Lister, Arthur Hugh
Rank: Lieutenant-Colonel
Regiment: R.A.M.C. (T.); 19th General Hospital, Alexandria, Royal Army Medical Corps
Biography: Son of Arthur Lister, F.R.S. ; born Leytonstone, November 1864 ; B.A. (Nat. Sc. Tripos), Cantab., 1886 ; M.B., Aberd. (Highest Hons.), 1895; Murray Medallist and Scholar; M.D. (Hons.), 1904 ; Physician and Lecturer in Clinical Medicine, Royal Infirmary, Aberdeen ; University Assistant in Materia Medica ; held a large general, later consulting, practice in Aberdeen. He served in the Univ. Company R.A.M.C. (V., later T.F.), gazetted Brevet Lieut.-Colonel, 1910; afterwards Lieut.-Colonel, 1st Scottish General Hospital, available on mobilization. On the outbreak of war, though hampered by indifferent health, he at once offered his services, and was for a time on the Western Front as Physician with Sir Henry Norman's Ambulance. Later he was sent to Egypt in command of the 19th General Hospital, Alexandria, where his excellent work gained him the C.M.G. It was characteristic of him that the repeated warnings of his colleagues were unheeded; he took the risk and worked on with unflagging energy, until at last he was forced to give in, and died at sea on his way home, 17 July 1916. Of Aberdeen graduates who ''laid their good lives down'' Arthur Lister was the most eminent. He inherited a name famous in British science, but himself possessed intellectual endowment above the average, and deep scientific interest. As a physician he was beloved by his patients, he had insight, reverence, sympathy and uplift, along with great personal charm, and possessed in a marked degree ''the gift of healing''. One thinks of his buoyant vitality, his infectious enthusiasm, his unforgettable kindness, his wonderful chivalry. To Arthur Lister life was a great opportunity, and ''all was good that Time could bring''. The words of a subaltern recall him vividly: ''He worked unceasingly, patching us up, always good to look upon, always charming, yet always to the point. 'One must do what one can,' he said; and he did it. That is why we, who owe to him not only health, but life itself, will cherish ever the memory of that ‘verray parfit gentil knyght'.''
Honours: CMG (Companion of Order of St Michael and St George)
Date of Death: 17 July 1916
Burial Details: Name recorded on the Chatby Memorial, Alexandria, Panel 2, Column 1.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
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