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{{short description|British civil servant, historian, and poet (1835-1911)}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name               = Sir Alfred Lyall
| honorific_suffix   = {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCIE|KCB|PC|FBA}}
| image              = Portrait of Alfred Comyn Lyall.jpg
| alt                = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption            = Portrait of Alfred Comyn Lyall
| birth_date         = 4 January 1835
| birth_place        = [[Coulsdon]], [[Surrey]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=y|1911|4|10|1835|1|4}}
| death_place        = [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]]
| father             = [[Alfred Lyall (traveller)|Alfred Lyall]]
| mother             = Mary Drummond Broadwood
| spouse             = {{marriage|Cornelia Arnoldina Cloete|1862}}
| children           = 4
| relatives          = [[James Broadwood Lyall]] (brother)<br>{{nowrap|[[James Shudi Broadwood]] (maternal grandfather)}}<br>[[George Lyall, Snr|George Lyall]] (uncle)<br>[[William Rowe Lyall]] (uncle)
| education          = [[Eton College]]
| alma_mater         = [[Haileybury and Imperial Service College|Haileybury College]]
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = 
| years_active       = 
| known_for          = 
| notable_works      = 
}}

'''Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|sep=,|GCIE|KCB|PC|FBA}} (4 January 1835 – 10 April 1911) was a British [[Indian Civil Service|civil servant]], literary historian and poet.

==Early life==
Alfred Lyall was born in [[Coulsdon]], Surrey, the second son of [[Alfred Lyall (traveller)|Alfred Lyall]] and Mary Drummond Broadwood, daughter of [[James Shudi Broadwood]]. He was educated at [[Eton College]]. His elder brother, [[James Broadwood Lyall]], was already serving in India, and this may have influenced him towards a career in that direction. He attended [[Haileybury and Imperial Service College|Haileybury College]] with that purpose in mind. In 1862 he married Cora Cloete, daughter of Peter Cloete.  He died while on a sojourn to [[Farringford House]], the family home of [[Tennyson|Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], in [[Freshwater, Isle of Wight]].<ref>According to an inscription in [[St Agnes' Church, Freshwater|St Agnes’ Church, Freshwater]] [[File:Alfred Comyn Lyall inscription.jpg|thumb|Inscription in memory of Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall]]</ref>

==Indian career==
After Eton and Haileybury, Lyall joined the [[Indian Civil Service]] in 1856, and served a long career in India. He landed at [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] in January 1856. After four months of training he was posted as an Assistant Magistrate at [[Bulandshahr]] in the [[North-West Provinces]]. He was there when the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]] occurred: his house was burned down and he was nearly killed when fleeing as his horse was shot from under him. He joined the Khaki Risala of Volunteers, an irregular European cavalry unit. He helped "pacify" Bulandshahr. In May 1858 he was transferred to [[Shahjehanpur]] where he helped "restore order". In April 1861 he returned to England for about eighteen months. On his return to India he was appointed Assistant Magistrate at [[Agra]]. In 1864 he was appointed district manager of [[Nagpur]] at [[Hoshungabad]] in the [[Central Provinces]], before being appointed commissioner in [[Berar Province|Berar]] in 1867. He was now earning £3,000 a year. He went on to become Home Secretary to the Government of India in 1873 and the governor-general's agent in the state of [[Rajputana]] the following year. His next post was as Foreign Secretary to Government of India from 1878 to 1881 (during this period he helped negotiate peace and a monarchy in Afghanistan). He was then appointed Lieutenant-Governor of North-West Provinces, and Chief Commissioner of [[Oudh]] (North-West Provinces) from 1882 to 1887 (he introduced a degree of local self-government to that area). He also founded the [[University of Allahabad]] and became its first chancellor. He was made an honorary fellow of [[King's College, Cambridge]], in 1893.<ref>{{acad|id=LL891SA|name=Lyall, Sir Alfred Comyn}}</ref> He was made a member of the [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Council]] in 1902, having served on the [[India Council]] from 1888 to 1902.

Lyall's ideas regarding the development and organisation of society in India were developed principally during the time he spent working in the Central Provinces, Berar and Rajputana between 1865 and 1878. He was, in the opinion of Crispin Bates, "one of the more programmatic of nineteenth century writers on Indian history" and his writings on the subject are "somewhat dubious".<ref>{{cite book |title=The Concept of Race in South Asia |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Delhi |year=1995 |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Robb |first=Crispin |last=Bates |chapter=Race, Caste and Tribe in Central India: the early origins of Indian anthropometry |isbn=978-0-19-563767-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwNkQgAACAAJ |pages=240–242 }}</ref> Another historian, Clive Dewey, believes that {{blockquote|Lyall was generally recognised as one of the most brilliant civilians of his generation; he retired, after a dazzling career, as governor of the United Provinces. Cadres composed exclusively of action men do not produce savants like Lyall; still less do they turn them into heroes.<ref name="Dewey1993">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HGvAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 |title=Anglo-Indian Attitudes: Mind of the Indian Civil Service |first=Clive |last=Dewey |publisher=A. & C. Black |year=1993 |isbn=978-0-82643-254-4}}</ref>{{rp|13}} }}

