Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lyon, John (1510?-1558)
LYON, JOHN, seventh Lord Glammis (1510?–1558), born about 1510, was the son of John, sixth lord Glammis, by Janet Douglas [q. v.], second daughter of George, master of Angus. Along with his mother, who had married as her second husband Archibald Campbell of Skipnish, he and others were in July 1537 placed on trial on the charge of conspiring to effect the death of James V by poison (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 22; Pitcairn, Criminal Trials, i. 191–203; histories of Leslie and Buchanan, which, however, are inaccurate in details). The mother was found guilty and burnt at the stake. The son, then only in his sixteenth year, confessed, and was placed in prison, but according to Buchanan the original informer, William Lyon, ultimately admitted that the whole story was a fabrication of his own. Glammis was thereupon released from prison, but on 3 Dec. 1540 his estates were annexed to the crown by act of parliament. On 13 March 1542–3 the forfeiture was rescinded, and he was restored to his titles and estates.
In 1544 Glammis, along with Patrick, lord Gray [q. v.], and Norman Leslie [q. v.], supported Charteris of Kinfauns in his attempt to seize Perth, of which he had been elected lord provost, from Lord Ruthven, who had been deprived of the provostship by Cardinal Beaton (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 34). In the following year he held a command in the vanguard of the Scottish army, which, after invading England, shamefully retired before inferior numbers (ib. p. 40).
On the forfeiture of Sir James Kirkcaldy [q. v.] of Grange, Glammis received on 12 Sept. 1548 the barony of Kinghorn, with other lands (Reg. Mag. Sig. 1546–80, entry 251). The barony had been bestowed on Kirkcaldy on 13 Oct. 1537 (ib. 1513–46, entry 1718). Glammis died in 1558. By his wife, Janet Keith, daughter of Robert, lord Keith, and sister of the fourth Earl Marischal, he had two sons—John, eighth lord [q. v.], and Thomas, master of Glammis [q. v.] —and a daughter Margaret.
[Authorities quoted in the text; Douglas's Scottish Peerage (Wood), ii. 563–4.]