- Thomas Henry Lister
Thomas Henry Lister (1800‑
5 June ,1842 ) was an Englishnovel ist andRegistrar General .Life account
He was born to Thomas Lister of Armitage Park and his first wife Harriet Anne Seale. His maternal grandfather was John Seale.
His paternal half-sister Adelaide Lister was first married to their second cousin
Thomas Lister, 2nd Baron Ribblesdale and secondly toJohn Russell, 1st Earl Russell .Lister was educated at
Westminster School and theUniversity of Cambridge .He wrote several novels, among which are "Granby" (1826), "
Herbert Lacy " (1828), and "Arlington" (1832). He was also the author of a "Life of Clarendon".In 1830, he published a novelette entitled A Dialogue for the Year 2130, which might be described as an early example of 'science fiction' or 'futuristic' writing, of the kind later popularised by Jules Verne and H G Wells. Published in The Keepsake, a literary annual of the kind popular in Victorian Britain, the work looks forward two hundred years and imagines a world in which gentlement go hunting on machines, and shoot horses, and a certain Lady D owns a troublesome automatic letter-writer, and is served by a 'steam-porter' which opens doors.
In 1836 at the age of 36 he was appointed as the first
Registrar General forEngland and Wales , head of the newly formedGeneral Register Office . He was responsible for setting up the system ofcivil registration of births, deaths and marriages, and the organisation of the 1841UK Census . He died oftuberculosis in 1842, whilst resident at Adelphi Terrace London.Marriage
On
6 November ,1830 , Lister married Lady Maria Theresa Villiers. She was a daughter of George Villiers and Theresa Parker.Her paternal grandparents were
Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon and Charlotte Cappell. Her maternal grandparents wereJohn Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon and his second wife Theresa Robinson.Charlotte Cappell was a daughter of
William Capell, 3rd Earl of Essex and Jane Hyde. Theresa Robibson was a daughter ofThomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham and Frances Worsley.Jane Hyde was a daughter of
Henry Hyde, 4th Earl of Clarendon and his wife Jane Keveson-Gower. Her maternal grandparents wereSir William Leveson-Gower, 4th Baronet and Lady Jane Granville.Jane Granville was a daughter of
John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath and Jane Wyche.Lister and his wife had three chilren:
*Sir Thomas Villiers Lister (1832 - 1902). Married first Fanny Harriet Coryton and secondly Florence Selina Hamilton. She was a daughter of geologist
William John Hamilton and his second wife Margaret Frances Florence Dillon. Her maternal grandparents wereHenry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon and Henrietta Browne.
*Maria Theresa Lister (d.1 February ,1863 ). Married politician William Vernon Harcourt. They were parents toLewis Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt .
*Alice Beatrice Lister (d.28 March ,1898 . MarriedAlgernon Borthwick, 1st Baron Glenesk , owner of theMorning Post . Their daughter Lilias Margaret Frances Borthwick marriedSeymour Bathurst, 7th Earl Bathurst .References
*A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature
* [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/bicentenary/pdfs/registrars.pdf The Registrars General 1836-1945] (pdf) from theOffice for National Statistics .
* [http://www.thepeerage.com/p3576.htm#i35754 His profile in Peerage.com]
* [http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/ll/lister02.htm A listing of the Lister family]
* [http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=conqueror&id=I5065 A list of his chilren]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.