Hugh Lygon

Who is 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.

He was educated at Eton and Pembroke College, Oxford. After leaving Oxford he worked in a bank in Paris before working in the City.

Lygon died in Germany where he was on a motoring tour with his friend, the artist Henry Winch, son of Lady Newborough. 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 later returned to England.