A Great War M.B.E. group of three awarded to Deputy Administrator Violet D. A. Lyon, Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 1st type breast badge, silver, hallmarks for London 1919; British War and Victory Medals (A. Adtr. V. D. A. Lyon. Q.M.A.A.C.) lacquered, good very fine and better (3) £240-£280

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Medals to Female Medics.

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Lyon Collection, Dix Noonan Webb, December 2009.

M.B.E. London Gazette 3 June 1919” Miss Violet Dorothy Agnes Lyon, Deputy Administrator, Q.M.A.A.C.

Violet Dorothy Agnes Lyon was born in Romford, Essex, on 31 December 1894, the daughter of Colonel R. H. Lyon. During the Great War, in March 1918, she was appointed an Assistant Administrator in the Q.M.A.A.C., and was advanced to Deputy Administrator in March 1919. With the Q.M.A.A.C. she served in Boulogne, France. In October 1918, the Q.M.A.A.C. Controller-in-Chief Florence Leach undertook an inspection of the Corps in France. She recorded her assessment of Miss Lyon as: ‘Miss Lyon is good clerically. She has some idea of organisation and arranged the performance for the Controller-in-Chief’s visit very well. She lacks education’. Despite this lack, Miss Lyon was later awarded the M.B.E. for her services in the Great War. She died in Wimbledon on 28 June 1977.