Thomas Lister, 1st Baron Ribblesdale

Thomas Lister, 1st Baron Ribblesdale (1752–1826) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1773 and 1790. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Ribblesdale in 1797.

Thomas Lister, 1st Baron Ribblesdale (Thomas Lawrence, circa 1805)

Lister was the son of Thomas Lister of Gisburne Park, Yorkshire and his wife Beatrix Hulton and was born on 22 March 1752. His father was MP for Clitheroe 1745-1763.[1] He was educated at Westminster School and matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford on 2 May 1769 aged 17. He was gained the MA (an academic rank and not a postgraduate qualification - the BA is converted into an MA) on 26 June 1772 and DCL on 8 July 1773.[2]

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.[3]

Lister married Rebecca Feilding, daughter of Joseph Feilding, on 7 November 1789 at St. James the Less, Thorndike Street, London. In 1794-1795 he was High Sheriff of Yorkshire. He was created 1st Baron Ribblesdale, of Gisburne Park, Yorkshire on 28 October 1797. He died on 22 September 1826 at age 74.[3]