biography
| name: |
Forster, William Edward
|
| sex:
| male
|
| lived:
| (1818–86)
|
| biography:
| British statesman, born in Bradpole, Dorset, S England, UK. During the Irish famine of 1845 he visited the distressed districts as almoner of a Quaker relief fund. He entered Parliament as a Liberal MP in 1861, rose to cabinet rank and in 1870 carried the Elementary Education Act. Under the Gladstone administration of 1880 he was chief secretary for Ireland. He was a severe critic of Parnell and, determined to re-establish law and order, had him and other Irish leaders arrested. When in 1882 a majority of the cabinet determined to release the ‘suspects’, he resigned. |
|
|
