George Fosbery Lyster

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1821–1899) succeeded John Hartley as Engineer in Chief to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. He is usually referred to as G. F. Lyster.

Life

He was born on 7 September 1821 at Mount Talbot in

County Roscommon County Roscommon () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the List of Irish counties by area, 11th largest Irish county by area and Li ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. He was the third son of Col Anthony Lyster of Lysterfield and Bushey Park (1775-1841), and his wife, Jane Fosbery, the daughter of George Fosbery of Kildimo. He was educated at

King William's College King William's College () is a co-educational Private schools in the United Kingdom, private school for pupils aged 3 to 18 near Castletown, Isle of Man, Castletown on the Isle of Man. It is a member of the International Baccalaureate and Hea ...

on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

. He was apprenticed as an engineer under James Meadows Rendel. He was responsible for most of the Birkenhead docks and docks at the north end of the dock estate. He also built the Herculaneum Dock, Harrington Dock and

Toxteth Dock Toxteth Dock was a dock on the River Mersey that was part of the Port of Liverpool. Part of the southern dock system, it was connected to Brunswick Dock to the north and Harrington Dock to the south. History The dock was originally opened in ...

. He widened the

River Shannon The River Shannon ( or archaic ') is the major river on the island of Ireland, and at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of I ...

and in the 1850s built the Great Harbour of Refuge at

Holyhead Holyhead (; , "Cybi's fort") is a historic port town, and is the list of Anglesey towns by population, largest town and a Community (Wales), community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales. Holyhead is on Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island ...

. In 1861 he succeeded John Bernard Hartley as Engineer-in-Chief to

Liverpool Docks The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks betwee ...

. In 1886 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were Thomas Stevenson, James Leslie, George Miller Cunningham and David Alan Stevenson. He died of acute pneumonia on 11 May 1899.

Family

He married twice: firstly, in 1848, to Martha E. Sanderson; secondly, in old age, in 1898 to Blanche E. I. Maude. He was father to Anthony George Lyster (1852-1920), also a harbour engineer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyster, George Fosbery 19th-century Irish engineers 1821 births 1899 deaths 19th-century British engineers People educated at King William's College People from County Roscommon