Anglaise, Nice, France

Buried: 22 November 1847, in the English Cemetery of the Holy Trinity Church, in Nice, France.
A white cross, standing on a flat slab, marks his grave and the memorial reads:-
Here rests the mortal remains of the
Revd. Henry Francis Lyte, MA
for 23 years Minister of Lower Brixham
in the County of Devon.
Born on the 1st June, 1793,
died on the 20th November, 1847.
"God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Gal. 6-14.

A memorial tablet to Henry Frances Lyte was placed in Westminster Abbey in 1947.

Berry Head House
Berry Head House in Brixham, Devon
Notes: After their marriage, Henry and Anne lived at Nevada House, Fore Street, in Marazion. In Dittisham the family lived in Bramble Torr, a house situated on a branch of the river Dart about a mile from Dittisham. In Brixham, Anne and Henry lived initially in the town, in Burton House on Burton Street. The house backed against cliffs and fronting directly onto the street. This was hardly ideal for a growing family, and in 1834 they moved out of town to Berry Head House, a former military hospital, where there was vastly more space. The legend is that Berry Head House was simply given to Henry Lyte by King William IV supposedly because he was so impressed with arrangements made by Reverend Lyte for a Royal visit to commemorate the arrival of William Prince of Orange at Brixham in 1688. A more prosaic account is that Henry leased Berry Head from its builder, Roger Hyne who built it as a military hospital for thye Board of Ordinance in 1809, and had leased it back from the board in 1823 afer the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars. Certainly Henry owned the house rather than leasing it - it remained in his family until 1949. It was during the Rev. Lyte's tenure that his gardeners uncovered human remains in the area west of the building known as the Dell, now a lawn. Henry Francis being a man of the cloth immediately instructed his gardeners to intern the remains and arranged for the erection of a small memorial bearing the inscription 'To the unknown dead'. Likely the remains were related to the house's former use as a hospital. The Lyte household grew to eleven staff plus a tutor and curate, many of whom lived in. With a stipend of only £140 per year, Henry Francis Lyte’s own private income was essential to subsidise this high standard of living, as well as his journeys to continental Europe. One of the ways the vicar supplemented his income was by educating "the wayward sons of nobility" alongside his own children. One of these wayward sons was later to become Lord Salisbury, three times Prime Minister in the Victorian era.

During the 1840s Lyte spent increasing periods abroad. First he holidayed in Norway in the summer of 1842. He then decided to spend the winter of 1844 in Naples, but his progress was hampered by illness, and he spent consider­ably more time abroad than he had wished; finally he returned to England in May 1846. By August he was off to the continent again, intending to winter in Rome; he ended up staying until May 1847, and returned to England in June, in very poor health. He spent the summer at Berry Head, where he wrote Abide with Me. He left for the continent again on 1 October 1847. By 5  November he had reached Nice, where he was seized by influenza and dysentery, and he died there on 20 November.

Henry was an ardent and scholarly collector of antique religious books: the library of 4,500 books he had amassed with his son's help took 16 days to auction in London after his death, its sale catalogue, marked with the price obtained for each item, is still to be seen in the National Library today.

An excellent biography of Henry Francis  Lyte written by Evelyne Miller can be found at http://homepage.eircom.net/~taghmon/histsoc/vol1/3lyte/3lyte.htm, and further biographical details can be found at http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poet/396.html and in an entry on Henry in the Dictionary of National Biography.

Will: Dated 22 April 1847, proved (P.C.C., 328, 48) 27 April 1848, by Anne Lyte, the relict, the sole Executrix

Arms:
Arms: Gules, a chevron between three swans argent.
Crest: On a trumpet or, a swan, wings expanded, argent.
Motto: Laetitia et spe immortalitatis

Sources:

Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 29 September 1818, at Nevada House, Fore Street, Marazion, Cornwall, England

Baptised: at St. Hilary, Marazion, Cornwall, England

Father: Henry Francis Lyte

Mother: Anne (Maxwell) Lyte

Education: Christ Church College, Oxford. Henry matriculated on 20 October 1836, aged 18.

