John W. Lyons

Philadelphia Police Department — Philadelphia, PA

Illness

End of Watch May 13, 1910

Age 31

Tour of Duty 1 yrs 4 mo

The Vigil Panel 24 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 377

Incident

Police Officer John Lyons died after contracting smallpox while assigned to quarantine duty at the Bridesburg Police Station at Third Avenue and Fairmount Avenue.

Officers from his station were assigned to quarantine duty to prevent infected passengers from disembarking from a steamer that arrived in the city. Officer Lyons contracted the disease and was admitted to the Municipal Hospital on May 1st, 1910. He died as a result of smallpox on May 13th, 1910.

Officer Lyons served with the Philadelphia Police Department for 16 months and was survived by his wife, daughter, parents, and siblings.

Survivors

Officer Lyons served with the Philadelphia Police Department for 16 months and was survived by his wife, daughter, parents, and siblings.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-PA-F027DE4E
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

You barely got started.
Police Officer Lyons gave the Philadelphia Police Department 1 year.
Thank you for your service to the Philadelphia community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Police Officer Lyons.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Philadelphia Police Department

Location Philadelphia, PA

Platform Identity ppd.philadelphia.pa.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch May 13, 1910

Tour of Duty 1 yrs 4 mo

Age 31

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Illness

Cause Detail Duty related illness

Police Officer John W. Lyons is one of 2,974 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 9.1% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In PA, 121 of 1,261 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 9.6% of this state's fallen. That is 0.5 percentage points above the national rate of 9.1%.

At Philadelphia Police Department, 66 of 378 officers on record were lost to illness connected to their service — 17.5% of this agency's fallen.

Philadelphia Police Department

of 378 officers

17.5% Illness

PA — Statewide

121

of 1,261 officers

9.6% Illness

Nationwide

2,974

of 32,508 officers

9.1% Illness