Lister,+Robert+Winfield


 * Private Robert Winfield Lister** 14th Battalion Royal Montreal Regiment, 1st Canadian Division.



Born Keighley 14th June 1891. Father Alfred Lister. Attended Keighley Trade and Grammar School from 1897 to 1905. Durham University until 1907. Working as a Clerk at Royal bank of Canada, Montreal at enlistment on 21st September 1914, aged 23 years, 3 months. Height: 5 foot, 6,1/2 inches. Chest: 35 inches plus 2 inches. Complexion: Fair. Eyes: Brown. Hair: Light Brown. Denomination: Church of England. Died of wounds on 24th April 1915. Remembered on the Menin Gate. Remembered in the Keighley WW1 Roll of Honour book in Keighley Library. Remembered on the St Andrews Church war memorial (Shared Church). Remembered in the Keighlian Magazine roll of honour.


 * Keighlian Magazine July 1917 obituary:**

ROBERT WINFIELD LISTER Private, 14th Battalion, Canadians. Private Robert W. Lister was a pupil for eight years and left in 1905. After leaving, he matriculated at Durham University and was a student there for two years. He afterwards went to Canada, and when War was declared, he held an important position in the Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal. Private Lister joined the Canadian Volunteer Force in August, 1914, and came over to England with the first contingent. He was in training on Salisbury Plain until February, 1915, when he went to France. The Canadians were soon in the thick of the defensive fighting which our armies were at that time waging on the Western Front, and Private Lister fell severely wounded in the glorious stand which the Canadians made at St. Julien on the 24th April, 1915. So furious was the attack of the Germans and so serious was his wound that he was obliged to be left in the trench where he lay, but the story of his bravery was communicated to his parents by his friends who fought by his side. Six members of his company wrote a joint letter home about him in which they say: "He was a member of our Section for the past five months, during which we have come into intimate relationship with him, and his reserved manner and good qualities had made him quite a favourite with us." Private Lister was the eldest son of our respected Borough Treasurer, Mr Albert Lister, Sunny Mount.

[The following news report was dated one week after he had died of wounds] KEIGHLEY YOUNG MAN WITH THE CANADIANS Private Robert W. Lister, of 14th Battalion Royal Montreal Regiment, 1st Canadian Division, who was on the staff of The Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal, where he volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and who is the son of Mr Alfred Lister, the Keighley Borough Treasurer, writes home as follows from the front: "I am pleased to be able to write you again and report good health. We have just come out of the trenches and are having a rest. We have had a fairly strenuous time dodging shells &c., and a rest is very welcome. We seem to have Fritz fairly well cornered and our artillery is much superior to his; at least I think so. There is an artillery duel going on just now; we can see the shells bursting. The damage the Germans have done round here is tremendous - ruined homes all around." In another letter he states: "The war seems to be going on favourably for us; in fact our artillery seems to have the Germans beaten all along our part of the line. At a recent battle our concentrated fire was so terrible that when we took their trenches many of the enemy were found to have gone mad. It is a great sight to see the aeroplanes set off and fly over the enemy's lines, passing through the shell fire directed at them as easily as if they were out for a pleasure trip. We see very few German aeroplanes. One day in the trenches we had a lot of fun with the enemy. They set up a dummy at the top of their trench and we fired at it, and they would signal where we hit. We could often hear them singing and playing instruments. The 14th Battalion has taken a very active part in the recent fighting at St Julian."
 * Keighley News report 1st May 1915:**