Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster

Forster was born at Southend Hall, Catford, Kent, the son of Major John Forster, an Army officer. He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford.[1] He was a first-class cricketer who played for Oxford University and Hampshire, as well as for various amateur teams as a lower-order right-handed batsman and an orthodox left-arm spin bowler.[2] He served as president of the Marylebone Cricket Club. He was also keen on yachting and horse-racing.

Forster entered the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks at the 1892 general election.[3] He held that seat until 1918,[4] when he was elected for the new Bromley constituency.[5] In 1901, he was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Kent.[6] He served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from August 1902 to 1905 in the Conservative Government of Arthur Balfour,[7] and as Financial Secretary to the War Office from 1915 to 1919 in the wartime coalition government. In 1919 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Forster, of Lepe in the County of Southampton.[8]

In June 1920 Forster 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, Ronald 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 Rachel 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.[9] The hospital is now closed and the former site has been redeveloped.[10] There is a "Lady Forster Kindergarten" in Elwood, Victoria, named after Lady Forster who was a leading supporter.[11]

The Forsters departed Australia in October 1925, well liked but unremarked.

Lord Forster married the Honourable Rachel Cecily Douglas-Scott-Montagu, daughter of the 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, on 3 June 1890. After Forster's return from Australia they settled near Southampton, and lived quietly until Forster's death in 1936. Lady Forster was invested as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1926 New Years Honours List. She was also invested as a Dame of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.

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 who married George Pitt-Rivers (his first marriage). As Lord Forster had no surviving sons, the barony of Forster became extinct on his death.

Henry Forster died on 15 January 1936 in London, aged 69. Rachel, Lady Foster, GBE, died on 12 April 1962, aged 93 or 94.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry Forster, 1st Baron Forster.

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. London: Dean & Son. p. 380.
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Forster
• Cricinfo profile: Henry Forster
• Lady Forster Kindergarten – Port Melbourne, Australia