Author. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he was educated at the grammar school in Newcastle, of which he became the captain. Shortly after his sixteenth birthday, his play "Charles at Tunbridge" was performed at the Newcastle Theatre. He went on to study at University College, London, and the Inner Temple. From 1833 to 1847, he was the literary and dramatic critic of The Examiner, and was then appointed the editor of that magazine, which post he held until 1856, when he resigned upon being appointed the Secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy, at a salary of £800 per annum. On the 24th. September 1856, he married Eliza Ann Crosbie, the daughter of a Captain in the Royal Navy and the widow of the publisher, Henry Colburn. In November 1861, he was himself appointed a Commisioner of Lunacy, at a salary of £1,500 p.a. His first biography, a life of Oliver Goldsmith, had appeared in 1848; this was followed in 1869 by a life of Walter Savage Landor. In 1872, because of poor health, he resigned the office of Lunacy Commissioner. In the same year, the first of the three volumes of his Life of Charles Dickens appeared; Forster had been the executor of Dickens's will, and is thought to have been the original of Mr. Podsnap in "Our Mutual Friend." The first volume of his Life of Jonathan Swift was issued in January 1876, but the work was never completed because, in the following month, Forster died, and was buried on the 6th. February at Kensal Green, next to his sister Elizabeth. His will, which he had made in 1874, left eighteen thousand books, known as "the Forster Collection" to the nation; this includes the manuscripts of every Dickens novel, except for "A Christmas Carol", and is now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is buried just to the South-East of the chapel. Unfortunately, most of the letters have fallen off from the inscription, on the South side of the monument.
Author. Born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he was educated at the grammar school in Newcastle, of which he became the captain. Shortly after his sixteenth birthday, his play "Charles at Tunbridge" was performed at the Newcastle Theatre. He went on to study at University College, London, and the Inner Temple. From 1833 to 1847, he was the literary and dramatic critic of The Examiner, and was then appointed the editor of that magazine, which post he held until 1856, when he resigned upon being appointed the Secretary to the Commissioners of Lunacy, at a salary of £800 per annum. On the 24th. September 1856, he married Eliza Ann Crosbie, the daughter of a Captain in the Royal Navy and the widow of the publisher, Henry Colburn. In November 1861, he was himself appointed a Commisioner of Lunacy, at a salary of £1,500 p.a. His first biography, a life of Oliver Goldsmith, had appeared in 1848; this was followed in 1869 by a life of Walter Savage Landor. In 1872, because of poor health, he resigned the office of Lunacy Commissioner. In the same year, the first of the three volumes of his Life of Charles Dickens appeared; Forster had been the executor of Dickens's will, and is thought to have been the original of Mr. Podsnap in "Our Mutual Friend." The first volume of his Life of Jonathan Swift was issued in January 1876, but the work was never completed because, in the following month, Forster died, and was buried on the 6th. February at Kensal Green, next to his sister Elizabeth. His will, which he had made in 1874, left eighteen thousand books, known as "the Forster Collection" to the nation; this includes the manuscripts of every Dickens novel, except for "A Christmas Carol", and is now held by the Victoria and Albert Museum. He is buried just to the South-East of the chapel. Unfortunately, most of the letters have fallen off from the inscription, on the South side of the monument.
Bio by: Iain MacFarlaine
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