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LYSTER, Richard (c.1691-1766), of Rowton Castle, Salop.
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b. c.1691, 1st s. of Thomas Lyster by Elizabeth, da. of Dr. William Beaw, bp. of Llandaff. educ. Shrewsbury; Ch. Ch. Oxf. 3 July 1708, aged 16; I. Temple 1708. m. Anne, da. of Robert Pigot of Chetwynd, Salop, 2s. 2da. all d.v.p. suc. fa. 1702.
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Biography
Lyster was a strong Tory, highly respected in Shropshire and the first member of his family to represent the county. The following description of him is given by J. B. Blakeway in his Sheriffs of Shropshire (p. 145):
The establishment of Mr. Lyster was administered upon the most ample scale of ancient English hospitality; one day in the week his table was open to every class of his constituents, from the very highest to the lowest of those who could with propriety appear at it ... His progress to London to attend the duties of Parliament, in which he is described to have been very assiduous, had somewhat of the feudal cast ... He travelled in his coach and six, and was a week upon the road: his principal tenants and tradesmen accompanying him as far as Watling Street, where they were entertained at his expense. At Highgate he was met by a select body of his London tradesmen, and thus ushered to his town house, in Bow Street, Covent Garden: and the same ceremonies were repeated on his return into Shropshire. All this cost was maintained by a rental of £1,800 a-year ...
Every known vote of Lyster’s in the House before 1754 was given against the Government. But in Shropshire, from 1753 onwards, he stood by the compromise which left the county representation to the choice of the Tory country gentlemen, and that of Shrewsbury to Lord Powis’s friends.
Lyster was classed by Newcastle in September 1762 as ‘contra’; but was not in Fox’s list of Members favourable to the peace preliminaries. In the autumn of 1763 Jenkinson marked him as ‘pro’; but according to Rockingham’s list of July 1765 he had not yet taken his seat in that Parliament; nor is there any record of his having spoken or voted in it. He died 13 Apr. 1766, aged 75.
