The Minor Family of Somerset

History of Shibden Hall "On Jan. 11th, 1619, Samuel Lister had t
he satisfaction of seeing his eldest son, Thomas, married at Hal
ifax Church to Sibil, theeldest of the three Hemingway co-heire
sses, the bridegroom being about 20, and the bride about 17 year
s of age. This marriage of course, brought one-third of the est
ates of Shibden Hall and Overbrea, into the Lister family, and i
n 1625 another third accrued by the marriage of Phoebe Hemingway
, the secondof the three surviving co-heiresses, to John Lister
, brother of thomas and second son of Samuel. "Samuel Lister wa
s the second son of Thomas Lister, whoowned lands in ovenden, N
orthowram, and in Little Horton, near Bradford. This Thomas wa
s the twice great-grandson of Richard Lister, of Halifax, whos
ename occurs, in 1403, as the successor of robert Lister, who r
an the manorial dyewords at North Bridge, and in 1439 is mention
ed in the rental of the lords of the Manor of Halifax as the inh
eritor of the latter's property. ThomasLister, of Ovenden, Sam
uel's father, is described by Vicar Favour, in the Register of B
urials of the year 1605 as "vir honestissimus et religiouissimus
" This praise, one notes is in the superlative degree" - most h
onorable andmost religious."
Thomas Lister 1599-1677 was educated at Oxford University. In 1
636 Thomas was the protagonist in a cause celebre for the Yorksh
ire cloth trade. The aulnagers, or rather the men who farmed th
e subsidy, proposed afifty per cent advance, to which, of cours
e, the cloth makers did not agree.In October, 1636, Thomas Lis
ter, along with Hall and Drake, two other Halifax clothiers, ha
d despatched by the carriers, William Brooks and Edward Northend
, certain packs of kerseys, duly sealed, to Blackwell Hall, in L
ondon.The pack-horses after their first Day's journey, were ba
ited at the inn of Roger Scholefield, at Wombwell. At about thr
ee o'clock in the morning, the court-yard of the inn was broke
n into by three of the aunage officials, who commenced to tear o
pen the packs belonging to the Halifax men. The carriers put u
p a stout resistance, until one of the officials brought the con
stable of Wombwell. Eleven pieces of Thomas Lister's kersey an
d eleven pieces belongingto Robert Hall were taken away. The k
erseys were thrown into the dirt and made unfit for sale. (A Sho
rt History of Shibden Hall by T.W. Hanson, Bankfield Museum Note
s.
The Civil War, Which side did Thomas Lister take in those troub
lous warlike times? The late Mr. Walker, in his "Local Portfol
io" state that while John Lister, of Upper Brea, younger brothe
r of Thomas, sided with the parliament, thomas, the owner of Shi
bden Hall, was of the King's party. Though John, perhaps more t
han thomas, favoured the Parliamentarians, there are no record
s to show what, if anything, either of them did at the front o
f the fighting. The Listers fled to Lancashire during the war
, not all of them returned to their home it is recorded in the M
anchester Church Register, which stated that "on Jan 30 1643-4 P
hoebe, wife of Thomas Lister, Halifax, Vicarage, gentleman," wa
s "buried" there.
THE HISTORY OF SHIBDEN Hall, byJohn Lister M.A. april 10th 1923
, for the Halifax Antiquarian Society.
THOMAS Lister, 1599 - 1677
In the last paper read by me to our society o n the history of t
his Hall, I brought its annals down to the date of the death o
f Samuel Lister, the first of his family to reside here, who die
d the 27th of Sept1632, aged 56 years, and who is described i
n the Halifax Parish Register as"vir justus et prudens." Unde
r samuel's will, already quoted by me in the paper aforesaid, w
e learned that lands and tenements in Southowram and Hipperholm
e had been conveyed by the father Samuel to his eldest son, Thom
as, prior to the maKing of the will, and that, by the will, al
l his father's interestand titles to and in the property so con
veyed,