Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster

Infobox Governor-General | name=The Rt Hon. The Lord Forster,
GCMG, PC, DL


order=7th Governor-General of Australia
term_start=6 October 1920
term_end=8 October 1925
predecessor=Sir Ronald Munro-Ferguson
successor=The Lord Stonehaven
birth_date=birth date|1866|1|31|df=y
birth_place=Kent, United Kingdom
death_date=death date and age|1936|1|15|1866|1|31|df=y
death_place=Scotland
spouse=
profession=
religion=

Henry William Forster, 1st Baron Forster, GCMG, PC, DL (31 January 1866 – 15 January 1936), was the seventh Governor-General of Australia

He was born in Kent, England, the son of an Army officer. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1890 he married the Hon Rachel Cecily Douglas-Scott-Montagu, daughter of the 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu.

He was a first-class cricketer and served as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club, one of the most prestigious posts of the English establishment. He was also keen on yachting and horse-racing.

Forster entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks in 1892, as a Conservative. He held junior office in the Conservative Government of Lord Salisbury and in the wartime Coalition government. In 1919 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Forster, of Lepe in the County of Southampton. In June 1920 he was offered the post of Governor-General of Australia, which he accepted. Shortly afterwards, on 28 June 1920, he was appointed Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).

This was the first occasion on which the Australian government was genuinely consulted about the appointment of a Governor-General. The Colonial Secretary, Lord Milner, sent the Prime Minister, Billy Hughes, two other suggested appointments before Hughes approved of Forster. Hughes seems to have preferred Forster because he was a man of modest reputation whom he thought he could control. His reputation as a sportsman was also an asset.

Forster arrived in October 1920. He found that the congenial atmosphere of pre-war Australian politics had been shattered by the bitter battles of the wartime period. Hughes's Nationalist Party dominated the political scene. The Labor Party had moved to the left in opposition and was now anti-imperialist and pacifist, and more markedly socialist.

But Forster played almost no direct role in Australian politics during his five years in the country. There was only one change of government during his term, when Hughes was replaced by Stanley Bruce in February 1923, and Forster took no part in the manoeuverings that led to the change. As Australia became more independent and more confident in its international relations, the role of the Governor-General as an overseer and intermediary declined. Forster's predecessor, Munro-Ferguson, had resisted this trend, but Forster was not a strong enough personality to do so.

Instead Forster's role became more like that of a modern Governor-General: opening fetes, visiting hospitals, attending sporting events, hosting balls and banquets. As a result, he became considerably more popular than most of his predecessors, but exercised less real influence than any of them. Forster and his wife devoted themselves to charities, and Forster spent much time travelling to all the states and country areas, unveiling war memorials and making patriotic speeches. The day of the decorative Governor-General had arrived.

In 1925, a new women's hospital in Redfern, Sydney was named the "Rachel Forster Hospital for Women" in Lady Forster's honour. [ [http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/hansart.nsf/V3Key/LC19960626065] , [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090133b.htm] ] The hospital is now closed and the former site has been redeveloped. [ [http://www.redwatch.org.au/RWA/statesignificant/rachelforster/mprfh Major Project Application - Rachel Forster Hospital MP 07_0029 - On Exhibition — REDWatch - Redfern Eveleigh Darlington Waterloo Watch Group ] ] There is a "Lady Forster Kindergarten" in Port Melbourne, Victoria.

The Forsters departed Australia in October 1925, well liked but unremarked. They settled near Southampton, and lived quietly until Forster's death in 1936. Lady Forster was invested as a Dame Grand Cross, Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1926. She was also invested as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem [ [http://www.thepeerage.com/p6852.htm thePeerage.com - Person Page 6852 ] ] .They had two sons, John Forster and Alfred Henry Forster, who were both killed in the First World War, and two daughters, Dorothy Charlotte Forster and Emily Rachel Forster. Because Lord Forster had no surviving sons, the barony of Forster became extinct.

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