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Clan Forrester

BLAW HUNTER BLAW THY HORN


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Scottish History

of Foster Family


Ancient roots

Both a locational and an occupational surname, ‘Forrester’ originally denoted someone who lived in or near a forest, or worked in a forest.

Found from earliest times throughout the length and breadth of the present-day United Kingdom, it was particularly prevalent in the north of England and the Midlothian and Stirlingshire areas of the Scottish Lowlands.

One theory is that those Forresters of today of Scottish descent may boast ancient Celtic/Druidic roots through a descent from Marnin the Forester, who is known to have held lands in Dunipace, Stirlingshire, at the turn of the thirteenth century.

Whatever their origins, what is known with certainty is that it is from an early date that the Forresters began to appear in the historical record.

An Archebaldus Forrester is recorded in Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, in 1164, while John le Forester, a Berwickshire landowner, appears in the infamous Ragman Roll of 1296.

Scotland had been thrown into crisis ten years before this date, with the death of Alexander II and the death four years later of his successor, the Maid of Norway, who died while en route to Scotland to take up the crown.

John Balliol was enthroned at Scone as King of Scots in 1292 – but fatefully for the nation the ambitious Edward I of England had been invited to arbitrate in the bitter dispute over the succession to the throne, and the hapless Balliol was Edward’s chosen man.

The Scots rose in revolt against the imperialist designs of the English king in July of 1296 but, living up to his reputation of ‘Hammer of the Scots’, he brought the entire nation under his subjugation little less than a month later, garrisoning strategic locations throughout the nation.

To reinforce his domination of Scotland, 1,500 earls, bishops, burgesses and other landowners were required to sign the humiliating treaty of fealty known as the Ragman Roll, because of the number of ribbons that dangled from the seals of the reluctant signatories.

It is on this document that the name of John le Forester is found – indicating that by this period he was judged as being in the higher ranks of Scottish society.

There are two main branches of the Forresters in Scotland – Clan Forrester of Corstorphine, in Edinburgh, and the Forresters of Garden, in Stirlingshire.

Although considered today to be an armigerous clan, meaning that they now have no officially recognised Chief, for centuries the Chiefs of the Name were the Forresters of Corstorphine, where they held Corstorphine Castle.

The founder of the clan is recognised as Sir Adam Forrester – who was not only a merchant, provost of Edinburgh and ambassador, but also entrusted with the honoured post of Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland.

His son, Sir John Forrester, was also honoured as Keeper of the Great Seal, in addition to Chamberlain of Scotland and Keeper of the Household of James I.

In 1633, Sir George Forrester, 10th Chief of Clan Forrester, was raised to the peerage as the 1st Lord of Corstorphine after being created a Baronet of Nova Scotia.

James VI first granted these baronetcies in 1624 to Scots of substance who were willing to invest in what was Scotland’s first attempt to establish a colony in North America.

The area for proposed colonisation took in not only present-day Nova Scotia but also New Brunswick and the territory between there and the St Lawrence River.

Nearly forty Scottish magnates, initially, were granted allotments of territory and, although not physically required to take up possession of their distant new lands, a special ceremony was enacted on the Castle Hill of Edinburgh.

It was here that a small area was designated ‘Nova Scotia’ to allow them to formally take ‘possession’ of their land and be duly honoured with their baronetcy.

Nova Scotia, in effect, had been ‘incorporated’ into the Scottish kingdom, while the scheme marked the introduction of the honour of baronet to Scotland.

A combination of factors, including the terms of a peace treaty between England and France, led to the colony finally being abandoned in 1632.

The male line of the Forresters of Corstorphine eventually died out and passed through marriage through the female line to the Earls of Verulam.

The barony of Corstorphine finally passed out of Forrester hands in 1869 when it was sold to a John Dickson, remaining in his family for more than 100 years until given to the Corstorphine Trust in 1986.

Nearly twenty years later, in 2005, the barony passed from the trust to Michael John Milne, entitling him to be recognised as 34th Baron of Corstorphine.

Although not officially recognised as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms of Scotland – the ultimate authority on all matters pertaining to Scottish heraldry – the ‘Chief’ of Clan Forrester today is Sir John Duncan Grimston, 7th Earl of Verulam and 16th Lord Forrester of Corstorphine.

With his seat at Gorhamburg, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, he is the patron of the proud Clan Forrester Society.

Other cadet branches of the Forresters of Corstorphine are the Forresters of Niddry and the two French cadet branches of Le Forestier de Foucrainville, in Normandy, and Le Forestier du Buisson-Sainte-Marguerite, founded through descendants of Sir Adam Forrester.

