John Lister Kaye (cricketer)

Sir John Lister Kaye of Grange in the West Riding of Yorkshire (1772–28 February 1827) was a noted amateur cricketer in the late 18th century. His career spanned the 1787 to 1798 seasons and he played mainly for Marylebone Cricket Club and Surrey. He made 12 known appearances in first-class cricket matches.

He later changed his name to John Lister-Kaye and was created 1st Baronet Lister-Kaye in December 1812 when he inherited the Lister estates by will. See Kaye Baronets for information on the baronetcy. He lived at Denby Grange near Wakefield, Yorkshire. One of his sons, George Lister-Kaye (1803–1871), made a single first-class cricket appearance for Sussex in 1828.

John Lister Kaye was born at Denby Grange, in Wakefield of the West Riding. He was the sole heir to the two families of Lister and Kaye, ancient Yorkshire pedigrees stretching back into the middle ages. According to tradition the family was descended from one of King Arthur's Knights of the Round Table. The original feudal lord was Sir John Kaye, a knight who came over with William the Conqueror and married the daughter of Sir John of Woodsham. His grandson married the heiress of Crompton, Lancashire thus establishing the two main branches of Kaye in the northern Palatinates. One son of Kaye married into the Tory squires family, Danby knights of Massham. On 4 February 1641 Sir John of Woodsome duly rode out in support of King Charles I and was created a baronet for his services to the Royalist army. On Christmas Day 1809 the baronetcy was temporarily extinct on the death without issue of the 5th baronet. The title devolved upon his brother, Very Rev Richard Kaye, Dean of Lincoln Cathedral. Having no legitimate children of his own he left the entire estate to his natural son.

Sir John's acquisition of landed estates devised on him was the cause for entitlement as a baronetcy, when George III revived the title by patent on 28 December 1812. These included the Manors of Burton (or Kirkburton), Woodsham, Shelley and other lands in Yorkshire. The country was at war with France and under very serious threat of invasion. The Yorkshire squirearchy were designated responsibility for being officers of the local militia mobilised to keep law and order and police the coasts of England, as nightwatchmen. Their powers had been created by parliament in the Militia Act 1757, which remained in force for a century.

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