George Lyon

George Lyon (1761–22 April 1815) was a highwayman in England. Lyon was born in Upholland, Lancashire, to a poor family and was a career criminal. Prior to arrest George Lyon's one major feat as a highwayman was to hold up the Liverpool mail coach. With his accomplices, who have been unknown since, he planned the robbery at the Legs of Man public house in Wigan. They then persuaded the ostler at the Bull's Head Inn in Upholland to lend them horses for a few hours. They held up the Liverpool mail coach at nearby Tawd Vale on the River Tawd, firing two shots and forcing the driver to pull up so that they could rob the passengers. The gang then returned to the Bull's Head, and when the robbed coach later arrived at the inn, Lyon and his accomplices had an alibi as people had seen them in the pub earlier in the afternoon. In addition to this robbery, Lyon was a habitual thief, and had been transported to one of the colonies for some years before returning to Upholland.