John Lister was a local antiquarian and the last member of the Lister family of Shibden Hall.
He was born in Middlesex. Elder son of Dr John Lister.
Soon after his birth, the family moved to Sandown on the Isle of Wight. He was educated privately under Canon Warneford, then at Winchester and at Brasenose College, Oxford [1865] where he became interested in historical research.
His father succeeded to the Shibden estate in 1855 and brought the family to Halifax.
In 1867, at the age of 20, he inherited the Shibden estate.
In 1877, he was called to the Bar by the Inner Temple, but he did not practise.
Around 1895, he converted to become a Catholic. He supported many local Catholic initiatives including Halifax Catholic Registration Society, St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, Claremount and Shibden Industrial School.
In the 1890s, he and Arthur Burrell decoded Anne Lister's journals. He was homosexual and feared that this might be hereditary and that the contents of the journals might lead people to scrutinise his own lifestyle.
He was a Liberal, although he later became a Labour supporter and was a friend of Ramsay Macdonald. He was a founder member of the Halifax Labour Union. He was a founder member of the Independent Labour Party. He was an unsuccessful Labour candidate in the 1893 by-election and the 1895 general election for MP for Halifax. In 1900, he was prospective Labour candidate for the Elland Division.
He trained as a lawyer and qualified for the Bar, but never practised, preferring research and writing about the history of Halifax. He campaigned vigorously for the preservation of local historic buildings.
On 29th May 1900, he was attacked by the mob when he defended conscription and took a Pro-Boer position at an anti-Boer War meeting in Brighouse. A gang of about 300 youths abused Lister and the other speakers, pelted them with rubbish, and chased them through the streets from Brighouse market to Lane Head. Lister was hurt and went into a London hospital for a time.
He was one of the original members – and first President – of the Halifax Antiquarian Society. He was a bachelor, and lived at Shibden Hall quite separate from his sister Anne Lister. After the death of J. H. Ogden, he wrote articles for the Halifax Guardian under the pen-name Tom Halifax. He discovered and decoded some of Anne Lister's journals.
On 22nd March 1902, he was stabbed in his left shoulder by Patrick Leonard whom Lister had befriended sometime before.
Lister became bankrupt in 1923 when the banks called in the mortgages, and the estate was bought by his friend A. S. McCrea, although Lister was allowed to stay on at the Hall.
In 1925, he declined the honour of freedom of Halifax.
He was buried at St Anne's Church, Southowram, like his sister.
He was one of the people to whom J. R. Smith dedicated one of his prints.
See Halifax Cocoa House Company, Alphonsine Jarry, Shelf Old Hall and Stone quarrying
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Malcolm Bull 2017 /
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