James Lister Esq. of Hirst Priory – Obituary as published in Stamford Mercury, Friday 09 November 1866

James Lister, Esq., of Hirst Priory, Isle of Axholme, and Ousefleet Grange, Yorkshire, whose death we announced last week at the advanced age of 89, was the son of Geo. Stovin, Esq, of Tetley House, Lincolnshire, who took the surname and arms of Lister under the will of Thos. Lister, Esq , of Girsby House, Deceased married in 1800 Alice daughter of Robert Spofforth, Esq. of Howden, and by her had issue, Robert Cornelius, of Ousefleet Grange; Geo. Spofforth, of Hirst Priory; and Thomas Henry, Vicar of Luddington. Deceased wae decendant of Geo. Stovin, Esq , of Crowle and Winterton, the well-known antiquary, whose son, James, about the middle of the last century, waes Town Clerk of Doncaster.
Mr. G. Stovin thought no part of England equal to Axholme, and rarely left the Levels, in the affairs of which he took great Interest, ln the latter part of his life, however (says W. Sheardown, Esq, J.P. in his very interesting historical notices of Doncaster) he crossed the Trent, and fixed his residence at Winterton, where he died and was buried. He produced from bis pen the best account of Lindholme and he communicated to the Royal Society an account of the discovery of the body of a female in the turf moors of Amcoats . He left in manuscript many notes of Roman roads and stations In the counties of Lincoln and York, the result of personal observation . The most Important of his topographical collections are his notes relating to the Isle of Axholme. At the end of the manuscript are proposals for printing in one volume folio, with marginal notes, “The History of the Drainage of the Great Lerel of Hatfield Chase, in the Counties of York, Lincoln, and Nottingham. By George Stovin, Esq , for nearly 40 years an acting Commissioner of Sewers, in the same Levels.” The work was never published.

Friday 09 November 1866 ,  Stamford Mercury