Balthazar Foster, 1st Baron Ilkeston

Balthazar Walter Foster, 1st Baron Ilkeston PC FRCP (July 17 1840 – February 3 1913) was a British doctor and politician.

Early life and education

He was born to Balthazar Foster and his wife Marian Foster, formerly Marian Green. In 1847 the family moved to Ireland, and Foster was educated at Drogheda Grammar School. In 1857 Foster attended Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied medicine. After graduation he became Prolector of Anatomy at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, but abandoned hopes of a medical career, even going as far as to apply for a naval commission.John Davis, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/41281 ‘Foster, Balthazar Walter, first Baron Ilkeston (1840–1913)’] , "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/41281. Retrieved 2008-08-27] In 1860, however, he was appointed Demonstrator in Practical Anatomy at Queen's College, Birmingham, later being appointed Professor of Anatomy. In 1864 he obtained his MD from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and in the same year married Emily Martha Sargant.

Medical career

On the merger of Queen's and Sydenham colleges in 1868 he was appointed Professor of Medicine, a position he held until 1892. He became a doctor at Birmingham General Hospital, where he was galvanized by what he described as a ‘new atmosphere of modern thought and scientific enterprise’ compared to the traditionalism of medicine in Dublin. He was established as a researcher by a series of articles starting in 1863 covering treatment for Peptic ulcers, Valvular heart disease and Cyanosis. He was the first author in England to publish a text covering premature death among diabetics from ketoacidosis. His most famous research was his efforts to use diethyl ether in the treatment of phthisis. In 1870 he published "Method and Medicine", a defence of scientific research in medicine. This was his last major piece of medical work; in the 1870's he became involved the public health and the social applications of medicine. In 1873 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians(FRCP).

Parliamentary career

In 1885 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Chester [LondonGazette|issue=25541|startpage=6132|date=18 December 1885|accessdate=2008-08-27] as a Liberal candidate with a programme of free education and improved housing for the poor. Although a strong supporter of Joseph Chamberlain, Foster did not reject Irish home rule in 1886 as Chamberlain did. In 1886 he was made President of the National Liberal Federation, where he played a large part in keeping Chamberlain's supporters loyal to William Gladstone. Foster was unseated following the Liberal defeat at the 1886 election, and a knighthood the same year [LondonGazette|issue=25651|startpage=5981|date=30 November 1886|accessdate=2008-08-27] suggested a retirement from politics, but Foster returned to Westminster in 1887, elected for Ilkeston after a by-election. [LondonGazette|issue=25687|startpage=1847|date=29 March 1887|accessdate=2008-08-27] In 1892 he was made parliamentary secretary to the Local Government Board, becoming the first doctor to hold a ministerial post in Britain. He organised the sanitation campaign between 1892 and 1895, which successfully prevented the 1893 Cholera epidemic reaching Britain. When the Liberals returned to power in 1905 some had predicted a return to a cabinet position for him, but he was passed over on grounds of his age. In 1906 he was made a member of the Privy Council. [LondonGazette|issue=27873|startpage=182|date=9 January 1906|accessdate=2008-08-27] After his sixth victory at Ilkeston in 1910 [LondonGazette|issue=26311|startpage=4306|date=29 July 1892|accessdate=2008-08-27] [LondonGazette|issue=26651|startpage=4480|date=9 August 1895|accessdate=2008-08-27] [LondonGazette|issue=27244|startpage=6769|date=6 November 1900|accessdate=2008-08-27] [LondonGazette|issue=27885|startpage=1040|date=13 February 1906|accessdate=2008-08-27] [LondonGazette|issue=28338|startpage=1030|date=11 February 1910|accessdate=2008-08-27] he was asked to vacate his seat to allow J. E. B. Seely, recently defeated in his own constituency, to take his place. Foster took the position of Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, effectively resigning from the House of Commons, and Seely was duly elected in March 1910. [LondonGazette|issue=28347|startpage=1768|date=11 March 1910|accessdate=2008-08-27]

In 1910 he was elevated to the peerage, as "Baron Ilkeston" of Ilkeston in the County of Derby, [LondonGazette|issue=28398|startpage=5269|date=22 July 1910|accessdate=2008-08-27] although he did little in the House of Lords due to his growing ill-health. A bowel obstruction was successfully operated on in 1911, but he died of bowel cancer in 1913.

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