[3] Initially, Lyster attended the Wesleyan Connexional School, which was founded by a group of Methodists Ministers in 1845 at St Stephens Green.

[6] By 1893 he had edited and published his first original work, an anthology of Poetry titled “English Poems for young students” which ended up becoming an intermediate certificate text.

[7] In 1878, shortly after graduating university, Thomas Lyster officially joined the National Library of Ireland, and would be appointed assistant librarian at only twenty-three years of age.

[6] Lyster would later endorse reading materials for young children, providing them with designated spaces in the library, with books on topics such as poetry, geography, and science.

[6] The same year that Thomas Lyster retired from his position as the director of the National Library of Ireland in 1920, he married Jane Robinson Campbell, on 28 December in Dublin.

[16][17] Thomas and Jane were married for just under two years when Lyster died on 12 December 1922 at his home, 10 Harcourt Terrace, Dublin.

[18] Following his death Thomas William Lyster was remembered again in Oliver St John Gogarty's novel "As I Was Going Down Sackville Street".

The text of the plaque was also composed by Yeats, who was not only a prominent member of the society but also a close friend of Lyster, the two attending many library openings and events together.

The memorial, a bronze plaque with silver inscriptions by George Atkinson, was installed near the entry to the main reading room.

[22] His wife, Jane Robinson Lyster, established a bequest in 1946 in his memory within his alma mater Trinity College Dublin.