FORSTER, Charles (1815-1891), of Lysways Hall, near Lichfield, Staffordshire

Exaggeratedly described by the Whig grandee Edward John Littleton, 1st baron Hatherton, as ‘the Whipper-in of Bright’s party & … an avowed enemy of “the territorial aristocracy”’, Forster was an ‘almost … silent’ Liberal MP, who expended most of his time in committees on private and public business.1Hatherton Journal, 18 Apr. 1859, Staffordshire Record Office, D260/M/F/7/5/26/81; The Times, 27 July 1891. Forster’s Conservative father Charles Smith Forster (1784-1850) had been a distinguished country banker at Walsall, twice mayor of that town and its first MP, 1832-7. Forster was, however, groomed for a legal career, and served on the Oxford circuit after being called to the bar in 1843.

In 1847 Forster contested Walsall, competing against Hatherton’s heir. This was against the wishes of his father, who told Hatherton that his son ‘greatly to my annoyance and regret, had been put forward as a candidate by that party of low Radicals which had on former occasions caused so much mischief and tumult in the borough’.2Charles Smith Forster to Lord Hatherton, 29 Mar. 1847, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/7/5/27/17. During the campaign, Forster employed ‘shameful treating’ and brought a crony from the Oxford circuit to assist him by standing as a Conservative candidate, when really he was in league with Forster.3Hatherton Journal, 29, 30 July 1847, 1 Aug. 1847, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/7/5/26/43; The Times, 27 July 1891. Although he offered as a Liberal, Forster, like his father, retained a degree of ambiguity. His opponent claimed that he ‘had been utterly at a loss to discover what were the real opinions of Mr. Forster’, who ‘was a Conservative amongst that party, a Chartist amongst the Radicals, and a moderate Reformer’ when addressing local Whigs.4Staffordshire Advertiser, 31 July 1847. Although he was narrowly beaten, Forster was returned unopposed on the retirement of his former adversary at the 1852 general election, when he expressed support for free trade, the abolition of church rates and the ‘complete revision’ of the Irish church, but promised not to vote for the abolition of the Maynooth grant while other endowments remained.5Staffordshire Advertiser, 10 July 1852.

Forster voted in the free trade majorities during the 1852-53 session, in which he was present for over half of all divisions, including against Disraeli’s budget, 16 Dec. 1852.6Hampshire Telegraph, 21 Sept. 1853. His maiden speech commended Gladstone’s budget, especially for reducing tea duty and remitting taxation generally, 29 Apr. 1853.7Hansard, 29 Apr. 1853, vol. 126, cc. 831-2. His Radical inclinations were indicated by his support for Milner Gibson’s motions to repeal the remaining taxes on knowledge, 14 Apr. 1853. A firm advocate of religious liberty, Forster, an Anglican, regularly cast votes in favour of the abolition of church rates, Jewish emancipation, and against Spooner’s anti-Maynooth motions. He spoke up for the ballot to protect the ‘timid voter’, 13 June 1854, and suggested that more disenfranchisement bills were necessary as merely suspending new writs appeared to have done little to deter electoral corruption.8Hansard, 13 June 1854, vol. 134, cc. 73-4.

In 1854 Forster introduced the payment of wages bill, intended to enforce the payment of wages in cash and tighten existing laws against truck payment.9CJ, cix. 74, 90. The bill was opposed on laissez-faire grounds by some Radicals including Joseph Hume and John Bright, but after its second reading it was referred to a select committee, which Forster chaired.10Ibid., 134, 426-7; PP 1854 (382), xvi. 2; Hansard, 16 Feb. 1854, vol. 130, cc. 757-61; 15 Mar. 1854, vol. 131, cc. 830-3. The following year, Forster reintroduced his bill, incorporating the committee’s amendments, but it was discharged.11Hansard, 20 Mar. 1855, vol. 137, c. 941; CJ, cx. 248, 347. Forster divided in favour of Roebuck’s motion, 29 Jan. 1855, which brought down Aberdeen’s coalition, but thereafter gave ‘general though independent support’ to Palmerston.12Staffordshire Advertiser, 14 Mar. 1857. He unsuccessfully moved the defeat of the 1856 police bill, which he described as a ‘stepping stone to … centralisation’, and the following year supported Palmerston against Cobden’s Canton motion, 3 Mar. 1857.13Hansard, 10 Mar. 1856, vol. 140, cc. 2148, 2188-90. At the ensuing general election, when he was returned without opposition, Forster praised the Liberal premier as ‘the man who had the courage and tact to compel Russia to terms’, although he regretted that the Crimean War had delayed ‘great measures of domestic reform’.14Staffordshire Advertiser, 28 Mar. 1857.

