[ Abraham Brothers
] [ Armitt Sisters
] [ Arnolds ] [
Herbert Bell ] [
J W Brunskill ] [
Collingwood Family
] [ W E Forster ] [
William Green ] [
Alfred Heaton Cooper
] [ John Kelsick ] [
Harriet Martineau
] [ Charlotte Mason
]
[ Beatrix Potter ]
[ William Payne ] [
J B Pyne ] [
Canon Rawnsley ] [
The Romans ] [
John Ruskin ] [
Kurt Schwitters ]
[ Josefina de
Vasconcellos ] [
Charles Walmsley ] [
Fred Yates ]
William Edward Forster (1818-1886)
Ambleside Connections...
| William Forster’s connection with Ambleside began with his marriage to Jane Martha Arnold, the first child of Dr. Thomas Arnold (headmaster of Rugby). The Arnolds owned Fox How, near Ambleside and Jane had spent many holidays in the region. In the 1870s William and Jane also bought their own holiday home in Ambleside. Called Fox Ghyll it had previously belonged to the De Quincey family and was very close to Jane’s family home. |
|
Political Career…
William Forster was elected as a Liberal MP in 1861 and served in Gladstone’s cabinet. As Minister for Education he was responsible for the 1870 Education Bill that ‘made it a requirement that there should be a public elementary school under State inspection, available in every district’. He also supported the introduction of secret balloting and guided the bill through parliament. In 1880 he was appointed Chief Secretary to the Viceroy of Ireland. At this time Ireland was in turmoil and Forster was said to have the most unenviable job in Europe. As the violence escalated Forster recommended that the MP Charles Stewart Parnell, leader of the opposition and his associates be imprisoned. Unknown to Forster the Prime Minister then made a deal with Parnell whereby he and his associates would be released on condition that they help the government to restore order. Parnell was freed in April 1882 and Forster resigned his Cabinet Office. Forster returned to London and remained on the backbenches until his death in April 1886.
Bibliography
M. Allott, (ed) 1979, Matthew Arnold: Selected Poems and Prose, Everyman Classics, J M Dent and Sons, London
N. Annam, 1955, ‘The Intellectual Aristocracy’ in J H Plumb (ed), Studies in Social History: A Tribute to G.M. Trevelyan, Longmans, Green and Company, London.
E.Jay and P. Browning, 1993, The Literary Associations of Rydal Church, The Armitt Trust and Rydal Church, Ambleside
T W Moody and R Hawkins, with M Moody, 1988, Florence Arnold-Forster’s Irish Journal, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
T Wemyss Reid, 1888, Life of the Rt Hon W E Forster, 2 vols, Chapman and Hall, London. (Reissued in 1 Vol. By Social Documents Limited, Adams and Dart, Bath, 1970)
J Sutherland, 1990, Mrs Humphrey Ward, Eminent Victorian, Pre-eminent Edwardian, Clarendon Press, Oxford.
M Trevor, 1973, The Arnolds: Thomas Arnold and his Family, The Bodley Head, London.
Margaret and Dennis Warwick, Eminent Victorians, The Forsters of Burley-in-Wharfedale, Burley-in-Wharfedale Local History Group Publications, 1994
Norman Wymer, 1953, Dr Arnold of Rugby, Hale, London
[ Abraham
Brothers ] [
Armitt Sisters ] [
Arnolds ] [ Herbert
Bell ] [ J W
Brunskill ] [
Collingwood Family ] [
W E Forster ] [
William Green ] [
Alfred Heaton Cooper
] [ John Kelsick ] [
Harriet Martineau
] [ Charlotte Mason
]
[ Beatrix Potter ]
[ William Payne ] [
J B Pyne ] [
Canon Rawnsley ] [
The Romans ] [
John Ruskin ] [
Kurt Schwitters ]
[ Josefina de
Vasconcellos ] [
Charles Walmsley ] [
Fred Yates ]