Thomas Humphry Ward

“ With them were imprisoned a certain number of men of a superior class, who were believed, on evidence sufficient to convince the government, to be guilty of incitement to murder and of organising intimidation. In Ireland Forster had to face the performance of what he believed to be a duty, but of the most distressing kind. He had to hurry backwards and forwards between London and Dublin, and within a few hours of giving his instructions in Dublin Castle to face the fire of hostile 'questions' in the House of Commons. ”

“ He therefore proposed to create an entirely new local authority called the School Board. The board was to have the power of providing necessary school accommodation, and of directing its own schools, subject to the ultimate control of the education department. At first Forster proposed that school boards should be chosen by popular election in London, and elsewhere by town councils and vestries, but he soon adopted direct popular election in all cases. ”

“ Here, overlooking the beautiful river, he built a house, Wharfeside, which he always regarded as his home till the end of his life. In the ten following years Forster frequently appeared on platforms at Leeds and Bradford, discussing the interests of the working classes, parliamentary reform, or American slavery. After the dissolution in 1859 he was invited by the liberals of Leeds to come forward with Mr. Baines. Forster, though afterwards regarded as par excellence the conservative type of liberal, was chosen as the candidate of the advanced party. ”

“ A strong liberal, he was for meeting the chartists halfway, and his efforts in Bradford are believed to have had no little effect in preventing the extreme men among the chartists of that town from resorting to violence. He even attended a great meeting of chartists at Bradford, and, in his own words, 'roared from the top of a wagon to six or eight thousand people for nearly three quarters of an hour, and pushed a strong moral force resolution down their throats, at the cost of much physical force exertion' on his own part. ”

“ Disraeli's Reform Bill, and he rejoiced as much as any one when that measure passed into law as an act for conferring household suffrage in the boroughs.
In 1867 he made his first visit to the East; he saw Constantinople, Smyrna, Athens, and Corfu, and formed opinions to which he gave utterance when the Eastern question once more became acute. After the general election of November 1868 Mr. Gladstone became prime minister, and Forster was appointed a privy councillor and vice-president of the council. ”

“ His death was greatly mourned, and even at a time of bitter political antagonism, when old ties were being broken in all directions, and when many of those who had once worked with him regarded him as their most formidable political opponent, it was admitted on all sides that a man of lofty character had passed away. ”