Married: Emily Prettyjohn Popplestone on 13 June 1843 at the English Church of the British Legation (now St. Albans Church), Copenhagen, Denmark. Emily is recorded as a spinster of Loddiswell, Devon. Emily was the daughter of Edward Prettyjohn, of Ganston, Devon, and Susan, the daughter of John Popplestone. She was born on 17 February 1822, and baptised at Loddiswell, Devon. After Henry's death, Emily married Watson Gooch, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on 22 September 1858.

Children:
 Death: 3 June 1856, in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, aged 37. Henry left Emily with an income of £500 per annum. His obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine (July 1856) reads:
June 3
At Great Yarmouth, aged 37, Henry William Maxwell Lyte, esq., eldest son of the late Rev. H. J. Lyte, Birsham, Devon; and of his wife, Anna, dau. of the Rev. H. Maxwell, D.D., Falkland, county Monaghan.

Burial: 7 June 1856, in Saint Nicholas Churchyard, Church Walk, Bradwell, Suffolk, England, aged 38

Will: dated 26 January 1856, proved (P.C.C., 484, 56) 23 June 1856, by Emily Lyte, the relict, and Charles Henry Mundy, the Executors

Notes: The tale of Henry's scandalous romance with Emily Popplestone and the resultant sad family rift is well told in the March 2006 newsletter of St Albans Church in Copenhagen. The article, based on information provided by B.E.N. Lyte of Caythorpe, Lincolnshire, reads in part: 
"Returning to Brixham in about 1840, his parents became concerned that Henry William had formed an attachment to a local girl, Emily Prettyjohn Poppelstone. For those of us used to life in the 21st century, 19th century conventions are hard to appreciate, and especially the rigid social barriers that then existed between ‘gentlefolk’ and the ‘sons and daughters of toil’. Emily was said to be the daughter of a turnpike keeper (at the lower end of the social scale), and thus was a most unsuitable companion for the eldest son of an aristocratic family. Emily’s family were doubtless equally worried for their daughter.

There was unhappiness and resistance, until in the end love took its own course, and in December 1842 Emily gave birth to a son, named Henry Maxwell Lyte. This caused enormous shock and scandal, and led to a break between Henry William and his parents. The departure of the couple to Copenhagen was discretely arranged" and the couple were married there in June 1843. Henry and Emily remained in Copenhagen for the next few years, but returned to his parents' house at Berry Head House in Brixham in early 1847, no doubt related to the illness of Henry's father, Henry Francis Lyte, who died of tuberculosis later that year, after which Henry and his family returned permanently to England.

Sources:

Henry Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 1841

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn Popplestone

Buried: 27 June 1844, in St Petri, Copenhagen, Denmark, aged 2½.

Sources:

Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Ex-libris stamp of Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte
Ex libris stamp of Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte, showing his coat of arms
Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte signature
Signature of Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte
Title: Sir Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte, KCB

Birth: 29 May 1848, at 1 Hyde Park Place, London, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 22 July 1848 in St John's, Southwick Crescent, London, Middlesex, England

Father: John Walker Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Jeannette (Craigie) Lyte

Education: After preparatory school at Geddington, Northamptonshire, Henry was educated at Eton College (1861-1866) and Christ Church, Oxford (1866-1870), where he matriculated on 23 May 1866, aged 17, and graduated with a B.A. in the school of law and modern history in 1870, and an M.A. in 1873. In 1929 he received the honorary degree of LittD from the University of Oxford.

Married: Frances Fownes Somerville on 3 January 1871, in Wells district, Somerset, England. Frances was born on 17 July 1847, in Wells, Somerset,  the daughter of James Curtis Somerville, of Dinder House, Somerset, and Emily Periam Hood, the daughter of Sir Alexander Wood, Bart, of Butleigh Wooton, Somerset, M.P. Frances was baptised at Dinder on 21 August 1847.

