Richard Bickerton Pemell Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, GCB, GCMG, PC, DCL (6 April 1817 - 5 December 1887) was an eminent British diplomat. From 1858 through 1865, Lyons was the British envoy to the United States, and thus observed the American Civil War. During the War, Lyons called upon to safeguard British interests on more than one occasion. Most famously, Lyons helped difuse the Trent Affair in 1861, which very nearly saw the United States and the United Kingdom at war.