FORSTER, Thomas II, of Lincoln.

This MP may well have been related to the John Forster of Lincoln who, in October 1383, was made bailiff-itinerant of Lincolnshire in return for his loyal service to Edward III and the Black Prince during various military campaigns.CPR, 1381-5, p. 317; 1396-9, p. 153. He was himself living in the city by January 1388, when he was convicted of the murder of a local man named Thomas Skipper. A royal pardon was, however, accorded to him a few months later, thanks to the personal intervention of Robert, Lord Willoughby, before whom his case had been tried. Forster possessed a life interest in a messuage in the suburbs of Lincoln, the reversion of which was set aside in August 1392 for the maintenance of the fabric of the cathedral. He was evidently on close terms with the wealthy merchant, Robert Sutton, for whom he stood surety in the court of Chancery in 1398, during the course of a property dispute. Little else is known about his more personal affairs, save that in February 1412 the vicar of Corringham was pardoned a sentence of outlawry incurred for his failure to appear in court when being sued by Forster and four associates for a debt of £40.C143/422/15; Lincoln Rec. Soc. lvi. 69; CPR, 1385-9, p. 524; 1391-6, p. 140; 1408-13, p. 332; CCR, 1396-9, p. 424.