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IN MEMORIAM THOMAS LISTER. 



master till 1870, when he retired on a pension, and received a hand- 

 some testimonial from his fellow-townsmen in appreciation of his long 

 and faithful services. In his youth he was active and athletic, fond of 

 travel, and occasionally performing remarkable pedestrian feats when 

 visiting the English lake-country, and prolonging his journey into 

 Scotland, where he made many friendships amongst literary men. 

 This was in 1837, and in the following year he visited the Continent, 

 w^here, after crossing Mont Cenis, he rambled leisurely through the 

 great valleys of Piedmont and the plains of Lombardy, visiting Milan, 

 Turin, and other Itahan cities. He then skirted the shores of the 

 Italian lakes, and passing over the Alps, visited Switzerland and then 

 the Netherlands. Then intervened the thirty years of official life, but 

 after his retirement in 1870 the old travelling instincts re-appeared, 

 and' Mr. Lister seldom or never failed to accompany the British 

 Association, of which he became a member, wherever it went, even on 

 the occasion of the Canadian gathering, which gave him the oppor> 

 tunity of visiting relatives of his own who had settled in the colony. 



Mr. Lister was of a bright and happy disposition, and well-known 

 to hosts of appreciative friends. His reputation was both literary 

 and scientific. He occupied a fairly high position among the local 

 poets of Yorkshire, his principle productions being the ' Rustic 

 Wreath' (1834), 'Temperance Rhymes' (1837), and 'Rhymes of 

 Progress' (1862), each of these being collections of short poems. 



Mr. Lister was a field-ornithologist who knew well (none better), 

 by ear and by eye, the birds which inhabited the woods and hedge- 

 rows of his beloved valley of the Dearne. On several occasions he 

 has published lists of the birds of the Barnsley district. Beyond this 

 sound practical acquaintance with the familiar birds of his native 

 district, he made no pretensions to ornithological fame. He was a 

 regular and diligent frequenter of the meetings of the old West Riding 

 Consolidated Naturahsts' Society, and when this became the Yorkshire 

 NaturaHsts' Union of to-day, the new departure had no more staunch 

 supporter than Thomas Lister, who was made first Secretary', and 

 afterwards became President, of the Vertebrate Section of the Union. 



Mr. Lister was married, but childless, and his wife died several 

 years ago. During the past winter he suffered from a bronchial affec- 

 tion. On the 1 6th of ^March he had a stroke, followed by another on 

 the 2ist, from which he never rallied, and on the 25th he passed away, 

 from congestion of the lungs, aged 78. He was buried on the 29th 

 in the Friends' burial-ground, Barnsley. His end was conscious 

 and peaceful, and a couplet from the last of his own poems, written 

 but a day or two before his illness, is singularly appropriate — 



^ APF? "'^iS'^ And lastly, our day is closed with devotion 



""^ To Him who all space His Majesty fills. Naturalist, 