The other main branch of Clan Forrester is the Forresters of Garden, Stirlingshire, who were hereditary keepers of what was the great royal forest and hunting ground of Torwood, near Bannockburn.

Rather intriguingly, part of Torwood once held a sacred grove where the Celtic Druids carried out their mysterious ceremonies.

This may explain the tradition, noted above, that Forresters may have Celtic/Druidic links through Marnin the Forester.

Until the advent of the Hanoverian dynasty in the early eighteenth century, the Scottish monarchy was firmly rooted in ancient Celtic culture and tradition.

It was as part of this tradition, for example, that kings were enthroned at Scone on the Stone of Destiny, while a sennachie, or bard, would recite from memory a royal lineage stretching back into the past.

This Celtic tradition may also explain why Forresters had been entrusted as Keepers of the Great Seal – symbolic of the Community of the Realm of Scotland.

Not only custodians of Torwood, the Forresters of Garden also held other high royal positions – with Sir Duncan Forrester, for example, serving as Comptroller to the Royal Household of James IV.

The Forresters of Garden also gave rise to yet another cadet branch, the Forresters of Strathendry, near Leslie, Fife, builders of the sixteenth century Strathendry Castle.

Lasting legacies of both the Forresters of Garden and the Forresters of Corstorphine include the relic known as the Corstorphine Pendant, a magnificent armorial pendant of gilded bronze now on display in the Royal Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Other precious heirlooms include the fifteenth century vellum book of Eastertide Music, Sir Duncan Forrester’s Antiphony, in the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling, where there is also the former private family chapel now known as the Forrester Aisle.

Yet another treasured relic is the Corstorphine Casket, made of carved oak and mounted in silver and thought to have been a gift from Margaret Tudor, wife of James IV, to Sir Duncan Forrester.

On the field of battle

It was from the earliest times that Forresters were prominent on the field of battle, often at great cost to themselves, in defence of Scotland’s freedom.

During the bloody Wars of Independence with England, bearers of the name fought at the side of Robert the Bruce and, in 1333, nineteen years after the great warrior king’s victory at Bannockburn, they were among the ranks of Scots at the battle of Halidon Hill.

Fought in the summer of that year during the Second War of Scottish Independence, a force under the command of Sir Archibald Douglas was heavily defeated by an army of England’s Edward III at Halidon Hill, about two miles north west of Berwick-upon-Tweed.

One contemporary account of the battle, contained in The Lanercost Chronicle, notes how the Scots were mown down in their scores as they attempted to ascend the hill in the face of heavy fire from arrows.

The chronicle states how:

The Scots who marched in the front were so wounded in the face and blinded by the multitude of English arrows that they could not help themselves, and soon began to turn their faces away from the blows of the arrows and fall.

Nearly 70 years later, in 1402, Sir John Forrester, Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, fought at the side of James I at the battle of Homildon Hill, also known as Humbleton Hill, in Northumberland.

A 10,000-strong Scottish force under the command of the colourful Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas, had crossed the border and laid waste most of the northern English area of Northumberland before suffering a decisive defeat – common with the battle of Halidon Hill, largely as a result of the deadly firepower of the skilled English and Welsh archers.

In June of 1488 the Forresters fought in support of the beleaguered James III at the battle of Sauchieburn, about two miles south of Stirling and close to the site of the 1314 battle of Bannockburn.

It was here that a 30,000-strong force loyal to James gave battle to an 18,000-strong force led by a number of powerful and dissident nobles who aimed to put the king’s 15-year-old heir, Prince James, Duke of Rothesay, on the throne.

The battle proved inclusive, but the rebels won the day when James was killed, under mysterious circumstances, after fleeing the battlefield.

One account of his death is that he was killed after being thrown from his horse, while another is that he was stabbed to death by a rebel dressed as a priest.

Whatever the circumstances of his death, his son, who indeed succeeded his father to the throne as James IV, afterwards constantly wore a heavy iron chain around his waist as a decidedly uncomfortable reminder of his role in his father’s death.

In September of 1513, Sir John Forrester of Niddry and Sir David Forrester of Torwood were among the 5,000 Scots – including James IV, an archbishop, two bishops, eleven earls, fifteen barons and 300 knights – killed at the disastrous battle of Flodden.

The Scottish monarch had embarked on the venture after Queen Anne of France, under the terms of the Auld Alliance between Scotland and her nation, appealed to him to ‘break a lance’ on her behalf and act as her chosen knight.

