Thomas Lister, 1st Baron Ribblesdale

Thomas Lister, 1st Baron Ribblesdale (22 March 1752 – 22 September 1826) of Gisburne Park, Yorkshire, was a British landowner and politician who represented Clitheroe in the House of Commons between 1773 and 1790 and was raised to the peerage as Baron Ribblesdale in 1797. At the age of twelve he sat for the noted portrait The Brown Boy by Joshua Reynolds.

Early life

Lister was born on 22 March 1752, the son of Thomas Lister (1723–61) of Gisburne Park, Yorkshire, and his wife Beatrix Hulton. His father was MP for Clitheroe from 1745 to 1761. He was educated at Westminster School and matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 2 May 1769, aged 17. He gained the MA (an academic rank and not a postgraduate qualification - the BA is converted into an MA) on 26 June 1772, and later a DCL on 8 July 1773.

Career In 1773, he was elected Member of Parliament for Clitheroe and retained the seat in the 1774 General Election. When the American war broke out, he fitted out a frigate at his own expense and placed it at the disposal of the Government. In 1779 he raised Lister's Light Dragoons, a regiment of horse and was gazetted major in the army. He was re-elected to parliament for Clitheroe in 1780 and 1784.

He was pricked as High Sheriff of Yorkshire in 1794–5. He was created Baron Ribblesdale, of Gisburne Park, Yorkshire on 28 October 1797.

Marriage and issue

Lister married Rebecca Feilding, daughter of Joseph Feilding, on 7 November 1789 at St James the Less, Thorndike Street, Pimlico, London. They had one son and two daughters:

Thomas Lister, 2nd Baron Ribblesdale (1790–1832), succeeded his father Hon. Catherine (23 December 1793 - 10 October 1873), married firstly in 1810 Samuel Skurray Day (died 1816); married secondly 1817 her cousin Rev. John Fleming Parker; married thirdly in 1864 Rev. Willoughby John Edward Rooke Hon. Rebecca Adelaide (31 August 1800 – 5 December 1867), died unmarried

Lady Ribblesdale died in 1817. He died on 22 September 1826 at age 74 and was succeeded in the barony by his only son.