Thomas Forster (1683 – October 1738), of

Adderstone Hall Adderstone Hall () is a privately owned Georgian Grecian mansion situated on the bank of the River Warn near Lucker, Northumberland. It is a Grade II* listed building from which the present owners operate a holiday park. Adderstone was held by ...

, Northumberland, was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in 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. ...

from 1708 to 1716. He served as a general of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising and subsequently fled to France.

Early life

Forster was baptized on 29 March 1683, the eldest son of

Thomas Forster Thomas Forster (1683 – October 1738), of Adderstone Hall, Northumberland, was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1708 to 1716. He served as a general of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising ...

(1659-1725) of Adderstone, MP for

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

from 1705 to 1708. His mother was Frances Forster, daughter of Sir William Forster of

Bamburgh Castle Bamburgh Castle is a castle on the northeast coast of England, by the village of Bamburgh in Northumberland. It is a Grade I listed building. The site was originally the location of a Celtic Brittonic fort known as ''Din Guarie'' and may have ...

. He was educated at Newcastle School, and was admitted at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

on 3 July 1700. In 1701, he inherited, with his aunt Dorothy Crew (wife of Lord Crew, Bishop of Durham) the estates of his uncle Ferdinando Forster, of Bamburgh and

Blanchland Blanchland is a village in Northumberland, England, on the County Durham boundary. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 135. Set beside the river in a wooded section of the Derwent valley, Blanchland is an attractive small ...

. The estates had incurred substantial debts, and in 1704 the creditors instituted actions in Chancery to force the heirs to sell them.

Career

Forster was returned as

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

. In 1709 he and his aunt, sold the indebted estates to his aunt's husband, Bishop Crewe, and were left with very little of the proceeds. In 1710 he voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell. At the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

he was returned again himself for Northumberland in a contest and tried unsuccessfully to return Tory candidates at Berwick-upon-Tweed and Morpeth. He was listed as one of the ‘Tory patriots’ who had opposed the continuation of the war, and one of the ‘worthy patriots’ who had helped to detect the mismanagements of the previous ministry. He supported the efforts of the

Earl of Hertford Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

and James Lowther, both Whigs, in carrying forward a bill to regulate trade on the border with Scotland. On 18 June 1713, he voted in favour of the French commerce bill. He was returned again at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

but was inactive in Parliament. He was returned as MP for Northumberland at the

1715 British general election The 1715 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of the 5th Parliament of Great Britain to be held, after the 1707 merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. In October 1714, soon afte ...

but his activities were diverted into supporting the Jacobite cause.

Jacobite rebellion and exile

The Forsters were cousins to the Radcliffes. The head of the family

Lord Derwentwater Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...

, himself a cousin of

the Old Pretender James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II and VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his second wife, Mary of Modena. He was Prince of Wales fro ...

, was a leader of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. Forster met up with Lord Derwentwater in Northumberland at the head of 300 horse, and proclaimed the Pretender at Warkworth after evading arrest in London on 21 September 1715 on a charge of being ‘engaged in a design to support the intended invasion of the kingdom’. After an unsuccessful attempt on Newcastle he joined another body of rebels north of the border and a detachment from Mar's army. Although having no military experience, Forster, as a Protestant, was elected to lead all Jacobite forces in England. Under his direction

Lancelot Errington Lancelot Errington, also ''Launcelot'' or ''Lancelott'', (1657–1745) was a master mariner noted for his capture of Lindisfarne during the Jacobite rising of 1715. Background After the Glorious Revolution of 1688–89 resulted in the Catholic ...

captured the island of

Lindisfarne Lindisfarne, also called Holy Island, is a tidal island off the northeast coast of England, which constitutes the civil parish of Holy Island in Northumberland. Holy Island has a recorded history from the 6th century AD; it was an important ...

. Forster relied on advice from

Henry Oxburgh Henry Oxburgh (died 1716) was an Irish soldier and Jacobite who was one of the leaders of the Jacobite rising of 1715 in England. Captured by forces loyal to the Hanoverian Dynasty following the Battle of Preston, he was executed at Tyburn for ...

, an Irish former soldier. The Jacobites moved southwest from Northumberland into

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, but were faced with converging forces of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

under

Charles Wills General Sir Charles Wills (October 166625 December 1741) was a professional soldier from Cornwall, who was Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance and Member of Parliament for Totnes from 1718 to 1741. He began his military career in 1689, serving s ...

and George Carpenter. In November 1715 Forster was heavily defeated at the Battle of Preston and surrendered. He was imprisoned in

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, t ...

, but escaped to France in 1716. The details of his escape and the text of the royal

proclamation A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...

ordering his arrest were published by the contemporary commentator

Boyer Boyer () is a French surname. In rarer cases, it can be a corruption or deliberate alteration of other names. Origins and statistics Boyer is found traditionally along the Mediterranean (Provence, Languedoc), the Rhône valley, Auvergne, Limou ...

(1716). Boyer, Abel, ''Political State of Great Britain'', Volume IX, London, 1716, pp.387-9
Proclamation for apprehending Thomas Forster
/ref> He was attainted and expelled from Parliament on 2 February 1716. Several of his former comrades including Derwentwater and Oxburgh were executed. Forster managed to reach Paris, where he was sent money by William Dicconson, the Pretender's treasurer. He then joined the English Jacobites at the Stuart court, where he was made steward of the Household. He had been excepted from the Act of Indemnity, and his brother John succeeded to Adderstone in 1725. His nephew Thomas remarked, in correspondence, that he held out ‘little hopes’ of his ‘getting anything from the succession’. After the Pretender moved to Avignon from Rome he summoned Forster there in October 1727.

Death and legacy

Forster died unmarried in

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

, France on 27 October 1738, aged 55. His body, after being initially buried at Boulogne, was returned to England and reburied at Bamburgh on 7 December.

Physical description

Forster was described as follows in the 1716 royal

ordering his arrest: A person of middle stature, inclining to be fat, well shaped except that he has stoops in the shoulders, fair complexioned, his mouth wide, his nose pretty large, his eyes grey, speaks the northern dialect".

References

External links

''Northumbrian Jacobites''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, Thomas 1683 births 1738 deaths British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 British MPs 1715–1722 English Jacobites Escapees from England and Wales detention History of Northumberland Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies People of the Jacobite rising of 1715 High Sheriffs of Northumberland Tory members of the Parliament of Great Britain Expelled members of the Parliament of Great Britain People from Northumberland