William Henry Foster (Lancaster) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

William Henry Foster (1848 – 27 March 1908) was a British businessman and Conservative Party

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

politician, who owned the Black Dyke Mills in West Yorkshire and lived in Hornby Castle

Hornby Castle, Lancashire

Hornby Castle is a country house, developed from a medieval castle, standing to the east of the village of Hornby in the Lune Valley, Lancashire, England. It occupies a position overlooking the village in a curve of the River Wenning...

in Lancashire. He sat in the House of Commons from 1895 to 1900.

Career

Foster was the son of William Foster, of Hornby Castle and of Queensbury

Queensbury, West Yorkshire

Queensbury is a village in the metropolitan borough of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Perched on a high vantage point above Clayton and Thornton and overlooking Bradford itself, Queensbury is one of the highest parishes in England, with fine views beyond the West Yorkshire conurbation to the...

, near Bradford

Bradford

Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...

in West Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

. He was educated in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

and abroad, and entered the family's textile business, becoming a director of John Foster and Son Ltd in Queensbury, and other businesses.

The family's Black Dyke Mills, which dominated the village of Queensbury, became one of the world's largest makers of worsted

Worsted

Worsted , is the name of a yarn, the cloth made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from the village of Worstead in the English county of Norfolk...

cloth. The firm had been founded by his grandfather John Foster (born 1798), who had retired to Hornby Castle and passed the company to his son William (1821–1884).

Foster was appointed as High Sheriff of Lancashire

High Sheriff of Lancashire

The High Sheriff of Lancashire is an ancient officer, now largely ceremonial, granted to Lancashire, a county in North West England. High Shrievalties are the oldest secular titles under the Crown, in England and Wales...

in June 1891, after the death of George Preston, and in September 1892 he became a Deputy Lieutenant

Deputy Lieutenant

In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....

of the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

. He served in the militia as the Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2nd West Yorkshire Yeomanry Cavalry until his retirement in 1892, with the honorary rank of Colonel.

Politics

He was elected at the 1895 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1895

The United Kingdom general election of 1895 was held from 13 July - 7 August 1895. It was won by the Conservatives led by Lord Salisbury who formed an alliance with the Liberal Unionist Party and had a large majority over the Liberals, led by Lord Rosebery...

as the Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

(MP) for the Lancaster division

Lancaster (UK Parliament constituency)

Lancaster was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1867, centred on the historic city of Lancaster in north-west England...

of Lancashire. He had been approached in 1893 to stand for Lancaster, but a local meeting selected someone else, and Foster withdrew. However in August that year another local meeting asked him to stand, and an announcement was made to that effect, but he was not formally adopted as a candidate until 29 June 1895.

After his victory on 19 July 1895, an election petition

Election petition

An election petition refers to the procedure for challenging the result of a Parliamentary election or local government election in the United Kingdom and in Hong Kong.- Outcomes :...

was lodged, alleging that Foster and his election agent

Election agent

In elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in certain other similar political systems such as India's, an election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent to by those running the election. In elections in...

s were guilty of "bribery, treating and other corrupt practices". The full list of 117 charges (of which 32 were struck out by the judges) included allegations included 26 cases of treating, 14 of bribery, 13 prohibited persons voting, and that Foster had offered voters employment at his mills in Queensbury

Queensbury, West Yorkshire

. In the hearings at Lancaster Castle

Lancaster Castle

Lancaster Castle is a medieval castle located in Lancaster in the English county of Lancashire. Its early history is unclear, but may have been founded in the 11th century on the site of a Roman fort overlooking a crossing of the River Lune. In 1164, the Honour of Lancaster, including the...

, Foster denied the charges, telling the court that at a meeting where his record as an employer had been attacked, he had said that work was available at the mills. Judgment was delivered on 24 January, when all the charges against Foster were dismissed and the petitioners ordered to bear his costs. The crucial issue had been when Foster became a candidate; if the court had found that he was adopted earlier, then his expenses in promoting the Conservative Party in Lancaster before June 1895 should have been included in his election return, although his agent said that this would not have pushed his total expenditure over the limit of £1,400.

Foster held the Lancaster seat until his defeat at the 1900 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1900

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

by the narrow margin of 44 votes (0.4% of the total). He stood again in 1906

United Kingdom general election, 1906

-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

, but was defeated again, this time by a wider margin of 884 votes (7.2%).

Family

In 1879 Foster married Henrietta, the daughter of Canon J.H. Warneford of Warneford Place in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

and All Saints Vicarage in Halifax

Halifax, West Yorkshire

Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...

.

Foster died on 27 March 1908, aged 60. His funeral was held in Hornby

Hornby-with-Farleton

Hornby-with-Farleton is a civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England. It had a population of 729 recorded in the 2001 census,. The parish is north east of Lancaster and consists of two villages: Hornby and Farleton, both on the A683 road...

, and a special train brought the Lord Mayor

Lord Mayor

The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...

and other local dignitaries from Bradford. The funeral was also attended by Lancaster's MP Norval Helme, and its Lord Mayor. Over 200 wreaths were sent.

External links

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