Ralph Forster (21 July 1835 – 17 February 1879) was an English first-class

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er and barrister. The son of Thomas Forster, he was born at Spring Hill in

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

in July 1835. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, before going up to Caius College, Cambridge. While studying at Cambridge, he made a single appearance in first-class cricket for Cambridge University against the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in 1859. A student of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

, he was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in January 1860. During his legal career, Forster wrote the book ''Copyhold and Customary Tenures''. Beginning in 1861, Forster began playing first-class cricket for the MCC, making sixteen appearances to 1870. He had little success in these matches, scoring 117 runs at a low average of 5.85 and a highest score of 40 not out. He married Frances Joanna Stone in December 1862. A

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

, he died at Rome in February 1879 from Bright's disease.Obituary. '' Edinburgh Evening News''. 18 February 1879. p. 2.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Ralph 1835 births 1879 deaths Cricketers from County Durham People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge English cricketers Cambridge University cricketers Members of Lincoln's Inn Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers English justices of the peace Deaths from nephritis