LIEUTENANT THE HON. CHARLES ALFRED LISTER
ROYAL NAVAL DIVISION
28TH AUGUST 1915 AGE 27
BURIED: EAST MUDROS MILITARY CEMETERY, LEMNOS, GREECE
Despite his wonderfully privileged life, epitomised by John Singer Sargent's magnificent swagger portrait, the 4th Lord Ribblesdale did not have a fortunate life. His wife died in 1911, his eldest son and heir was killed in Somaliland in 1904 and his only surviving son died of wounds in 1915. As a result the Ribblesdale title became extinct on his death.
His son, Charles Lister, also enjoyed a privileged existence. Educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, he mixed in glittering social and political circles. However, whilst at Oxford he expressed an interest in social issues and became a leading member of the Fabian Society. He later joined the Independent Labour Party and whilst nothing may have come of all this, the experience was certainly informative for him and as A.J. Balfour pointed out it was better than "running an actress".
Lister joined the Foreign Office in 1911 and served two years in Rome before being sent to Constantinople. Once war broke out he could have stayed in the Diplomatic Service but he decided he wanted to join up. Lister took a commission in the Royal Naval Division, serving in the Hood Battalion along with Rupert Brooke. In fact he was part of Brooke's burial party on the island of Skyros following Brooke's death from septicaemia just two days before the Gallipoli landings
Lister landed on Gallipoli on 29 April 1915 and was wounded three times in the following four months' fighting; the third time the wounds proved fatal. He was evacuated on a hospital ship. Whilst on board he wrote to his father saying that he had been "struck in the pelvis and my bladder being deranged, and slight injuries in the legs and calves ... My doctor is quite happy at the way things are going." Unfortunately Lister died on 28 August 1915, two days after writing this letter.
