Thomas Lister, 4th Baron Ribblesdale
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician.
Background
Born in FontainebleauFontainebleau
Fontainebleau is a commune in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is located south-southeast of the centre of Paris. Fontainebleau is a sub-prefecture of the Seine-et-Marne department, and it is the seat of the arrondissement of Fontainebleau...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Ribblesdale was the eldest son of Thomas Lister, 3rd Baron Ribblesdale, and his wife Emma (née Mure) daughter of William Mure, and succeeded his father in the barony in 1876.
Political career
Lord Ribblesdale sat on the Liberal benches in the House of LordsHouse of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and served as a Lord-in-Waiting
Lord-in-Waiting
Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...
(government whip in the House of Lords) under William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
from 1880 to 1885 and in 1886 and as Master of the Buckhounds
Master of the Buckhounds
The Master of the Buckhounds was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. It was a political office, so the holder, who was always a nobleman, changed with every change of government. The office...
under Gladstone and later Lord Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
from 1892 to 1895. Apart from his political career he was also a Captain in the Rifle Brigade and a Trustee of the National Gallery from 1909 to 1925. His portrait was painted by John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent
John Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
and is said to epitomise the British aristocrat.
Family
Lord Ribblesdale married Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Tennant, 1st BaronetSir Charles Tennant, 1st Baronet
Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st Baronet Scottish businessman, industrialist and Liberal politician.-Biography:...
, and half-sister of Margot Tennant
Margot Asquith
Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith , born Emma Alice Margaret Tennant, was an Anglo-Scottish socialite, author and wit...
, in 1877. His eldest son, Captain the Hon. Thomas Lister, was killed in action during the Somaliland campaign
Somaliland Campaign
The Somaliland Campaign was a series of military engagements fought early in the 20th century in the Horn of Africa by British and Italian colonial forces against the Dervish State of the Somali religious and nationalist leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan...
of 1903 to 1904 while his youngest son the Hon. Charles Alfred Lister died from wounds received at the Battle of Gallipoli
Battle of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...
during the First World War. His second daughter the Hon. Laura married Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat
Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat
Brigadier-General Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat KT, GCVO, KCMG, CB, DSO , was a leading Roman Catholic aristocrat, landowner, soldier, politician and the 23rd Chief of Clan Fraser. He was the son of Simon Fraser, 13th Lord Lovat, and Alice Mary Weld-Blundell...
, and was the mother of Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat
Simon Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat
Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, 15th Lord Lovat and 4th Baron Lovat DSO, MC, TD was the 25th Chief of the Clan Fraser and a prominent British Commando during the Second World War...
, and Sir Hugh Fraser
Hugh Fraser (politician)
Major Sir Hugh Charles Patrick Joseph Fraser MBE was a British Conservative politician and first husband of the author Lady Antonia Fraser.-Youth and military career:...
. His third daughter the Honourable Diana married firstly Boy Capel
Boy Capel
Captain Arthur Edward "Boy" Capel CBE was an English polo player, possibly best-remembered for being a lover and muse of fashion designer Coco Chanel.-Biography:...
and secondly Vere Fane, 14th Earl of Westmorland
Vere Fane, 14th Earl of Westmorland
Lieutenant-Commander Vere Anthony Francis Fane, 14th Earl of Westmorland , styled Lord Burghersh until 1922, was a British peer....
. Lady Ribblesdale died in 1911. Lord Ribbesdale married secondly Ava Lowle Willing
Ava Lowle Willing
Ava Lowle Willing, Lady Ribblesdale was an American socialite and the first wife of John Jacob Astor IV.-Biography:...
, daughter of Edward Shippen Willing and former wife of John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV
John Jacob Astor IV was an American businessman, real estate builder, investor, inventor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish-American War and a member of the prominent Astor family...
, in 1919. He died in October 1925, aged 70. With his death the barony became extinct. Ava Lowle Willing
Ava Lowle Willing
Ava Lowle Willing, Lady Ribblesdale was an American socialite and the first wife of John Jacob Astor IV.-Biography:...
died in 1958.
Further reading
- Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
- www.thepeerage.com
- History of the Lister family