Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons

Who is Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons?

Algernon Islay de Courcy Lyons was a notable Welsh photographer, novelist and linguist.

Born in Langland, Glamorgan, Wales on 7 March 1922, the son of Captain John Algernon de Courcy Lyons, M.C. and Doris Ada Campbell Young. In his lifetime, he was normally just called Islay.

The photographs of Lyons illustrate the works of several twentieth century literary figures, including Bryher and Graham Greene.

Lyons had been the last lover of the film-maker, Kenneth Macpherson, both of them living in the ‘Villa Tuoro’ on Capri. Norman Douglas was their constant companion, there, during the last years of Douglas’s life. Both Macpherson and Lyons were at Norman Douglas’s bedside when he died.