Children:
Occupation: Historian.
Henry was appointed Deputy Keeper of Public Records 1886 and a Royal Commissioner for Historic Manuscripts a month later. He was also a noted author, his works including the History of Eton College published in 1875 and A History of the University of Oxford from the earliest times until 1530 published in 1886, and Dunster and its Lords

Death: 28 October 1940, at Dinder House, Somerset, England

Buried: Dinder, Somerset, England

Notes:
Henry is found in Who's Who 1898 edited by Douglas Sladen (published by Adam & Charles Black, Soho Square, London, 1898) page 534:
LYTE, Sir Henry Churchill Maxwell-, K.C.B.; cr. 1897 ; M.A., F.S.A.; Deputy Keeper of the Records and Historical MSS. Commissioner, 1886 ; b. London, 29 May 1848; s. of J. W. Maxwell-Lyte, Berry Head, Devon; g.s. of Rev. H. F. Lyte, author of Abide with Me ; m. Frances Fownes, d. of J. C. Somerville, J.P., D.L., Dinder House, Somerset, 1871.  Educ.: Eton ; Christ Church, Oxford.  Inspector for Historical MSS. Commission for several years.  Publications: History of Eton College, 1877, 1889; History of the University of Oxford, 1886; Dunster and its Lords, 1882 ; various Reports for Historical MSS. Commission; editor of various publications issued by Public Record Office.  Recreations: travel, photography.  Address: 3 Portman Square, W.; Public Record Office, Chancery Lane, W.C.  Club: Athenaeum.

A more extensive entry is found in Men and Women of the Time: A Dictionary of Contemporaries edited by Victor Plarr (published by George Routledge and Sons, Ludgate Hill, London, 1899) page 685:
LYTE, Sir Henry Churchill Maxwell, K.C.B., F.S.A., Deputy-Keeper of the Records, Royal Commissioner on Historical MSS, is the son of the late J. W. Maxwell Lyte, Esq., grandson of the Rev. H. F. Lyte, the well-known hymnwriter, and the representative of the families of Lyte of Lytescary, co. Somerset, and Maxwell of Falkland, co. Monaghan.  He was born in London on May 29, 1848, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took honours in Law and History and became M.A.  In 1875 he published a “History of Eton College,” of which a new edition, revised and enlarged, was issued in 1889.  In 1880 and 1881 he contributed to the Archeological Journal a series of papers on “Dunster and its Lords,” which was afterwards reprinted with additions as a volume for private circulation.  This was followed, in 1886, by a “History of the University of Oxford from the earliest times to the year 1530.”  In the meanwhile Mr Maxwell Lyte had been acting for some years as an Inspector for the Historical Manuscripts Commission.  Reports by him on the Collections of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, the Duke of Rutland, and upwards of twenty other owners, have at different times been presented to Parliament.  In January 1886 he was appointed Deputy-Keeper of the Records, in succession to the late Sir William Hardy, and as such was entrusted with the direction of all official publications and arrangements connected with the national archives, upon which he presents an annual report.  In the following month he was nominated one of the Royal Commissioners on Historical Manuscripts.  He was made C.B. in January 1889, and a K.C.B. in 1897.  He married, in 1871, Frances Fownes, daughter of the late J. C. Somerville, Esq., of Dinder, co. Somerset. Addresses : 3 Portman Square, W. ; and Athenæum.

Entry in Walford's County Families of the UK, 1899 reads:
Lyte, Sir Henry Churchill Maxwell, KCB Cr. 1897
Only son the the late John Walker Maxwell Lyte, esq, of Berry Head, Devon, by Emily, Jeannetta, dau, of Col John Craigle?, of the E.I.C.S. ;
b. 1849 ; m. 1871 Frances Fownes, dau. of James Curtis Somervile, Esq, of Dindar House, Somerset.
Educated at Eton, and Ch. Ch. Oxford (BA 1870, MA 1873).
Appointed Deputy Keeper of Public Records 1886 ; and a Royal Commissioner for Historic Manuscripts 1886.
Portman Square, W1. Atheneum Club.

