Following the elections by the Court of Assistants, the newly elected Master and Wardens were sworn into office on 20 July 2010 prior to the election dinner that evening at which they were ceremonially crowned in one of the Company’s oldest ceremonies.

Major General Adrian Lyons CBE has been elected Master for the year ensuing. After a career in the Army, General Lyons was Director General of the Railway Forum, the railway industry’s think tank and lobby group, from 2000 until 2006 since when he pursued a variety of interests, largely transport related.

General Lyons was educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, enlisted in the Army in 1964 and was commissioned through Mons Officer Cadet School in 1966. Initially, he served in the Royal Corps of Transport but transferred to the Royal Army Ordnance Corps in 1972. He attended Staff College in 1980. In contrast to his first 15 years in the Army that involved travel to exotic places, his subsequent career was largely confined to Whitehall and Andover where he filled a number of staff appointments with a logistics focus. This was relieved by short breaks in the Falklands (1983) and Hong Kong (1988-9). He worked on the major restructuring of the Army’s logistic services in 1990-1, resulting in the creation of the Royal Logistic Corps to which he was transferred in 1993 subsequently becoming the logistic director responsible for vehicles and spares procurement. He was appointed CBE in this appointment. After attendance at the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1995 he was the Deputy UK Military Representative at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. His final appointment was as Director General Logistic Support (Army) the head of the Royal Logistic Corps.

General Lyons also has been Colonel Commandant of the Royal Logistics Corps (2000-7), Honorary Colonel of 168 Pioneer Regiment (2001-8) and President of the Railway Study Association (2004-5).

His interests include travel, music, especially opera, and collecting coins of the period 400AD-1100AD. With a colleague he is in the process of producing a three-part series on the coinage of Wessex and Mercia in the late ninth century. He is a council member of the British Numismatic Society.

Since becoming a Draper in 1995 he has been Chairman of Governors of Bancroft’s School (2002-8) and is currently Chair of Governors of Drapers’ Academy, a city academy opening in 2010.

General Lyons is married to Rosemary, an artist primarily specialising in oils and watercolour. They have one daughter, Grace (15) and live in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire.

The four Wardens are: Anthony Walker (Master Warden); Lady Victoria Leatham, DL (Second Master Warden); Christian Williams (Renter Warden); and William Charnley (Junior Warden).

You can follow the Master's blog at www.masterdraper.blogspot.com