The only son of a Quaker, William Edward Forster prospered as a textile mill owner
near Bradford.
As he created a mill school and board of health for his own workers, he interested
himself in matters such the Irish famine and the plight of Indigenous peoples,
particularly in South Africa. Elected to Parliament as a Liberal
MP in
1861, he became parliamentary undersecretary of state for the colonies for the government
of
Earl Russell
during its final months from
November 1865 to June
1866. Returning to government as vice-president of council,
Forster advanced and cajoled the Elementary Education Act through Parliament in
1870. In
1880 he was appointed chief secretary for Ireland, but his conflicts with Irish nationalist
politician Charles Stewart Parnell on elements of land reform led him to resign in
1882.