Colonel Lyon was an officer of high scientific attainments. His special area of study was detonation fuses. On the 26^th of February 1885, at the School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness, Colonel Lyon and a number of others were working on experiments with one of Colonel Lyon's newly invented fuses when a 6-inch steel shell accidentally exploded. Colonel Lyon later died off the severe injuries he sustained in the explosion. He was about to take command of the the Royal Artillery in the Western District. Colonel Lyon married, in 1863, the Honorable Flora Annesley, sister of Viscount Valentia, she was at his side when he died.