Sir Thomas Lyster of Rowton (1612–1655), supported King Charles I during the English Civil War.
Thomas Lyster of Rowton, who, according to the visitations, was eleven years of age in 1623. He was a devoted adherent of King Charles I, and on the appearance of that monarch at Shrewsbury, in the first campaign of the English Civil War, waited on the king, then residing in the council house, the family residence of the Lysters, and presented five hundred pieces of gold to help the king pay for the war. He was knighted for this act of loyalty.[1]
In 1642 he signed a joint engagement with other gentlemen of the county to help raise a regiment of dragoons.[2] He was given a high command in the garrison established in Shrewsbury, and on the fall of the town he was taken prisoner,[1][3] but his wife may have gallantly held Rowton Castle for nearly a fortnight against all the efforts of the parliamentary officer, Colonel Mytton and did not surrender until she had obtained good terms from Mytton .[1][4]
Sir Thomas died in 1655. He was buried at St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, on 17 March, and was succeed by his son Richard.[1]
Sir Thomas was first marred to Elizabeth, daughter of John Adye, of the county of Kent, and had by her one son, Richard, his heir, and one daughter, Elizabeth, the wife of — Draycott, of Ireland. He married secondly, Mary, daughter of Sir Sir John Hanmer, 1st Baronet, by whom he had a son, Thomas, barrister-at-law, who d. unmarried, and two daughters, Dorothy, the wife of William Jordan, esq. and Mary, who died unmarried.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Genealogical and Heraldic history of the commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, enjoying territorial possessions or high rank, but uninvested with heritable honours., Vol. III, by John Burke