Hugh Lygon


Hugh Patrick Lygon was the second son of William Lygon, 7th Earl Beauchamp, and is often believed to be the inspiration for Lord Sebastian Flyte in Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. He was a friend of Waugh's at Oxford, where both were members of the Hypocrites' Club, along with their contemporary Murray Andrew McLean and the Plunket Greene's brothers, Richard and David. David Plunket Greene was a good friend of Hugh Lygon.

Education

He was educated at Eton and Pembroke College, Oxford.
At Oxford Lygon was part of the Railway Club, which included: Henry Yorke, Roy Harrod, Henry Thynne, 6th Marquess of Bath, David Plunket Greene, Edward Henry Charles James Fox-Strangways, 7th Earl of Ilchester, Brian Howard, Michael Parsons, 6th Earl of Rosse, John Sutro, Hugh Lygon, Harold Acton, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne, Patrick Balfour, 3rd Baron Kinross, Mark Ogilvie-Grant, John Drury-Lowe.
After leaving Oxford he worked in a bank in Paris before working in the City.

Death

Lygon died in Germany, where he was on a motoring tour with his friend, the artist Henry Wynn. Lygon was standing in the road to ask the way and fell backwards, hitting his head on a stone. He died later due to a fractured skull, having spent four days in a hospital in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. His body was returned to England.