Crossing the border into England at the head of a 25,000-strong army that included 7,500 clansmen and their kinsmen, James engaged a 20,000-strong force commanded by the Earl of Surrey.

Despite their numerical superiority and bravery, however, the Scots proved no match for the skilled English artillery and superior military tactics of Surrey.

Nearly 35 years later, in 1547, Sir James Forrester, 7th Chief of Clan Forrester, was on the field at the equally disastrous battle of Pinkie, near Musselburgh, on Scotland’s east coast, following the invasion of a 25,000-strong English army under the Duke of Somerset.

An estimated 3,000 Scots, including Sir James Forrester, who fought under the leadership of the Earl of Argyll, were killed in the battle.

Although bearers of the Forrester name had proven loyal in their support of the Stuart monarchs, this support faltered after the accession to the throne of the ill-starred daughter of James V, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Along with a number of other Protestant nobles who included Patrick Ruthven, 3rd Lord Ruthven, the Forresters were implicated in the conspiracy to brutally kill the Queen’s Italian private secretary and musician David Rizzio.

It was in March of 1566 that a party of heavily-armed conspirators entered Mary’s private chambers in the Palace of Holyrood, at the foot of Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, and stabbed Rizzio to death in full view of a horrified and seven-months pregnant Queen.

The Forresters also took to the field of battle in opposition to the ill-fated Queen at the battle of Langside in May of 1568.

She had earlier escaped from Lochleven Castle, in which she had been imprisoned after being forced to sign her abdication, by a body known as the Confederate Lords.

A group of nine earls, nine bishops, 18 lairds and others signed a bond declaring their support for her, and both sides met at Langside, near Glasgow.

Mary’s forces, under the command of the Earl of Argyll, had been en route to the mighty bastion of Dumbarton Castle, atop its near inaccessible eminence on Dumbarton Rock, on the Clyde, when it was intercepted by a numerically inferior but tactically superior force led by her half-brother, the Earl of Moray.

Cannon fire had been exchanged between both sides before a force of Argyll’s infantry tried to force a passage through to the village of Langside, but they were fired on by a disciplined body of musketeers and forced to retreat as Moray launched a cavalry charge on their confused ranks.

The battle proved disastrous for Mary and signalled the death knell of her cause, with more than 100 of her supporters killed or captured and Mary forced to flee into what she then naively thought would be the protection of her cousin, England’s Queen Elizabeth – only to be executed on her orders nineteen years later.

Returning to their allegiance to the Stuart cause, the Forresters fought in support of Charles I and his successor Charles II during the bitter seventeenth century wars between King and Covenant.

By the early eighteenth century, however, bearers of the Forrester name were prominent in their support of what had become, following the Act of Union between Scotland and England in 1707, the British cause.

Colonel George Forrester, 5th Lord Forrester of Corstorphine, fought with distinction with the Grenadier and Life Guards during the wars of the Spanish Succession against France.

He was on the field of battle in 1708 at Oudenarde, Flanders, and a year later at Malplaquet – while he was wounded at the battle of Preston during the abortive Jacobite Rising of 1715.

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English History

of Foster Family


Invasion and conquest

A name with a number of possible points of origin, ‘Foster’ has been present in the British Isles since the earliest times.

One derivation is from St. Vedast, also known as St. Vaast or St. Vedastus, venerated in England for centuries as St. Foster.

Born in 453 A.D. in what is now modern-day France but what was then known as the kingdom of the Franks, it was as Bishop of Arras that he was instrumental in the conversion to Christianity of the Frankish king, Clovis.

He died in 540 A.D. at Arras, where the Abbey of St Vaast was later founded to his memory.

Venerated by the Roman Catholic Church, his Feast Day is February 6.

Another source of the name is from the Old English ‘cild-fostre’, denoting either a foster child or foster parent, while some sources assert it stems from the Old French ‘forceter’, indicating someone who made shears.

The most popularly accepted derivation of the name, however, is from the Anglo-French ‘forester’, denoting someone who either lived in or near a forest or worked as a forester.

In this connection, another meaning of the name is ‘the carer of wild lands.’

Popular spelling variants of the name from earliest times up until the present day include ‘Forester’, ‘Forrester’ and ‘Forster’ – proud names in their own right – and it is thought that ‘Foster’ may have gradually evolved from these original names.

This explains why, in early historical records, all four names are practically interchangeable.

Although the name was already present in England, it was a French family of ‘Foresters’, some of whose descendants later became known as ‘Foster’, who first came to prominence in the nation’s historical record.

