David Lyall was born on 1 June 1817 at Kinkairdineshire, Scotland. He studied medicine at Aberdeen and was admitted a licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons at Edinburgh. In 1839, he joined the Royal Navy as a medical officer and naturalist, serving as assistant surgeon in HMS Terror on the British Naval Expedition, 1839-1843 (leader James Clark Ross), organized primarily to conduct a series of magnetic observations in the Southern Hemisphere. During this voyage, Lyall, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Robert McCormick made a worldwide collection of botanical specimens, including many from southern oceanic islands. On his return, Lyall served as assistant surgeon in several commissions in the Mediterranean until 1847, when he was promoted and selected as surgeon and naturalist in HMS Acheron on the survey of the coast of New Zealand.
In 1852, Lyall was appointed surgeon in HMS Assistance on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader Sir Edward Belcher), sailing on a voyage to the regions of Wellington Channel and Melville Island in search of Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage expedition. During the expedition, he made a valuable collection of Arctic flora in the Wellington Channel area.
On his return, Lyall was appointed to HMS Pembroke, serving throughout the Crimean War of 1855. After a short period of home service at Devonport, he was commissioned as surgeon and naturalist to HMS Plumper and later to HMS Hecate, employed in a survey in the Pacific Ocean. In 1858, he transferred to the Land Boundary Commission, participating in its survey of the boundary line between British Columbia and the United States. During this expedition, Lyall collected an important herbarium, and on his return was appointed staff surgeon in HMS Fisguard at Woolwich in order to arrange his collections at nearby Kew. He was later appointed surgeon to Pembroke Dockyard, and served in HMS Trincomalee and HMS Daedalus until 1873, when he retired from the Navy. In 1874, he was appointed to assist the Arctic Committee in provisioning the British Arctic Expedition, 1875-1876 (leader George Strong Nares). He died on 2 March 1895 at Cheltenham with the rank of deputy inspector-general of hospitals and fleets.
From the guide to the David Lyall collection, 1836-1891, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
