Flora Macrae Forster (1896–1981) was a Welsh educator and writer. Forster was born in

St Thomas, Swansea St Thomas is a suburban district and community in Swansea, Wales. It is a mainly residential area which lies east of Swansea city centre across the River Tawe and falls within the St Thomas ward. Fabian Way divides the traditional residential ...

in 1896, the daughter of Joseph and Alice Forster. Joseph Forster was a railway engineer, and was a descendant from Jonathan Forster from Wylam, one of the inventors of the early locomotive '' Puffing Billy''. By 1911 the family were living in Swansea.

Education

Forster attended Dynevor School and was awarded the Mary Ewart Scholarship for English in 1915, enabling her to study at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

for three years. One of her contemporaries, and a friend for the rest of her life, was Margaret Kennedy, author of the 1924 novel '' The Constant Nymph'', who died at Forster's house in Adderbury,

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, in 1967. She also came across an older student from

Rhydcymerau Rhydcymerau is a small village 8.5 kilometres to the south-east of Llanybydder, around the side of Mynydd Llanybydder, in Carmarthenshire, south-west Wales. Rhydcymerau is the birthplace of prominent Welsh writer and nationalist David John Will ...

, Carmarthenshire, David John Williams and there was friendship and correspondence between the two until 1925. The correspondence is held in the DJ Williams Collection at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

. In her correspondence with DJ Williams they discuss the literature of the day and school syllabi. She declined offers from DJ Williams to marry her. She donated a portrait of Henry Griswold Lewis by

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

to Somerville College.

Career

After graduating in 1918 she got a job teaching English and Latin at Newport High School in Newport, Wales. In 1920 she was appointed lecturer at

Barry College Barry College was a Further Education college in Barry, Wales which merged with Coleg Glan Hafren in September 2011 to form the new Cardiff and Vale College. The college admits approximately 10,000 students per year. It is partnered with the Univ ...

. She then went to a job at Homerton College, Cambridge in 1922 and the following year she was appointed another post at a college in Dudley. When in 1931 a new girls' secondary school was established in

Malvern Hall Malvern Hall is an historic, American apartment building that is located in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Located next to McCallum Manor, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. History an ...

, Solihull, she was appointed headmistress and held the position of

Solihull High School for Girls Solihull (, or ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in West Midlands County, England. The town had a population of 126,577 at the 2021 Census. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe i ...

until her retirement in 1961. She was highly regarded in the area and as of 2018 there is still a scholarship offered in her name for students in the Solihull district. Forster died in 1981.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Flora 1896 births 1981 deaths 19th-century Welsh people 19th-century Welsh women 20th-century Welsh writers 20th-century Welsh women writers 20th-century Welsh educators 20th-century women educators Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford People from Swansea Welsh women educators People educated at Dynevor School, Swansea British letter writers Women letter writers