This was through Sir Richard Forester, a son of Count Baldwin V of Flanders who, in turn, traced a descent from the ninth century Anacher, known as ‘Great Forester of Flanders.’

A brother-in-law of Duke William of Normandy through his sister Matilda’s marriage to this mighty warrior who would become known as William the Conqueror, Richard Forester accompanied him on his invasion of England in 1066 – a key event in the nation’s history.

By 1066, Anglo-Saxon England had become a nation with several powerful competitors to the throne.

In what were extremely complex family, political and military machinations, the monarch was Harold II, who had succeeded to the throne following the death of Edward the Confessor.

But his right to the throne was contested by two powerful competitors – his brother-in-law King Harold Hardrada of Norway, in alliance with Tostig, Harold II’s brother, and Duke William of Normandy.

In what has become known as The Year of Three Battles, Hardrada invaded England and gained victory over the English king on September 20 at the battle of Fulford, in Yorkshire.

Five days later, however, Harold II decisively defeated his brother-in-law and brother at the battle of Stamford Bridge.

But he had little time to celebrate his victory, having to immediately march south from Yorkshire to encounter a mighty invasion force, led by Duke William of Normandy, that had landed at Hastings, in East Sussex.

Harold and his exhausted force confronted the Normans on October 14 in a battle subsequently depicted on the Bayeux tapestry – a 23ft. long strip of embroidered linen thought to have been commissioned eleven years after the event by the Norman Odo of Bayeux.

Harold drew up a strong defensive position at the top of Senlac Hill, building a shield wall to repel Duke William’s cavalry and infantry.

The Normans suffered heavy losses, but through a combination of the deadly skill of their archers and the ferocious determination of their cavalry they eventually won the day.

Anglo-Saxon morale had collapsed on the battlefield as word spread through the ranks that Harold had been killed –the Bayeux Tapestry depicting this as having happened when he was struck by an arrow to the head.

Amidst the carnage of the battlefield, it was difficult to identify Harold – the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings.

Some sources assert William ordered his body to be thrown into the sea, while others state it was secretly buried at Waltham Abbey.

What is known with certainty, however, is that William in celebration of his great victory founded Battle Abbey, near the site of the battle, ordering that the altar be sited on the spot where Harold was believed to have fallen.

William was declared King of England on December 25, and the complete subjugation of his Anglo-Saxon subjects followed.

Those Normans who had fought on his behalf were rewarded with the lands of Anglo-Saxons, and among them was Richard Forester who, knighted by William after the battle of Hastings, was also rewarded with lands at Etherstone, in Northumberland.

An indication of the confusion that for centuries surrounded the ‘Forester’, ‘Forster’ and ‘Foster’ names is that one of Sir Richard’s descendants was a Sir John Forester who also appears in some accounts as ‘’Forster’ and ‘Foster.’

Despite the confusion, however, some bearers of all three names today claim a descent from this warrior who is reputed to have saved the life of England’s King Richard I, better known as ‘Coeur de Lion’ or ‘Lionheart’, during the 1189 to 1193 Third Crusade to the Holy Land.

It was while besieging the Saracen-held stronghold of Acre, near modern-day Haifa, Israel, in 1191, that the king was surrounded by a mounted band of the enemy.

Foster, followed by his retainers, charged forward on his warhorse, lance at the ready, and scattered the surprised group of Saracens – thereby saving the king from death.

The grateful monarch is said to have knighted him on the spot, while he later rewarded him and his descendants with the governorship of the mighty edifice of Bamburgh Castle, on the eastern coast of Northumberland and about fifteen miles north of Alnwick.

Sir John was also one of the powerful English nobles who, in June of 1215 at Runnymede, Surrey, forced King Richard’s successor, John, to sign the famous charter of civil liberties known as the Magna Carta, or Great Charter.

Sir John died in 1220, and one of his descendants, Sir Reginald Forster, fought at the side of King Edward II in what for the English was the disastrous battle of Bannockburn, near Stirling.

This was in June of 1314 when a 20,000-strong English army was defeated by a Scots army commanded by the great warrior king Robert the Bruce.

Honours and distinction

Bearers of the Foster name have gained battle honours far removed from the battlefields of Hastings, the Crusades and Bannockburn, while others have achieved distinction through more peaceful endeavours.

On the battlefields of the First World War of 1914 to 1918, Edward Foster was a recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for valour in the face of enemy action for British and Commonwealth forces.

Born in 1886 in Streatham, London, he had been a corporal in the 13th Battalion, The East Surrey Regiment, when in April of 1917 at the village of Villers-Plouich, France, he performed the actions for which he was awarded the VC.

