| Matthew Forster | |
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed | |
| In office 1 July 1841 – 25 April 1853Serving with John Stapleton (1852–1853) John Campbell Renton (1847–1852) Richard Hodgson (1841–1847) | |
| Preceded by | William Holmes Richard Hodgson |
| Succeeded by | Dudley Marjoribanks John Forster |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1786 |
| Died | (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Whig |
Matthew Forster (1786 – 2 September 1869) was a British Whig politician and merchant.
Forster was elected Whig MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed at the 1841 general election and held the seat until 1853 when he was unseated due to bribery and treating during the 1852 general election. At the ensuing by-election, his son John Forster was elected as a Whig candidate. Forster attempted to regain the seat at the 1857 general election but ranked bottom of the poll.
Forster, "a wealthy and highly respected ship-owner and merchant" had mining interests, as a senior partner in Forster, Smith and Company, in both south County Durham and The Gambia.
In 1840 Richard Robert Madden (the Special Commissioner of Inquiry into the British Settlements on the West Coast of Africa) reported that Forster was one of the London-based merchants who were actively (and illegally) helping the slave traders. However, Forster managed to escape criminal prosecution. In 1841 there was a change of government, and the new government chose not to send the matter to the Queen's Bench, but to a House of Commons committee that Forster himself was part of. Unsurprisingly, this committee rejected most of Madden's findings.
References
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
- "The Berwick Election and Mr. Richard Hodgson". Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury. 30 April 1853. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Wickham, Michael John (2002). "Electoral Politics in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, 1832–1885" (PDF). Durham E-Theses Online. Durham University. p. 44. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- Craig, F. W. S., ed. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1832-1885 (e-book) (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Press. ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.
- Perfect, David (2016). Historical Dictionary of The Gambia (Fifth ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield. p. 156. ISBN 9781442265226. Retrieved 8 April 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Boyd, Andrew (2005). "The Life and Times of R. R. Madden". Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society. 20 (2): 150. doi:10.2307/29742754. ISSN 0488-0196. JSTOR 29742754.
- Miller, Lucasta (5 March 2019). L. E. L.: the lost life and scandalous death of Letitia Elizabeth Landon, the celebrated "female Byron". ISBN 9780375412783. OCLC 1040169641.
External links
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded byWilliam Holmes Richard Hodgson |
Member of Parliament for Berwick-upon-Tweed 1841–1853 With: John Stapleton (1852–1853) John Campbell Renton (1847–1852) Richard Hodgson (1841–1847) |
Succeeded byDudley Marjoribanks John Forster |
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