Forster, John
Variant namesBiographical note
John Forster (1812-1876) was one of England's more influential writers and editors. He was born April 2, 1812 in Newcastle, England. At the age of 15, in June 1827, he wrote a singularly clever and elaborate paper entitled A Few Thoughts in Vindication of the Stage. Entering University College in London in 1828 as a law student, Forster became friends with such fellow students as James Emerson Tennent and James Whiteside. He was admitted to the bar in 1843, but seldom practiced law thereafter.
Forster was an editor and a contributor to many magazines and newspapers including The Examiner, Foreign Quarterly Review, Daily News, and the Edinburgh Review. In 1836, the first of his five volumes of Lives of the Statesmen of the Commonwealth was published as part of Lardner's Cyclopaedia. This set included a biography of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford which would cause a controversy concerning authorship after Forster's death. He also published biographies of such notables as Oliver Goldsmith (1854), Landor (1869), and the first volume of a biography of Jonathan Swift (1876). Perhaps his most famous biography, however, was that of his friend Charles Dickens which appeared in three volumes in 1872, 1873, and 1874.
First married to L. E. Landon, a poetess, he became estranged from his wife and on September 12, 1856, married Eliza Ann (Crosbie) Colburn. Eliza was the daughter of Captain Robert Crosbie, R.N., and widow of Henry Colburn, a well-known publisher. There were no children as the result of either marriage.
John Forster died on February 2, 1876. He had been working on the first volume of Life of Jonathan Swift at the time.
From the guide to the John Forster Papers, 1828-1894, (The Huntington Library)
Epithet: of St. Helens, county Lancashire
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Epithet: attorney, of Lincoln's Inn
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Epithet: Archdeacon of London
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Epithet: son-in-law of Sir T Cook
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Epithet: Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland
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Epithet: Warden of the Middle Marches
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Epithet: biographer
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Epithet: alias Forrester; of Stonegarthside
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Epithet: of Add MS 34624
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Epithet: Minister of the Savoy Chapel
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Epithet: of the Temple
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Epithet: junior, administrator of J Ley, late Warden of Tonge College
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Epithet: Warden of the Marches al Foster
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Epithet: of Add MS 31910
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Epithet: of Add MS 29189
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Epithet: barrister and author
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associatedWith | Houghton Library. | corporateBody |
associatedWith | Landor, Walter Savage | person |
correspondedWith | Lever, Charles James, 1806-1872 | person |
associatedWith | Prefecture of Los Angeles | corporateBody |
correspondedWith | Sparks, Jared, 1789-1866 | person |
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