With his company pinned down by heavy fire from a machine-gun nest, he single-handedly attacked and killed the gunners.

Also awarded France’s Médaille Militaire, he died in 1946, while his VC is now on display in the Imperial War Museum, London.

Born in 1894 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Gary Foster was a First World War recipient of the Medal of Honor, the United States’ highest award for military valour.

A sergeant in the 118th Infantry, 30th Division and, in common with VC recipient Edward Foster, he single-handedly disabled a machine-gun nest; he died in 1951.

In the skies above what was the carnage of the Western Front during the First World War, Lieutenant George Foster, born in 1897 and who died in 1974, was the Canadian flying ace who, credited with seven aerial victories, was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

Another First World War recipient of the DFC was Wing Commander Frank Foster, born in London in 1887 and who died in 1963.

Joining the Royal Navy at the age of 16 and seeing action during the battle of Jutland in May of 1916, he later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, forerunner of the Royal Air Force, and was awarded the DFC for gallantry and devotion to duty.

During the Second World War, William Foster, born in 1917 in Garfield Heights, Ohio, was a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor.

He had been a Private First Class (PFC) in the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division when, during the battle of Okinawa in April of 1945, he performed the actions for which he was awarded the medal.

Dug into a foxhole with another Marine, he and his comrade engaged in a fierce hand grenade ‘duel’ with Japanese troops attempting to infiltrate their lines.

When a grenade landed just beyond reach of their foxhole, Foster leapt out and, diving on it, absorbed its full explosion with his body – saving the life of his comrade.

Away from the field of battle, one particularly intrepid bearer of the Foster name was the early nineteenth century British naval officer Henry Foster, born in 1796, who carried out a number of notable scientific observations and experiments while on expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic.

In one 1824 expedition, as a naval lieutenant aboard HMS Hecla, he carried out not only pioneering observations in astronomy and magnetism but also experiments in pendulum measurements of gravity.

Awarded the prestigious Copley Medal of the scientific think-tank, the Royal Society, and promoted by the Royal Navy to the rank of commander, in 1827 he joined the North Polar Expedition led by Captain William Parry.

In command of HMS Chanticleer from 1828 until his death by drowning in 1831, he led the British Naval Expedition to the South Atlantic that included Deception Island and the South Shetland Islands.

It was while on this expedition that he conducted coastal surveys and examination of ocean currents, while continuing his experiments with pendulum measurements of gravity.

Port Foster, on Deception Island, is named in his honour.

In nineteenth century America, Stephen Foster and his wife Abby were leading abolitionists and social reformers.

Born in Canterbury, New Hampshire in 1809, Stephen Foster, noted for his stirring oratory, established the New Hampshire branch of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Also highly critical of those in the Church establishment who failed to speak out against slavery, he was the author in 1843 of the highly controversial The Brotherhood of Thieves: A True Picture of the American Church and Clergy.

Married to fellow abolitionist and social reformer Abby Foster, née Kelley, born in 1811 in Pelham, Massachusetts, he and his wife also fought for equal rights for women.

Stephen Foster died in 1881, while his wife died seven years later.

Their home of Liberty Farm in Worcester, Massachusetts, that served while they lived there as a temporary haven for runaway slaves, is now a National Historic Landmark.

One bearer of the Foster name who has created an enduring legacy that can be seen on the landscapes of a number of countries throughout the world, is the renowned British architect Norman Foster, honoured in the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Foster of Thames Bank.

Born into a working class family in 1935 in Stockport and moving shortly after his birth to Levenshulme, Manchester, he appeared destined for a career as a clerk with his local city council before, in 1956, he won a place at the University of Manchester’s school of architecture.

Later winning a scholarship to the Yale School of Architecture in the United States, he returned to the United Kingdom in 1963 and shortly afterwards set up the architectural practice Team 4 – forerunner of what is today’s leading international practice of Foster and Partners.

His many landmark buildings throughout the United Kingdom and much further afield include the new Wembley Stadium, London, completed in 2007; the Clyde Auditorium, part of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow; London’s Millennium Bridge; the Hearst Tower in New York City; Hong Kong’s International Airport, and the magnificent London building completed in 2004 known as 30 St Mary Axe.

The recipient of a host of honours and awards that include the 1999 Pritzker Architecture Prize, known as the ‘Nobel Prize of Architecture’, and a Gold Medal from the Association of International Architects (AIA), he is recognised as one of the most prolific architects of his generation.

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