Person    | Male  Born 29/12/1847  Died 22/6/1917

Sir Joseph Lyons

Sir Joseph Nathaniel Lyons was a pioneer of mass catering. Chairman of J. Lyons and Co.

Born Kennington,his father being a Jewish itinerant watch seller. Joseph was apprenticed to an optician. Moved into mass catering in partnership with the Gluckstein brothers, Isidore and Montague, and Barnett Salmon, but using his name. They started in about 1887 by providing catering at large exhibitions. The first teashop was opened in 1894 in Piccadilly and this led to a chain of teashops across London, which seems to have had a strict classification - see Angel Corner House Tea Rooms. A good frontman, Lyons was made Chairman for life but apparently the power and the business acumen lay with the Gluckmans and Salmons.

Lyons successfully painted watercolours and wrote some novels, was actively involved in the Territorial Army and supported a number of charities. He married but had no children. Died at the Hyde Park Hotel, Knightsbridge.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Joseph Lyons

Commemorated ati

Sir Joseph Lyons

Sir Joseph Lyons, 1847 - 1917, pioneer of mass catering, lived here. English ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Hiram Shorey

Hiram Shorey

Merchant tailor and co-founder of Rotary International. Born Hiram Elroy Shorey in Litchfield, Kennebec, Maine.

Person, Commerce, Community / Clubs, USA

1 memorial
Provident Life Office

Provident Life Office

A savings bank launched by Barber Beaumont in 1806. We think this went on to become part of Friends Provident. Source: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
Burmantofts

Burmantofts

Manufacturers of ceramic pipes and construction materials, named after the Burmantofts district of Leeds. The business began when fire clay was discovered in a coal mine owned by William Wilcox and...

Group, Commerce

1 memorial
Lehmann Gluckstein

Lehmann Gluckstein

Asher Lehmann Meyer Gluckstein was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. HIs family chose the surname Gluckstein (lucky stone) when living under Napoleonic rule in Bremen (now in Germany). As a you...

Person, Commerce, Food & Drink, Germany

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Joe Orton

Joe Orton

Playwright. Born Leicester. Came to London in 1951 as a student at RADA, where he met fellow student Kenneth Halliwell. Works include Entertaining Mr Sloane and Loot, in which he wrote the part of ...

Person, Theatre, Tragedy

1 memorial