Thomas Forster

Thomas Forster (29 March 1683 – October 1738) was a Northumbrian politician and landowner, who served as 'General' of the Jacobite army in the 1715 Uprising.

He was a member of the prominent Forster family of Bamburgh and Adderstone Hall which provided several Governors of Bamburgh Castle and High Sheriffs of Northumberland.

He was the son of Thomas Forster (1659-1725) of Adderstone, who was Member of Parliament for Northumberland 1705-1708 and High Sheriff of Northumberland in 1703. His mother was Frances Forster, daughter of Sir William Forster of Bamburgh Castle.

He was Tory Member of Parliament (MP) for Northumberland 1708-1716. He was, in 1700, co-heir, with his aunt Dorothy Crew wife of Lord Crew, Bishop of Durham, of the estates of Bamburgh and Blanchland which had been bankrupted by financial extravagance. Although Lord Crew purchased the forfeited estates and settled the debts the heirs were comparatively impoverished.

The Forsters were cousins to the Radcliffes the head of which family Lord Derwentwater, himself a cousin of the Old Pretender, was leader of the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion. Although a Protestant, with no military experience, Forster was elected to lead the Jacobite army.

The Jacobite army was heavily defeated at the Battle of Preston and surrendered. Forster was imprisoned in Newgate Prison but escaped to France where he served at the exiled court of the Old Pretender.

Forster was attainted and expelled from Parliament in 1716. He died in France. His body was returned to England and buried at Bamburgh.

References

* "History and Antiquities of North Durham" (1852) Rev James Raine, page 307
* [http://www.northumbrianjacobites.org.uk/biogs/thomasfo.htm Northumbrian Jacobites]
* [http://www.stirnet.com/HTML/genie/british/ff/forster02.htm Pedigree of Forster]
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