Matthew Forster
Matthew Forster | |
|---|---|
William Holmes Richard Hodgson | |
| Succeeded by | Dudley Marjoribanks John Forster |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1786 |
| Died | (aged 83) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Whig |
Matthew Forster (1786 – 2 September 1869)[1] was a British Whig politician and merchant.
Forster was elected Whig MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed at the 1841 general election and held the seat until 1853 when he was unseated due to bribery and treating during the 1852 general election.[2] At the ensuing by-election, his son John Forster was elected as a Whig candidate.[3] Forster attempted to regain the seat at the 1857 general election but ranked bottom of the poll.[4]
Forster, "a wealthy and highly respected ship-owner and merchant" had mining interests, as a senior partner in Forster, Smith and Company, in both south County Durham and The Gambia.[3][5]
In 1840 Richard Robert Madden (the Special Commissioner of Inquiry into the British Settlements on the West Coast of Africa) reported that Forster was one of the London-based merchants who were actively (and illegally) helping the slave traders.[6] However, Forster managed to escape criminal prosecution. In 1841 there was a change of government, and the new government chose not to send the matter to the Queen's Bench, but to a House of Commons committee that Forster himself was part of.[6] Unsurprisingly, this committee rejected most of Madden's findings.[7]
References
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
- ^ "The Berwick Election and Mr. Richard Hodgson". Newcastle Guardian and Tyne Mercury. 30 April 1853. p. 5. Retrieved 8 April 2018 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b Wickham, Michael John (2002). "Electoral Politics in Berwick-Upon-Tweed, 1832–1885" (PDF). Durham E-Theses Online. Durham University. p. 44. Retrieved 8 April 2018.
- ISBN 978-1-349-02349-3.[page needed]
- ISBN 9781442265226. Retrieved 8 April 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ JSTOR 29742754.
- OCLC 1040169641.
External links
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