Charles Alfred Lister was born in Hanover Square, London, on 26th October 1887, the third of five children of Thomas, 4th Lord Ribblesdale, and Lady Charlotte Monckton (née Tennant). His siblings were Thomas (born 1878), Barbara (1880), Laura (1892), and Diana (1893). The family combined aristocratic tradition with a strong sense of public service; his elder brother Thomas was later awarded the DSO for service in the Second Boer War and was killed in action with the 10th Royal Hussars during the Somaliland campaign, a loss that cast a long shadow over the household.
Educated at Eton College and subsequently at Balliol College, Oxford, Charles distinguished himself early by his intellectual confidence, wit, and notable facility with languages. These qualities pointed him naturally toward a career in diplomacy, and he successfully passed the Civil Service examinations for the Diplomatic Service. Before the war he served as an Attaché in Rome and Constantinople, postings that broadened both his cultural outlook and his linguistic range. Through family connections and friendships he also spent considerable periods travelling in India and across Europe, experiences which deepened his understanding of international affairs and sharpened the cosmopolitan temperament so often remarked upon by his contemporaries.
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At the outbreak of war Charles obtained a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the City of London Yeomanry (Middlesex Hussars). In February 1915 he was transferred to the Staff of the Royal Naval Division with the rank of Lieutenant, his knowledge of Turkish making him particularly valuable in the forthcoming operations. Despite the relative security of staff employment, in March he requested a posting to the Hood Battalion, a request that was granted. Once on Gallipoli he rapidly gained a reputation for fearlessness and for a conspicuous disregard for his own safety, qualities that set him apart even among the hardened officers of the Division.
Charles was wounded three times during the campaign on the peninsula, experiences later recorded in his own words in Charles Lister: Letters and Recollections, published by his father in 1916. During the Turkish counterattack of 2nd May he was struck by shrapnel while withdrawing from the second line:
| My company being in the second line retired last, and by the time we were moving the whole of our front was being searched with terrible effect. One of the shrapnel burst on the ground about thirty yards behind me and a pellet ricocheted the ground and struck me in the off-buttock. I thought it was a piece of stone at first. I had already been hit by several spent pellets without any effect. One went through coat and shirt and hardly marked my skin; another knocked in my water-bottle. However, this third one found its billet, and I was soon bleeding like a pig and walking indifferent well — I never fell down. |
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While convalescing he was offered a desk appointment at the Foreign Office in place of a return to Gallipoli. He declined the offer and rejoined his battalion. On 20th July, during a trench raid, he was again wounded:
| This was followed by a Turkish shell which fell right in the middle of us as we were all crouching for a rush, hit Freyberg in the stomach, killed another man, and covered me with small scratches, which bled profusely at the moment. |
His third and final wound was sustained on 24th August. Writing afterwards, he described the incident with characteristic clarity and restraint:
| Just think, I have been wounded once more, the third time. We were in a trench, observing the Turkish trenches, when suddenly they fired some shells into our trenches. I went along to see what had happened, got my people back into a bit of a trench they had had to leave, then went down the trench, thinking the show was over, and then got it, being struck in the pelvis and my bladder being deranged, and slight injuries in the legs and calves. I have been operated on, but am sketchy as to what has been done. I am on a hospital ship, comfy enough, but feeling the motion of it a good deal, and I have to be in bed and cannot change my position. The hours go slowly, as one does not feel very much up to reading. However, I got to sleep all right. I feel this will be a longish job, and I don't know where I shall do my cure — perhaps Alexandria. My doctor is quite happy at the way things are going. The shell that hit me killed one man and wounded the others. Forgive this scrawl, but it's not easy to write. |
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Following surgery his condition deteriorated, and he died on 28th August 1915 aboard the hospital ship SS Gascon. He was buried in East Mudros Military Cemetery. Charles was Mentioned in Despatches on 5th November 1915. With the deaths of both sons, the peerage of Lord Ribblesdale became extinct upon the death of his father.
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