Francis Stewart Leland Lyons (11 November 1923 – 21 September 1983) was an Irish historian and academic who served as the 40th Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1974 to 1981.
thumb|Plaque marking Lyons' burial site at [[Trinity College Dublin]]
Biography
Leland Lyons was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1923, the son of Northern Bank official Stewart Lyons and Florence May, née Leland. He was known as Le among his friends and family. His family were Irish Protestant, of Presbyterian and Church of Ireland background, and resided at Old Park, Belfast. After his birth, his family soon moved to Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland. He was educated at Dover College in Kent and later attended The High School, Dublin.
He was a lecturer in history at the University of Hull and then at Trinity College Dublin. He became the founding Professor of Modern History at the University of Kent in 1964, serving also as Master of Eliot College from 1969 to 1972.
Lyons became Provost of Trinity College Dublin in 1974, but, relinquished the post in 1981 to concentrate on writing. He won the Heinemann Prize in 1978 for his work in Charles Stewart Parnell. He wrote Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939 which won the Christopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize and the Wolfson Literary Prize for History in 1979. Lyons was also awarded honorary doctorates by five universities and had fellowships at the Royal Society of Literature and the British Academy. He was Visiting Professor at Princeton University.
Lyons married his wife Jennifer Ann Stuart McAlister one of whom, Nicholas, is a former Lord Mayor of London. Following a short illness, Lyons died in Dublin in 1983, just shy of his 60th birthday.