![Augustus John Foster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Augustus_John_Foster.jpg)
Sir Augustus John Foster, 1st Baronet, (1 or 4 December 1780 – 1 August 1848) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
diplomat and politician. Born into a notable British family, Foster served in a variety of diplomatic functions in
continental Europe and the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, interrupted by a short stint as a Member of Parliament. He wrote about his American experiences in ''Notes on the United States of America''.
Early life and family
Foster was born in 1780, possibly in
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and went on to study at
Drogheda Grammar School
Drogheda Grammar School is an Irish co-educational multi-denominational school, located on Mornington Road, Drogheda, County Louth.
History
Drogheda Grammar School was founded under Royal Charter in 1669 by Erasmus Smith and is one of the ol ...
and
Christ Church, Oxford. He enjoyed a comfortable social situation; his father was the Irish MP for
Ennis,
John Thomas Foster
John Thomas Foster (1747 – 10 October 1796), of Dunleer, was an Irish politician.
He was the son of Rev Thomas Foster, Rector of Dunleer and Dorothy née Burgh.Burke's Peerage (See Mssereene and Ferrard) Foster was elected member to the Irish ...
(d. 1796), first cousin of
John Foster and
William Foster, and his mother
Elizabeth Hervey, who would later go on to marry
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire
William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire, (14 December 1748 – 29 July 1811), was a British nobleman, aristocrat, and politician. He was the eldest son of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, by his wife, the heiress Lady Charlotte B ...
, was herself the daughter of
Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol
Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol, (1 August 1730 – 8 July 1803), was an 18th-century Anglican prelate.
Elected Bishop of Cloyne in 1767 and translated to the see of Derry in 1768, Hervey served as Lord Bishop of Derry until ...
. Augustus had one older brother, Frederick (1777–1853) and an elder sister Elizabeth (b. 1778), who died several days after birth, as well as two illegitimate half-siblings. Augustus's parents separated in 1781, at which time he and his brother remained in the care of his father.
On 18 March 1815, one year after his arrival in Denmark, he married Albina Jane Hobart. (b. 2 May 1788 d. 28 May 1867) daughter of Hon. George Vere Hobart (b. 1761 d. 5 December 1802), second son of
George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire
George Hobart
George Hobart, 3rd Earl of Buckinghamshire (8 September 173114 November 1804) was a British peer, styled The Honourable George Hobart from 1733 until 1793.
Life
Hobart was the son of John Hobart, 1st Earl of Buckinghamshire by his ...
, having previously courted
Anne Isabella Milbanke
Anne Isabella Noel Byron, 11th Baroness Wentworth and Baroness Byron (''née'' Milbanke; 17 May 1792 – 16 May 1860), nicknamed Annabella and commonly known as Lady Byron, was wife of poet George Gordon Byron, more commonly known as Lord Byro ...
(later 11th
Baroness Wentworth and wife of
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and has been regarded as among the ...
). They would go on to have three sons:
* Frederick George (2nd Bt) (b. 3 January 1816 d. 25 December 1857),
* Cavendish Harvey (Rev'd) (3rd Bt) (b. 7 May 1817 d. 27 Nov 1890) and
*
Vere Henry Louis (the philanthropist and educationalist) (b. 25 April 1819 d. 21 December 1900).
Career
Between roughly 1802 and 1804 Foster served as the Secretary to British legation,
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
,
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In 1805 he was sent to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
as the Secretary to British legation, leaving in 1807 to become British chargé d'affaires,
Stockholm,
Sweden from 1808 to 1810. He was sent back to America in 1811 as
Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, and while there penned letters to
President Madison and his cabinet protesting American incursions in Spanish
West
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
and
East Florida
East Florida ( es, Florida Oriental) was a colony of Great Britain from 1763 to 1783 and a province of Spanish Florida from 1783 to 1821. Great Britain gained control of the long-established Spanish colony of ''La Florida'' in 1763 as part of ...
.
He returned to Britain in 1812 with the outbreak of the
War of 1812
The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...
, where he was promptly elected by
Cockermouth
Cockermouth is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Allerdale in Cumbria, England, so named because it is at the confluence of the River Cocker as it flows into the River Derwent. The mid-2010 census estimates state that Cocke ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
.
In 1814 he left for
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
, where he would serve as
British minister plenipotentiary until 1824.
In 1822 he became a
Privy Councillor. Following his decade in Denmark, he returned to Italy as
British minister plenipotentiary to Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia where he would stay from 1824 to 1840. During this time he was knighted by
King George IV
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...
(1825) and named Baronet of Glyde Court,
Ardee
Ardee (; , ) is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. It is located at the intersection of the N2, N52, and N33 roads. The town shows evidence of development from the thirteenth century onward but as a result of the continued deve ...
(1831), a town in
County Louth, Ireland.
Later life
Ending his service in Turin and his career in the
British diplomatic service
His Majesty's Diplomatic Service (HMDS) is the diplomatic service of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dealing with foreign affairs and representing British interests overseas, as opposed to the Home Civil Service, which ...
in 1840, Foster began drafting his ''Notes on the United States of America''.
Foster died in 1848 after cutting his throat at
Branksea Castle; he had suffered from delirium because of poor health, and his death was ruled as the result of temporary insanity. His ''Notes on the United States of America'' would be rediscovered in a cupboard of his family's home in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
in the 1930s, and published posthumously.
Ancestry
Works
*
*
References
*
*
*
External links
*
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Augustus John
1780 births
1848 deaths
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1812–1818
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Suicides by sharp instrument in England
Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Denmark
British politicians who committed suicide
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
1840s suicides