Census & Addresses:
1861: St George Hanover Square, London: Henry C M Lyte, age 12 b. Paddington, Middlesex (RG9 46 F40 p13)
1897: 3 Portman Square, London (Visitation of England and Wales Vol 5  p155 pub 1897)

Sources:

Ida Mary Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 19 April 1854, in Pau, France

Baptism: privately, in Pau, France

Father: Farnham Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Eleanora Julia (Bolton) Lyte

Occupation: Nun

Census:
1881: "Convent Of Saint Francis", Taunton, Somerset

Sources:

John Walker Maxwell Lyte

John Walker Maxwell Lyte signature
Signature of John Walker Maxwell Lyte
Birth: 2 January 1825

Baptism: 14 July 1825, in Brixham, Devon, England

Father: Henry Francis Lyte

Mother: Anne (Maxwell) Lyte

Education: New College, Oxford; Gentleman Commoner of New College, Oxford, matriculated 30 June 1843, aged 18

Married: Emily Jeannette M. Craigie, on 22 June 1847, in St George's, Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, England. Emily was the daughter of Col. John Craigie of the East India Company and Emily (Churchill) Craigie. Emily was born on 11 December 1824, near Calcutta, India. She married, secondly, Frederick Charles Maitland on 8 February 1873 at Christ Church, Mayfair, London. she died on 6 January 1890, and was buried in Brompton Cemetery on 9 January 1890. Her will, dated, 17 March 1886, was proved (Prin. Reg., 165, 90) on 12 February 1890, by Frederick Charles Maitland of 55 Curzon Street, Mayfair, and Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte of 3 portman Square, Middlesex, C.B., the son, the Executors.
1861: St George Hanover Square, Middlesex; Fundholder
1881: 55 Curzon Street, London, Middlesex

Children:
 Death: 28 July 1848, in Bath, Somerset, England. His obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine (Jul-Dec 1848) p331 reads:
July 28
At Bath, John Walker Maxwell Lyte, esq. of Berry-head, Brixham. 

Buried: 2 August 1848, in Bath, Somerset, England

Will: Administration granted in the Provincial Court of Canterbury 20 October 1848, to Emily Jeanette Lyte, the relect.

Sources:

John Walker Maxwell Lyte

Title: Reverend

Birth: 20 June 1850, in St. Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Education: Winchester College; non-collegiate of Oxford Univeristy, matriculated 10 April 1869, aged 18, Commoner of Magdelan College, Oxford, 1869, B.A. 1873, M.A. 1875

Occupation: Clergyman. C. Biggleswade 1874,-7, St Peter's Eaton Sq. 1877-83, Chaplain to Bishop of Truro 1883-7.

Death: 28 January 1887, at Lis Escop, Truro, Cornwall, England, aged 36

Buried: 2 February 1887, in Truro, Cornwall, England

Will: dated 26 December 1882, proved (Prin. Reg., 242, 87) on 18 March 1887, by Emily Gooch of 92 Elm Park Gardens, Chelsea, Middlesex, the mother, the sole Executrix.

Sources:

John Maxwell Lyte

Rank: Lieutenant

Birth: 10 May 1875, in St George Hanover Square district, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 15 June 1875, at All Saints, Margaret Street, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Education: Radley College and Merton College, Oxford. At Oxford he was a member of the University Swimming team which beat Cambridge in 1896, and he also rowed in the 'Varsity Torpids in that year.

Occupation: Fruit Farmer. In April 1903, John was appointed Manager of the Transvaal Government Experimental Orchard.

Military: When the Boer War broke out, John joined Roberts' Horse, transferred as Lieutenant, in Northumberland Fusiliers in May 1900, taking part in the Relief of Kimberley, and the operations at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Zand River, and Sanna's Post. Lieutenant Maxwell-Lyte also filled some Staff appointments, and joined the Reserve of Officers in August 1905.

