Bøker av Michael John Lyon

William Charles Lyon was one of several prominent soldiers in New Zealand in the nineteenth century who bridged the divide between the British Army and the Colonial Forces. A failed affair and family forced him to retire from his regiment and emigrate to New Zealand. Plagued by self-doubt and debt, he rose to the opportunities presented by what remained of the New Zealand Wars and the various internal and external threats to the colony that followed and succeeded in retaining the affection of his new family. This book provides a penetrating insight into this pivotal phase in New Zealand's early colonial period, particularly the changing nature of the military leadership; the development of the Volunteer Movement, the Waikato Militia, and the Armed Constabulary; and the early European settlement of the Waikato.

The earls of Strathmore and their predecessors are inextricably linked to Glamis Castle, which attracts thousands of visitors each year. However, there is a danger that the earls and their predecessors are not receiving the attention they deserve. They are merely represented by the family portraits on the walls, the genealogical tree to be found at the back of the guidebook, and an occasional mention in the media. For most of their existence, they were not primarily concerned with houses and filling them with works of art, but, more interestingly, amassing and spending money; revelling in the grandeur of high status; and accumulating, wielding, and preserving power.

This book continues the various genealogies of the family published in The Lyons of Glamis 1350-1750 in 2015. From 1750 onwards, the heads of the family, the earls of Strathmore, unlike many of their aristocratic counterparts, have managed to hold of their titles and much of their estates through a helter-skelter of marriage, debt, and legal arrangements. However, the vast majority of their cadets, including the offspring of the main family, the Bowes-Lyons, have diversified socially and geographically. They have moved away from the old order and their time-honoured localities to all parts of the world.