Joseph Jackson Lister
Encyclopedia
Joseph Jackson Lister, FRS (11 January 1786 – 24 October 1869) was an amateur British opticist and physicist
and the father of Joseph Lister
.
, Yorkshire
, England, married Hannah, the daughter of a Yeoman
. They joined the Society of Friends, becoming Quakers, as were most of their descendants. They had a son, Joseph, who left Yorkshire in about 1720 to become a tobacconist in Aldersgate Street
, London
.
Joseph’s youngest son, christened John, was born in 1737. He was apprenticed to a watchmaker, Isaac Rogers in 1752, and followed that trade on his own account in Bell Alley, Lombard Street
from 1759 to 1766. He then took over his father’s tobacco business, but gave it up in 1769 in favour of his father-in-law Stephen Jackson’s business as a wine-merchant in Lothbury
.
John Lister was made a freeman of the Bakers’ company
in 1760. He married Mary in 1764, and had two daughters within three years of his marriage, then after an interval of nineteen years, in 1786, when he was 49, his wife gave birth to their only son, Joseph Jackson Lister.
, which was becoming a thriving and prosperous concern, and in 1804, at the age of 18 he was made a partner.
During a visit to the Quaker Ackworth School
near Pontefract
in 1814, he met Isabella Harris, then aged 22, the daughter of the school superintendent, also called Isabella, a widow with six children.
Isabella junior taught reading and writing to the girls of the school for five years, leaving in 1818 to marry Joseph Jackson Lister. She was then 26, and he was 32.
After their marriage, they lived for three years at Tokenhouse Yard, where his wine business was carried on, then for four years at Stoke Newington
.
In 1821 Lister invested in a trading ship commanded by his brother-in-law.
They then bought Upton House in 1825, a spacious old Queen Anne house with fields and gardens at Upton
in Essex
.
Upton was then a country hamlet to the east of London, close to Hainault
and Epping Forest
, and the Barking marshes, and it was a pleasant country walk along the banks of the Thames into London.
Their neighbours were Samuel Gurney
, a Lombard Street
banker, and his family who lived in Ham House. It was Gurney who had advised Lister to buy Upton House, and the Lister family lived in close contact with the young people growing up at Ham House.
in 1845, John, 1822–46, Isabella Sophia, 1823–70, Joseph, 1827–1912, William Henry, 1828–59 and Arthur Hugh, 1830–1908. Joseph
studied medicine, becoming a surgeon and achieving fame and a baronetcy - and later a peerage
, becoming Lord Lister - for his work in antisepsis. He operated on his sister Isabella in 1867, performing radical surgery to remove an advanced cancerous breast tumour. She lived for three years after the operation. (Rickman John Godlee, surgeon, a grandson of J J Lister, later wrote a biography of his uncle Joseph.) John Lister died in 1846 from a brain tumour at the age of only 24.
lenses
of superior performance, combining lenses of crown and flint glasses of different dispersion, in order to cancel chromatic aberration
, showing that spherical aberration
could be minimised by the correct separation of the lens combinations, which led to the perfection of the optical microscope
. He performed this work in his spare time, while fully engaged in his wine business. He began this work in 1824, and by 1826 he had commissioned an improved microscope
stand to be made by the instrument-making firm of William Tulley.
The stand was made by an employee of Tulley, James Smith, and is preserved in the Wellcome Institute. Smith set up on his own in 1837, later taking on Richard Beck, a nephew of Lister, as an apprentice finally becoming a partner in 1847 when the company was re-named Smith & Beck.
. Lister published his work in 1830 in a paper entitled "On Some Properties in Achromatic Object-Glasses
Applicable to the Improvement of the Microscope" submitted to the Royal Society, and collaborated with Smith and with Andrew Ross, who had established what was to become one of the finest microscope manufacturers in 1832. Lister's law of aplanatic foci remained the underlying principle of microscopic science.
He had a large circle of scientific contacts, including Airy
, Herschel
and fellow Quaker Dr Thomas Hodgkin
, with whom he discussed microscopic observations including those of red blood cells, leading to the identification of 'Hodgkin's disease’. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
in 1832. His interest continued, writing a paper in 1843, entitled ‘On the Limit to Defining Power in Vision with the Unassisted Eye, the Telescope
and the Microscope
’. It was never published, but years later it was presented by his son Lord Lister to the Royal Microscopical Society
, and seen to have anticipated many of the later discoveries made by Ernst Abbe and others.
He died aged 84 in October 1869 at home at Upton House, and was buried along with Isabella his wife, in the Friends' Burial Ground, Stoke Newington
, Middlesex
.
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
and the father of Joseph Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, FRS, PC , known as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., between 1883 and 1897, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary...
.
Ancestry
In 1705, Thomas Lister, a farmer and maltster, of BingleyBingley
Bingley is a market town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford, in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England, married Hannah, the daughter of a Yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
. They joined the Society of Friends, becoming Quakers, as were most of their descendants. They had a son, Joseph, who left Yorkshire in about 1720 to become a tobacconist in Aldersgate Street
Aldersgate
Aldersgate was a gate in the London Wall in the City of London, which has given its name to a ward and Aldersgate Street, a road leading north from the site of the gate, towards Clerkenwell in the London Borough of Islington.-History:...
