Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Lister, Arthur
LISTER, ARTHUR (1830–1908), botanist, born at Upton House, Upton, Essex, on 17 April 1830, was youngest son in a family of four sons and three daughters of Joseph Jackson Lister [q. v.]. Joseph, afterwards Lord, Lister (1827–1912) was his elder brother. A member through life of the Society of Friends, Lister was educated at Hitchin. Leaving school at sixteen to engage in business, he soon joined as partner the firm of Messrs. Lister and Beck, wine merchants, in the City of London. He retired from the concern in 1888.
Lister's name is specially identified with painstaking researches on the Mycetozoa. From 1888 onwards he published many valuable memoirs in the 'Annals of Botany' the 'Journal' of the Linnean Society, and the 'Proceedings' of the Essex Field Club, in reference to the species and life-history of these organisms. His principal work, 'A Monograph of the Mycetozoa' (with 78 plates), issued by the trustees of the British Museum in 1804, is an exhaustive catalogue of the species in the national herbarium. He was also the compiler of the museum's 'Guide to the British Mycetozoa' (1895).
Elected F.L.S. on 3 April 1873, he served on the council (1891–6), and was vice-president (1895–6). He became F.R.S. on 9 June 1898, and was president of the Mycological Society 1906–7. He was a J. P. for Essex. Lister died at Highcliff, Lyme Regis, on 10 July 1908, and was buried at Leytonstone. He married on 2 May 1855 Susanna, daughter of William Tindall of East Dulwich, by whom he had issue three sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Joseph Jackson Lister, was elected F.R.S. in 1900.
[Proc. Linn. Soc. 1909; Bradford Scientific Journal, vol. ii. 1909; Stratford Express, 25 July 1908 (with portrait); Nature, 6 Aug. 1908; The Times, 22 July 1908, 1 Sept. (will).]