Very little is know about John Stevenson Lyle. He was born in 1849 or '50, the son of Samual Lyle of The Oaks, Londonderry. He attended Trinity College, Dublin and was a friend there of W.S. Green and graduated BA in 1871. Along with Henry Swanzy and while he and Green were still students the three visited the Alps (1870) and climbed Monte Rosa.
After graduating (1871) he climbed the Matterhorn and in 1872 the New Weisstor and the Dom. These were his qualifying climbs for Alpine Club membership, of which he remained a member only until 1875.
Taking Holy Orders in 1872 he remained a curate in England until 1876 when he went to Ceylon (Sri Lanka) as a missionery in Matara. His work there was the subject of a question in the Westminster Parliament; he joined the Roman Catholic Church soon after 1885 and he returned to Britain as a priest in Peebles and Edinburgh.
There is no record of any mountain activity in either Sri Lanka or Scotland and he died in 1919.
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