, London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
.
Joseph’s youngest son, christened John, was born in 1737. He was apprenticed to a watchmaker, Isaac Rogers in 1752, and followed that trade on his own account in Bell Alley, Lombard Street
Lombard Street, London
Lombard Street is a street in the City of London.It runs from the corner of the Bank of England at its north-west end, where it meets a major junction including Poultry, King William Street, and Threadneedle Street, south-east to Gracechurch Street....
from 1759 to 1766. He then took over his father’s tobacco business, but gave it up in 1769 in favour of his father-in-law Stephen Jackson’s business as a wine-merchant in Lothbury
Lothbury
Lothbury is a street in the City of London. It runs east-west, between Gresham Street to the west and Throgmorton Street to the east. The area was populated with coppersmiths in the Middle Ages before later becoming home to a number of merchants and bankers. The Bank of England is on the southern...
.
John Lister was made a freeman of the Bakers’ company
Livery Company
The Livery Companies are 108 trade associations in the City of London, almost all of which are known as the "Worshipful Company of" the relevant trade, craft or profession. The medieval Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling,...
in 1760. He married Mary in 1764, and had two daughters within three years of his marriage, then after an interval of nineteen years, in 1786, when he was 49, his wife gave birth to their only son, Joseph Jackson Lister.
Adulthood
On leaving school in 1800, Joseph Jackson was apprenticed to his Father’s wine business in LothburyLothbury
Lothbury is a street in the City of London. It runs east-west, between Gresham Street to the west and Throgmorton Street to the east. The area was populated with coppersmiths in the Middle Ages before later becoming home to a number of merchants and bankers. The Bank of England is on the southern...
, which was becoming a thriving and prosperous concern, and in 1804, at the age of 18 he was made a partner.
During a visit to the Quaker Ackworth School
Ackworth School
Ackworth School is an independent school located in the village of High Ackworth, near Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. It is one of eight Quaker Schools in England. The school is a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference and SHMIS . The Head is Kathryn Bell, who succeeded...
near Pontefract
Pontefract
Pontefract is an historic market town in West Yorkshire, England. Traditionally in the West Riding, near the A1 , the M62 motorway and Castleford. It is one of the five towns in the metropolitan borough of the City of Wakefield and has a population of 28,250...
in 1814, he met Isabella Harris, then aged 22, the daughter of the school superintendent, also called Isabella, a widow with six children.
Isabella junior taught reading and writing to the girls of the school for five years, leaving in 1818 to marry Joseph Jackson Lister. She was then 26, and he was 32.
After their marriage, they lived for three years at Tokenhouse Yard, where his wine business was carried on, then for four years at Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
.
In 1821 Lister invested in a trading ship commanded by his brother-in-law.
They then bought Upton House in 1825, a spacious old Queen Anne house with fields and gardens at Upton
West Ham
West Ham is in the London Borough of Newham in London, England. In the west it is a post-industrial neighbourhood abutting the site of the London Olympic Park and in the east it is mostly residential, consisting of Victorian terraced housing interspersed with higher density post-War social housing...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
.
Upton was then a country hamlet to the east of London, close to Hainault
Hainault
Hainault is an area in the London Borough of Redbridge in north east London. It is a suburban development located north east of Charing Cross...
and Epping Forest
Epping Forest
Epping Forest is an area of ancient woodland in south-east England, straddling the border between north-east Greater London and Essex. It is a former royal forest, and is managed by the City of London Corporation....
, and the Barking marshes, and it was a pleasant country walk along the banks of the Thames into London.
Their neighbours were Samuel Gurney
Samuel Gurney
Samuel Gurney was an English banker and philanthropist.He should not be confused with his second son, Samuel , also described as banker and philanthropist, and a Member of Parliament.-Early years and marriage:...
, a Lombard Street
Lombard Street, London
Lombard Street is a street in the City of London.It runs from the corner of the Bank of England at its north-west end, where it meets a major junction including Poultry, King William Street, and Threadneedle Street, south-east to Gracechurch Street....
banker, and his family who lived in Ham House. It was Gurney who had advised Lister to buy Upton House, and the Lister family lived in close contact with the young people growing up at Ham House.
Family
Their children included Mary, 1820–94, who married Rickman Godlee, a barrister of the Inner TempleInner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
in 1845, John, 1822–46, Isabella Sophia, 1823–70, Joseph, 1827–1912, William Henry, 1828–59 and Arthur Hugh, 1830–1908. Joseph
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister
Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister OM, FRS, PC , known as Sir Joseph Lister, Bt., between 1883 and 1897, was a British surgeon and a pioneer of antiseptic surgery, who promoted the idea of sterile surgery while working at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary...
studied medicine, becoming a surgeon and achieving fame and a baronetcy - and later a peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
, becoming Lord Lister - for his work in antisepsis. He operated on his sister Isabella in 1867, performing radical surgery to remove an advanced cancerous breast tumour. She lived for three years after the operation. (Rickman John Godlee, surgeon, a grandson of J J Lister, later wrote a biography of his uncle Joseph.) John Lister died in 1846 from a brain tumour at the age of only 24.