==Awards and honours==
Lyall was made a [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (KCIE) in 1887, [[Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath]] (KCB) in 1881, and [[Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]] (GCIE) in 1896. He was appointed a [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Privy Counsellor]] on 11 August 1902,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=27464 |date=12 August 1902 |page=5174 }}</ref> following an announcement of the King's intention to make this appointment in the [[1902 Coronation Honours]] list published in June that year.<ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=The Coronation Honours |date=26 June 1902 |page=5 |issue=36804| }}</ref> In Bulandshahr, a water tank was erected opposite [[Elliott Colvin (died 1883)|Colvin Gate]], and named after Lyall.<ref name=Sketches1884>{{cite book |last1=Growse |first1=F. S. |title=Bulandshahr: Or, Sketches of an Indian District: Social, Historical and Architectural |date=1884 |publisher=Medical Hall Press |location=Benares |url=https://archive.org/details/bulandshahrorsk00growgoog/page/n124/mode/2up?q=lyall |language=English|pages=69–70}}</ref>

==Literary==
His ''Verses Written in India'' was published in 1889. He wrote a number of other books on poetry.  He wrote also books on Indian history, [[Warren Hastings]], and [[Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson|Alfred Lord Tennyson]].  His literary achievements brought him advanced degrees, a D.C.L. from Oxford (1889) and an LL.D. from Cambridge (1891), an Honorary Fellow of King's College, Cambridge (1893), and membership in the British Academy (1902).

A more comprehensive list of his known publications is given below:

* {{cite book |title= Asiatic Studies, Religious and Social: First Series |publisher= John Murray |place= London |year= 1882 |url= https://archive.org/details/asiaticstudies00lyaliala/page/n7/mode/2up}}
*''The Rise and Expansion of the British Dominion in India''. (John Murray. London, 1893)
*''Warren Hastings'' (English Men of Action Series). (Macmillan & Co. London, 1889)<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Schulte|first1=Ed.|title=Warren Hastings'' by Alfred Lyall; ''English Men of Action|journal=[[Historische Zeitschrift]]|year=1890|volume=65|issue=2|pages=365–366|jstor=27597463}}</ref>
*''Verses Written in India''. (Kegan Paul, Trench. London, 1889)
* {{cite book |title= Asiatic Studies: Religious and Social in India, China & Asia: Second Series |publisher=  John Murray |place= London |year=  1899 |url= https://archive.org/details/asiaticstudiesre00lyal}}<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5q05AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA213| page=213 |title=Review of ''Asiatic Studies, Religious and Social'' by Sir A. C. Lyall. First Series—Second Series. 2 vols.|journal=The Athenaeum: Journal of Literature, Science, the Fine Arts, Music, and the Drama  |issue=3746|date=August 12, 1899 }}</ref>
*''Tennyson'' ([[English Men of Letters series]]). (Macmillan & Co. London, 1902)
*''The Life of the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava'', 2 vols. (John Murray. London, 1905)
*''Etudes sur les moeurs religieuses et socials de l'Extrême-Orient''. (French translation of Asiatic Studies, First & Second Series: Fontemoing, Paris. 1907–1908)
*''Studies in Literature and History''. (published posthumously by John Murray. London, 1915)

==Family==
Lyall married Cornelia Arnoldina Cloete (c. 1836 – 1913) at Stoke-by-Clare, Suffolk on 12 November 1862.  They had four children (two sons and two daughters).  Their second daughter Mary Evelina (1868–1948) married the Indian civil servant [[John Ontario Miller]] (1857–1943).{{citation needed|date=February 2018}} Lyall was also guardian to [[Malcolm Lyall Darling]], who was subsequently knighted.<ref name="Dewey1993" />{{rp|13, 102}}

Lyall's uncles included [[George Lyall, Snr|George Lyall]] (1779–1853), a chairman of the [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]], and [[William Rowe Lyall]] (1788–1857), a [[dean of Canterbury]] (1845–1857). His brother [[James Broadwood Lyall]] (1838–1916) also served in the Indian Civil Service, becoming [[Lieutenant-Governor]] of the [[Punjab Province (British India)|Punjab]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Satish Chandra |last=Mittal |title=India Distorted: A Study of British Historians on India |volume=2 |publisher=M.D. Publications |year=1995 |isbn=978-8-17533-018-4 |chapter=Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall |page=285 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jfA0bfl9L9UC&pg=PA285}}</ref> His sister Mary Sybilla (1836–1891) was married to [[Francis James Holland]] (1828–1907) Canon at Canterbury Cathedral.{{citation needed|date=February 2018}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book |last1=Durand |first1=Henry Mortimer |author-link=Henry Mortimer Durand|title=Life Of Right Hon. Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall |date=1913 |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |location=Edinburgh |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.208710/page/n9/mode/2up}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Alfred Comyn Lyall}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{gutenberg author|id=31676|name=Alfred Comyn Lyall}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alfred Comyn Lyall}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef| before=Sir [[Sir George Couper, 2nd Baronet|George Ebenezer Wilson Couper]]}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[List of Lieutenant Governors of the North-Western Provinces and Chief Commissioners of Oudh|Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces and Chief Commissioner of Oudh]]  
| years=17 April 1882 – 21 November 1887}}
{{s-aft| after=Sir [[Auckland Colvin]]}}
{{end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyall, Alfred Comyn}}
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1911 deaths]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:Indian Civil Service (British India) officers]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire]]
[[Category:Members of the Council of India]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:People from Coulsdon]]
[[Category:Lyall family|Alfred]]