Forster departed from his Palmerstonian line by dividing against the conspiracy to murder bill which prompted the resignation of the Liberal ministry, 19 Feb. 1858. Later that year he drew attention to the inconvenience of the House sitting over the summer due to the stench from the Thames, which was ‘injurious to the health and feelings of the members’. Furthermore, legislation was poorly scrutinised after July, and for these reasons a November to June session would be preferable.15Hansard, 9 July 1858, vol. 141, cc. 1185-7. At the 1859 general election Forster was returned after repelling a strong Conservative challenge. Hatherton, who possessed local influence, was indifferent to his fate even when the leading Whig Lord Granville reassured him that ‘the whips say that Forster is very practicable, and almost always votes right when it comes to the point’.16Lord Granville to Lord Hatherton, 21 Apr. 1859, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/7/5/27/34. Although he also pleaded for Hatherton to aid Forster, the veteran election agent Joseph Parkes nevertheless described the Walsall MP as a ‘silly billy’ and a ‘little whirligig ... [who] must take the consequences of his ultra opinions & loose tongue’.17Joseph Parkes to Lord Hatherton, 19, 24 Apr. 1859, Staffs. RO, D260/M/F/7/5/27/34.

Although Forster’s occasionally radical election rhetoric was followed up by votes for further parliamentary reform and the abolition of church rates, he was, as Granville recognised, generally a loyal supporter of the Liberal leadership. He urged the modification of income tax, 5 Feb. 1863, but otherwise made few spoken contributions.18Hansard, 5 Feb. 1863, vol. 169, c. 112. He withdrew his 1864 bill to abolish the forfeiture of goods and lands for convicted felons, but the government bill the following year in similar terms was dropped before the second reading.19Hansard, 20 Apr. 1864, vol. 174, c. 1397; 15 June 1864, vol. 175, cc. 1800-2; 15 July 1864, vol. 176, cc. 1597-8; PP 1864 (21), ii. 105-6; CJ, cxix. 66, 326, 437; ibid., cxx. 244-5, 253, 390.

Forster was increasingly preoccupied with his duties as chairman of the private bill committee, having taken over ‘the conduct of the private business of the House since the death of that estimable man Mr. Brotherton’ in 1857.20Birmingham Daily Post, 20 Apr. 1859. To expedite business he proposed reducing the number of MPs on private bills from four to three, 9 Feb. 1865.21Hansard, 9 Feb. 1865, vol. 177, cc. 99-101, 112. Although unsuccessful, Palmerston later paid tribute to Forster, ‘who has devoted all his time, in a Session which I believe has been more productive of Private Business than almost any other of this Parliament, to the discharge of these duties’, 4 July 1865.22Hansard, 4 July 1865, vol. 180, c. 1164. For further praise of Forster’s efficiency and assiduity, see T.E. May, A treatise on the law, privileges, proceedings, and usage of Parliament (9th edn., 1883), 785; ‘Inside the House of Commons’, Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, cxxi (1877), 25-46 (at 29). In the same session Forster became chairman of the select committee on public petitions, a position he held until his death. He took a hard line on forged or fictitious signatures, and in the case of a City of London petition in support of the claims of Prince Azeem Jah, successfully pressed for the miscreants to be taken into custody by the serjeant at arms as punishment for their contempt for the House and to deter others.23Hansard, 16 Mar. 1865, vol. 177, cc. 1735-6; 2, 8 June 1865, vol. 179, cc. 1230-2, 1245-6, 1247, 1267.

At the 1865 general election, when he was returned unopposed, Forster praised Gladstone’s financial policy, especially the reduction of income tax, the Anglo-French trade treaty and other government measures, although he regretted the failure to pass a reform bill.24Birmingham Daily Post, 11, 13 July 1865. He endorsed the Liberal government’s reform bill in 1866, and the following year cast votes for the enfranchising clauses of the representation of the people bill, the disenfranchisement of small boroughs and increasing the representation of the largest boroughs. His bill to reduce delay in divorce cases became law as the 1868 Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Court Act (31 & 32 Vict., c. 77).25Hansard, 6 May 1868, vol. 191, c. 1873; CJ, cxxiii. 74, 156, 186, 198, 203, 344, 346, 376; PP 1867-68 (50), ii. 181-4.

Forster was created a baronet in 1874. As well as remaining chairman of the select committee on public petitions, he was a good Liberal host with Gladstone ‘being a frequent guest at his political dinners’.26The Times, 27 July 1891. A director of the South Staffordshire Railway, Forster represented Walsall until his death in 1891.27Dod’s parliamentary companion (1854), 182. He was succeeded in turn by his sons Charles Forster (1841-1914), 2nd baronet, and Francis Villiers Forster (1850-1930), 3rd baronet, upon whose death the baronetcy became extinct.28Burke’s peerage and baronetage (1931), 993.