Sir Richard Lyster (c. 1480 – 14 March 1554) was an English judge and

Chief Justice of the King's Bench The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

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 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

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 entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

, 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 A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the 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 Dugdale's Chronica Series, there is little doubt that he then followed Ralph Swillington 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 pres ...

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, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VII ...

; 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 The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

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 King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...

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

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. 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. 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 ...

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, 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 counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and

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, 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 Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

, who married Margery Horsman and 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 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 Holbein 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 judges 16th-century English judges