| Authorised form of name | Playfair; Lyon (1818 - 1898); 1st Baron Playfair; politician and chemist |
| Dates | 1818 - 1898 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | Chunar, Bengal, India |
| Date of birth | 21 May 1818 |
| Place of death | His residence in Onslow Gardens, London, England |
| Date of death | 29 May 1898 |
| Dates and places | Burial:
St Andrews, Fife, Scotland |
| Occupation | Politician and chemist |
| Research field | Chemistry |
| Activity | Education:
St Andrews; Edinburgh University; Giessen. PhD
Career:
Professor of Chemistry, Royal Instiution, Manchester (1843); Chemist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain (1847); Professor of Chemistry, Edinburgh University (1853-1858); MP for the Universities of Edinburgh and St Andrew's (1868-1865); Privy Councillor (1873); Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons (1880-1883); MP for Leeds (1885-1892); Lord-in-Waiting (1892).
Honours:
CB 1851; Baron 1892; GCB 1895 |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 09/06/1848 |
| Age at election | 30 |
| Proposer | John Barlow |
| Cuthbert William Johnson |
| William West |
| William Benjamin Carpenter |
| William Spence |
| Charles Wheatstone |
| Baden Powell |
| William Robert Grove |
| John Forbes |
| Samuel Peace Pratt |
| William Buckland |
| William Allen Miller |
| James Thomson |
| Walter Crum |
| Richard Phillips |
| Thomas Graham |
| Thomas Thomson |
| John Peter Boileau |
| William Allen |
| Royal Society activity | Royal Society roles:
VP 1874-1875 |
| Relationships | Parents: George Playfair (1782–1846), chief inspector-general of hospitals, Bengal, and Janet (d. 1862), daughter of John Ross of Edinburgh.
Spouse: Edith Russell (1878). |
| Published works | RCN 59259
RCN 49377
RCN 35864
RCN 59260
RCN 59262
RCN 59263
RCN 59264
RCN 59261 |
| Royal Society Obituary or Memoir | Click to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices) |
| Related images | Discover a selection of related images in our picture library |
| Image | 
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| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; DSB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc 1898-1899 vol 64 pp ix-xi signed by A C B
References:
Margaret Gowing, 'Science, Technology and Education: England in 1870. The Wilkins Lecture, 1976' in NR 1977-8 vol 32 pp 71-90
A Gibson and W V Farrar, 'Robert Angus Smith, FRS, and "Sanitary Science"' in NR 1973-4 vol 28 pp 241-262
Sir Patrick Linstead, 'The Prince Consort, FRS, and the Founding of the Imperial College' in NR 1962 vol 17 pp 15-31
Vanity Fair 20 February 1875 - "Chemistry" by 'Spy'
D Carr Agnew, 'Robert Fitzroy and the myth of 'Marsden Square': Transatlantic rivalries in early marine meteorology' in NR 2004 vol 58 pp 21-46 |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/59894144 |
| Royal Society code | NA8270 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1848/13 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| VF/30 | Portrait of Lyon Playfair by Carlo Pellegrini | 20 February 1875 |
| IM/003603 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair | nd |
| MS/743/1/58 | Copy letter from Lyon Playfair and Peter Guthrie Tait, College, Edinburgh, to Sir David Brewster | 25 April 1863 |
| IM/003601 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair | 1999 |
| IM/Maull/003602 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair | nd |
| IM/003489 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair | 1851 |
| NLB/4/159 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Lyon Playfair, Fellow of the Royal Society | 26 February 1890 |
| NLB/5/33 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Lyon Playfair, Fellow of the Royal Society | 21 February 1891 |
| NLB/5/7 | Copy letter from [Sir Lyon Playfair], to Fellows of the Royal Society | 16 February 1891 |
| NLB/5/896 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Lyon Playfair, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 11 November 1891 |
| NLB/14/634 | Copy letter from the Secretary of the Royal Society, to Lord Lyon Playfair, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 12 April 1897 |
| NLB/16/769 | Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Messrs Harrison & Sons | 3 June 1898 |
| RR/3/190 | Referee's report by Lyon Playfair, on a paper 'On the action of bile upon fats; with additional observations on excretine' by William Marcet | 13 October 1858 |
| MC/12/192 | Letter from Lyon Playfair, House of Commons, to [William] Spottiswoode, [President of the Royal Society] | 28 July 1881 |
| MS/427/131 | Copy letter from [Thomas Henry] Huxley, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Secretary of the Governors Body of West[minster] School | 1 November 1881 |
| MS/427/81 | Copy letter from [Thomas Henry] Huxley, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Secretary, Governing Body, Westminster School | 20 January 1881 |
| IM/003604 | Playfair, Lyon, 1st Baron Playfair | nd |
| NLB/4/1130 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to the Right Honourable Sir Lyon Playfair | 24 January 1891 |
| NLB/5/9 | Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Sir Lyon Playfair, [Fellow of the Royal Society] | 16 February 1891 |
| PT/36/8/3 | Plate, 'Nitroprussiate of potash' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/4 | Plate, 'Nitroprussiate of barytes' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/7 | Plate, 'Nitroprussiate of calcium' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8 | Paper, 'On the nitroprussides, a new class of salts' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/6 | Plate, 'Nitroprussiate of ammonia' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/1 | Manuscript, 'On the nitroprussides, a new class of salts' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/5 | Plate, 'Nitroprussic acid' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| PT/36/8/2 | Plate, 'Nitroprussiate of soda' by Lyon Playfair | [1849] |
| MS/426/532 | Copy letter from Edward Sabine, Treasurer of the Royal Society; to Lord Rosse [William Parsons], President of the Royal Society | 10 November 1854 |
| RR/2/70 | Referee's report by Lyon Playfair, on a paper 'On a new series of organic bodies containing metals' by Edward Frankland | 26 July 1852 |
| MC/11/48 | Letter from Lyon Playfair to [Thomas Henry] Huxley, [Secretary of the Royal Society] | 17 April 1877 |
| RR/3/186 | Referee's report by Lyon Playfair, on a paper 'On the immediate principles of human excrements in the healthy state' by William Marcet | 6 April 1857 |
| MC/11 | Volume 11 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1877-1879 |
| RR/3/277 | Referee's report by Lyon Playfair on a paper 'On some new ethyl-compounds containing the alkalimetals' by James Alfred Wanklyn | 6 August 1858 |
| MC/12 | Volume 12 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1880-1883 |
| RR/3/187 | Letter from Lyon Playfair, on a paper 'On the immediate principles of human excrements in the healthy state' by William Marcet | 18 April 1857 |
| RR/4/152 | Referee's report by Lyon Playfair, on a paper 'On the sources of the nitrogen of vegetation; with special reference to the question whether plants assimilate free or uncombined nitrogen' by John Bennet Lawes, Joseph Henry Gilbert and Evan Pugh | 25 January 1859 |
| MC/14/251 | Letter from Lyon Playfair, 68 Onslow Gardens, South Kensington, to President, The Royal Society | 6 July 1887 |
| MC/15/63 | Letter from Letter from Lyon Playfair, House of Commons Library, to Professor [Michael] Foster | 7 March 1890 |
| MC/14 | Volume 14 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1885-1888 |
| MC/15 | Volume 15 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society | 1889-1892 |
| HS/14/170 | Letter, from Lyon Playfair to Sir John Herschel, dated at Department of Science and Art, Marlborough House, Pall Mall | 16 April 1855 |