Sir Richard Lyster (c. 1480 – 14 March 1554) was an English judge and Chief Justice of the King's Bench.

Origins and early career

Sir Frederick Madden in his "Remarks on the Monument of Sir Richard Lyster in St. Michael's Church Southampton," describes both the judge's grandfather, Thomas, and his father, John, as of

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

in Yorkshire. His mother was a daughter of Beaumont of Whitley in the same county. He had his legal training in the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

, where he arrived at the dignity of reader in Lent, 1516, and of double-reader in Lent, 1522, and he was appointed treasurer of the society in the following year.

Professional advancement

Of his early professional employment there is no account, the year books and other reports entirely omitting his name; but that he had acquired considerable legal eminence may be concluded from his being placed in the office of solicitor-general on 8 July 1521. He was succeeded in this post by Christopher Hales on 14 August 1525; and although he is not introduced into the list of

attorneys general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

in Dugdale's Chronica Series, there is little doubt that he then followed

Ralph Swillington Ralph Swillington (died 1525) was Recorder of Coventry and Attorney General of England and Wales, Attorney General to Henry VIII of England, Henry VIII. Swillington was Attorney General for the short period of time between 1524 and his death in th ...

in that office; as he is mentioned with the title in the will of Cicily Marchioness of Dorset, dated 6 May 1527; and as Christopher Hales was made attorney-general immediately after Lyster's elevation to the bench as

chief baron of the Exchequer The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...

on 12 May 1529, apparently as his successor. On his promotion he was knighted and was named as a commissioner on the trials both of Bishop Fisher and Sir

Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

; but he does not appear to have taken any prominent part in either.

Chief Justice of the King's Bench

After presiding in the Exchequer above sixteen years, he was advanced to the office of chief justice of the King's Bench on 9 November 1545; and in this character he attested the submission and confession of Thomas Duke of Norfolk on 12 January 1547, a fortnight before the king's death. On the accession of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

he was reappointed, and his first duty on the Thursday after was to address a batch of new serjeants on their inauguration at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. This he did, as the reporter significantly says, in "a godly thowghe sumwhate prolix and long declaration of their duties and exhortation to their full following and execution of the same." He resigned at the end of the first five years of the reign on 21 March 1552, when he was succeeded by Sir

Roger Cholmeley Sir Roger Cholmeley (c. 1485 – 21 June 1565) was Lord Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench from 1552 to 1553. From 1535 to 1545 he was Recorder of London and served in the House of Commons. He is possibly best remembered for his endow ...

. The remainder of his life he spent at his

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, which John Leland describes as being "very fair"; and dying on 14 March 1554, where he was buried in St. Michael's Church.

Family and legacy

By the inquisition after his death taken at Andover, he was found to be possessed of eleven manors in the counties of

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, together with various other lands and tenements. His monument represents him in scarlet robes (the colour of which has now disappeared), with a collar of S. S. round his breast, a judge's cap on his head, and a book in his hand. A part of the inscription remains which records its erection by his widow Elizabeth. This lady, who was a daughter of – Stoke, was his second wife; and by her he had a daughter Elizabeth, married to Sir Richard Blount, and a son Michael, knight of the Bath, who died in his father's lifetime, leaving a son Richard, who married Mary the second daughter of Lord Chancellor Wriothesley and widow of

Sir William Shelley Sir William Shelley (1480?–1549) was an English judge. Life Born about 1480, he was the eldest son of Sir John Shelley (died 3 Jan. 1526) and his wife Elizabeth (died 31 July 1513), daughter and heir of John de Michelgrove in the parish of Cl ...

of Michelgrove. His first wife, and the mother of his children, Elizabeth and Michael, is currently unknown, his second wife was Isabel, the daughter of Sir Ralph Shirley of Winstneston, Sussex, and the widow of Sir John Dawtrey of Southampton who died in 1517. Isabel was still married to Sir John when Richard Lyster's daughter Elizabeth was born in 1510 and who at sixteen married Richard Blount in 1527.Southampton Archives Southampton Stewards Book 1525-7 Isabel is also often mistaken for her sister, Jane Shirley, wife of John Dawtrey of Petworth. Isabel is probably the subject of the drawing by Hans Holdbein the younger in the Royal Collection. His third wife was another Elizabeth and she is the one who was responsible for his memorial in St Michael's Church

References

Notes

;Attribution ' , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyster, Richard 1480s births 1554 deaths Attorneys General for England and Wales Lord chief justices of England and Wales Chief Barons of the Exchequer Members of the Middle Temple Solicitors General for England and Wales 15th-century English people 16th-century English judges