Vere Henry Louis Foster (or Lewis) (25 April 1819 – 21 December 1900) was an English educationist and philanthropist.

Life

Born in

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 ...

on 25 April 1819, he was the third son of Sir Augustus John Foster, 1st Baronet and his wife, Albinia Jane (died 28 May 1867), daughter of George Vere Hobart, and granddaughter 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 ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 30 May 1838. Leaving Oxford without a degree, Foster joined the diplomatic service. From 1842 to 1843 he was attached to the diplomatic mission of

Sir Henry Ellis Sir Henry Ellis (29 November 177715 January 1869) was an English librarian and antiquarian, for a long period principal librarian at the British Museum. Early years Born in London, Henry Ellis was educated at the Mercers' School, and at Merch ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, and from 1845 to 1847 to that of Sir William Gore Ouseley in Montevideo. In 1847 Foster visited a family estate in County Louth, Ireland at the time of the Great Famine, with his eldest brother, Sir Frederick George Foster. They became involved in famine relief. In 1848 their father died, Vere Foster underwent a crisis in his life, and he came to concentrate on philanthropy in Ireland. Foster made three voyages to the United States as a

steerage Steerage is a term for the lowest category of passenger accommodation in a ship. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century considerable numbers of persons travelled from their homeland to seek a new life elsewhere, in many cases North America ...

passenger in a ship of emigrants, finding the accommodation bad, and the treatment of emigrants exploitative. Through his cousin Vere Hobart, Lord Hobart he was able to influence parliament, and the Passengers Act 1851. He also took practical steps to promote Irish emigration to the USA. Later, Foster took up the improvement of education in Ireland. This was a time of Catholic suspicion of the national education system introduced by Richard Whately. Foster contributed to the provision of better school accommodation and apparatus, and gave grants in aid of building several hundred new school-houses. In 1879, with the

Land War The Land War ( ga, Cogadh na Talún) was a period of agrarian agitation in rural Ireland (then wholly part of the United Kingdom) that began in 1879. It may refer specifically to the first and most intense period of agitation between 1879 and 18 ...

in Ireland, Foster concentrated on promoting female emigration to the United States and the British colonies. Young women were assisted, numbering 18,000 in 1880–3. He was supported in his projects by both Catholic and Protestant clergy. Vere Foster plaque, Belfast - geograph

Foster died, unmarried, at Belfast on 21 December 1900. He was buried in

Belfast City Cemetery Belfast City Cemetery ( ga, Reilig Chathair Bhéal Feirste) is a large cemetery in west Belfast, Northern Ireland. It lies within the townland of Ballymurphy, between Falls Road and Springfield Road, near Milltown Cemetery. It is maintained by ...

.Belfast City Cemetery
belfastcity.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2020.

Works

Foster was known also for a series of copybooks widely used in the United Kingdom, designed for Irish pupils: * ''Elementary Drawing Copybooks'', 1868. * ''Copybooks'', 1870. * ''Drawing Copybooks'', 1870. * ''Advanced Water-colour Drawing'', 1872. * ''Public School Writing Copybooks'', 1881. * ''Simple Lessons in Watercolour'', 1883. * ''Drawing Books ... in Pencil and Watercolours'', 1884. * ''Painting for Beginners'', 1884. * ''Upright Writing Charts'', 1897. In 1898 he edited, as ''The Two Duchesses'', the family correspondence of

Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (née Spencer; ; 7 June 1757 – 30 March 1806), was an English aristocrat, socialite, political organiser, author, and activist. Born into the Spencer family, married into the Cavendish family, she wa ...

(1757–1806) and

Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Elizabeth Christiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire (13 May 1758 – 30 March 1824) was an English aristocrat and letter writer. She is best known as Lady Elizabeth Foster, the close friend of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire. Eliza ...

(1759–1824).

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Vere Henry Louis 1819 births 1900 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford English philanthropists English educational theorists 19th-century British philanthropists Burials at Belfast City Cemetery Younger sons of baronets

Life

Works

Further reading

References