John Lister (1587 – 1640) was an English merchant and politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1621 and 1640. Wilberforce House Hull

Lister was the son of John Lister, a lead merchant of Hull who was

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

and MP for the town.Hull City Council - Hull Museums Collection - The Lister family
/ref> Lister succeeded his father and in 1618 also became

Mayor of Hull The position of Mayor of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England was established in 1332, being established by Edward III; the first mayor being William de la Pole. 26 June 1914 it was declared that the Chief Magistrate and Officer of the City w ...

and in 1621 was also elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Kingston upon Hull (Hull). He was re-elected in subsequent elections until King Charles I decided to rule without parliament in 1629. In 1629 Lister was again mayor of Hull and was knighted in 1632. In 1639 Lister entertained King Charles to a sumptuous dinner at his house in High Street. In April 1640, Lister was re-elected MP for Hull in the

Short Parliament The Short Parliament was a Parliament of England that was summoned by King Charles I of England on the 20th of February 1640 and sat from 13th of April to the 5th of May 1640. It was so called because of its short life of only three weeks. Aft ...

and was re-elected in November 1640 for the

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septem ...

. However he died in December. Lister funded a hospital, which opened in 1641, for twelve elderly people, with rooms for a lecturer. ''Huish - Hulme-Walfield'', A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 574-580. Date accessed: 25 January 2011
/ref> The house of the Lister family is now a museum known as the

Wilberforce House Wilberforce House is a British historic house museum, part of the Museums Quarter of Kingston-upon-Hull. It is the birthplace of social reformer William Wilberforce (1759–1833), who used his time as a member of Parliament to work for the ab ...

Museum.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lister, John 1587 births 1640 deaths Politicians from Kingston upon Hull Mayors of Kingston upon Hull English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 English MPs 1628–1629 English MPs 1640 (April) English MPs 1640–1648 Businesspeople from the Kingdom of England