Notes: The Anglo Boer War website notes, for John Maxwell-Lyte.
Born May 10,1875; is son of Sir Henry C Maxwell-Lyte, KCB, and was educated at Radley College and Merton College, Oxford. He went to South Africa in 1898, studying fruit culture on the Cape Colony, and has been since April, 1903, Manager of the Transvaal Government Experimental Orchard, under the Colonial Office. When the Boer War broke out he joined Roberts' Horse, transferred as Lieutenant, in Northumberland Fusiliers in May, 1900, taking part in the Relief of Kimberley, and the operations at Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Driefontein, Zand River, and Sanna's Post. Lieutenant Maxwell-Lyte also filled some Staff appointments, and joined the Reserve of Officers in Aug, 1905. At Oxford he was a member of the University Swimming team which beat Cambridge in 1896, and he also rowed in the 'Varsity Torpids in that year. Recreation: Photography.

Sources:

Margaret Maxwell (Lyte) Massie

Birth: 27 March 1874, in St George Hanover Square, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 28 April 1874, in Lower Brixham, Devon, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Married: Edward Richard Massie on 9 August 1904 in St. Marylebone district, London, England.

The amusing story of how Margaret and Edward met is told at www.fitzwalter.com. “The Maxwell-Lytes followed the custom of the times in trying to arrange "good" marriages for their daughters. This resulted in young men without a large fortune being told to keep clear, and I well remember my father telling me that at the time of his youth in Cheshire young men of good family but poor means were referred to as detrimentals.

When Margaret was thirty, her parents, in order to get her away from an admirer, sent her off to South Africa to stay with a brother on his fruit farm. Edward was on the same ship, going out to stay with his son Roger, who as we have seen married a South-African after the Boer War. It was a very stormy voyage, and the chaperone took to her bunk and remained there. Edward and Margaret were both excellent sailors, and enjoyed each other's company so much that by the time they reached Cape Town they announced their engagement. Margaret's parents were furious and sent a cable saying "Return at once by separate ships". This they did and run into another kind of storm. Edward was 59, three years older than his prospective father-in-law and they thought he would die soon and leave all his money to the two surviving sons of his first marriage, and that their daughter would be left a penniless widow. In fact they had nearly thirty years of happy married life.

The wedding, on 9 August 1904, was not in the family's local church as it had "happy memories". The bride's parents wore mourning, and the mother was observed to tear the service sheet into small pieces and grind them into the floor under her heel...

 Margaret’s parents refused to have anything to do with the couple until after Margery's birth. Edward then wrote again to his in-laws saying that they now had a golden-haired baby and hoped so much that they would come and see both grand-children. They came, and were good friends from then on.”

Children:
 Census:
1881: 41 Athelstone Road, Margate, Kent

Sources:

Philippa Massingberd (Maxwell-Lyte) Pearson

Birth: 17 February 1845, in Copenhagen, Denmark

Baptism: 13 May 1846, at home, registered at the English Church of the British Legation (now St. Albans Church), Copenhagen, Denmark

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Married: Arthur Cyril Pearson on 15 December 1864, in Guildford, Surrey, England

Children:
Census:
1881:  Rectory, Drayton Parslow, Buckinghamshire

Sources:

Walter Maxwell Lyte

Birth: 4 March 1877, in St George Hanover Square district, Middlesex, England

Baptism: 2 April 1877, at St. Peters, Eaton Square, London, Middlesex, England

Father: Henry Churchill Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Frances Fownes (Somerville) Lyte

Education: Eton College

Sources:

William Robert Maxwell-Lyte

Birth: 22 August 1846, in Copenhagen, Denmark

Baptism: 7 April 1847, at home, registered at the English Church of the British Legation (now St. Albans Church), Copenhagen, Denmark

Father: Henry William Maxwell Lyte

Mother: Emily Prettyjohn (Popplestone) Lyte

Education: Winchester College

Death: 23 April 1865, in Kandy (now Kandi), Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). William died of heart disease, while bathing.

Buried: British Cemetery at Kandi, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka)

Sources:
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