Microscopy
J. J. Lister was deeply interested in natural history, and realised that the microscopes available in the early 19th century did not provide adequate resolution to reveal the structure of plant cells and animal cells in sufficient detail. He therefore set about to design and construct achromaticAchromatic lens
An achromatic lens or achromat is a lens that is designed to limit the effects of chromatic and spherical aberration. Achromatic lenses are corrected to bring two wavelengths into focus in the same plane....
lenses
Lens (optics)
A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...
of superior performance, combining lenses of crown and flint glasses of different dispersion, in order to cancel chromatic aberration
Chromatic aberration
In optics, chromatic aberration is a type of distortion in which there is a failure of a lens to focus all colors to the same convergence point. It occurs because lenses have a different refractive index for different wavelengths of light...
, showing that spherical aberration
Spherical aberration
thumb|right|Spherical aberration. A perfect lens focuses all incoming rays to a point on the [[Optical axis|optic axis]]. A real lens with spherical surfaces suffers from spherical aberration: it focuses rays more tightly if they enter it far from the optic axis than if they enter closer to the...
could be minimised by the correct separation of the lens combinations, which led to the perfection of the optical microscope
Optical microscope
The optical microscope, often referred to as the "light microscope", is a type of microscope which uses visible light and a system of lenses to magnify images of small samples. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly designed in their present compound form in the...
. He performed this work in his spare time, while fully engaged in his wine business. He began this work in 1824, and by 1826 he had commissioned an improved microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
stand to be made by the instrument-making firm of William Tulley.
The stand was made by an employee of Tulley, James Smith, and is preserved in the Wellcome Institute. Smith set up on his own in 1837, later taking on Richard Beck, a nephew of Lister, as an apprentice finally becoming a partner in 1847 when the company was re-named Smith & Beck.
. Lister published his work in 1830 in a paper entitled "On Some Properties in Achromatic Object-Glasses
Objective (optics)
In an optical instrument, the objective is the optical element that gathers light from the object being observed and focuses the light rays to produce a real image. Objectives can be single lenses or mirrors, or combinations of several optical elements. They are used in microscopes, telescopes,...
Applicable to the Improvement of the Microscope" submitted to the Royal Society, and collaborated with Smith and with Andrew Ross, who had established what was to become one of the finest microscope manufacturers in 1832. Lister's law of aplanatic foci remained the underlying principle of microscopic science.
He had a large circle of scientific contacts, including Airy
George Biddell Airy
Sir George Biddell Airy PRS KCB was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881...
, Herschel
Herschel
Herschel is a German surname with the possible meanings:*sorghum or millet for someone working with such cereals*deer for a hunter or as a sobriquet...
and fellow Quaker Dr Thomas Hodgkin
Thomas Hodgkin
Thomas Hodgkin was a British physician, considered one of the most prominent pathologists of his time and a pioneer in preventive medicine. He is now best known for the first account of Hodgkin's disease, a form of lymphoma and blood disease, in 1832...
, with whom he discussed microscopic observations including those of red blood cells, leading to the identification of 'Hodgkin's disease’. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1832. His interest continued, writing a paper in 1843, entitled ‘On the Limit to Defining Power in Vision with the Unassisted Eye, the Telescope
Telescope
A telescope is an instrument that aids in the observation of remote objects by collecting electromagnetic radiation . The first known practical telescopes were invented in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 1600s , using glass lenses...
and the Microscope
Microscope
A microscope is an instrument used to see objects that are too small for the naked eye. The science of investigating small objects using such an instrument is called microscopy...
’. It was never published, but years later it was presented by his son Lord Lister to the Royal Microscopical Society
Royal Microscopical Society
The Royal Microscopical Society is an international scientific society for the promotion of microscopy. RMS draws members from all over the world and is dedicated to advancing science, developing careers and supporting wider understanding of science and microscopy through its Science and Society...
, and seen to have anticipated many of the later discoveries made by Ernst Abbe and others.
Old age
Lister was deeply affected by the premature death of his son John in 1846, and thereafter appears to have given up his optical investigations. Their youngest, and for a long while only daughter left at home had married in 1858, and for six years Joseph and Isabella had lived alone at Upton. Their son William Henry died in 1859 after a long illness on a ship bound for Australia. His wife Isabella, who had long been in poor health, died in September 1864, aged 72. Joseph's remaining five years were lonely, although three of the children lived nearby with many grandchildren, and he observed that "since his own great loss his friends and contemporaries seemed falling like autumn leaves". His chief pleasure during his final years was to receive weekly letters from Joseph in Edinburgh, and to watch his son's advance and the progress of his discoveries.He died aged 84 in October 1869 at home at Upton House, and was buried along with Isabella his wife, in the Friends' Burial Ground, Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
.