Thomas Forster (Jacobite)

Thomas Forster (Jacobite) was an English landowner and Whig Member of Parliament who became a prominent Jacobite commander during the 1715 Rising. Born into a recusant Yorkshire family with links to northern Catholic gentry, he moved between networks that included the Northumberland, Durham aristocracy and Roman Catholic recusant circles, ultimately accepting a leadership role that intertwined with the politics of the Hanoverian succession, the Jacobite movement, and the court politics of George I and supporters of the Stuart claim.

Early life and background

Forster was born circa 1683 into a landed family associated with the estates in Northumberland and Yorkshire, whose lineage intersected with established recusant families that included ties to the Percy family and other northern houses such as the Sauerwick and Vauxes. Educated in the regional gentry milieu, he moved in the social circles of figures like Charles Radclyffe, the Derwentwater family, and the Northumberland faction, which placed him amid interactions with parliamentary politics represented by constituencies such as Newcastle upon Tyne and networks around the Whigs and the Tories in the late Stuart and early Hanoverian years. His social position gave him acquaintance with leading Catholic families, clerical figures associated with the Catholic community, and landed magnates who later played roles in Jacobite plotting.

Political and Jacobite affiliations

Although originally identified with local Whig alignments and elected as a Member of Parliament for a constituency tied to northern interests, Forster’s sympathies shifted toward the Jacobite cause as the succession crisis following the death of Queen Anne unfolded. He entered correspondence and plotting with notable Jacobite leaders including the exiled “Old Pretender” and agents such as Thomas Percy and John Erskine, Earl of Mar. Forster’s network linked him to continental supporters of the Stuarts in France, contacts with agents operating from St Ouen and Catholic émigré circles, and domestic conspirators who had served under figures like Dundee during earlier Jacobite activity. These affiliations placed him at the intersection of the Jacobite command structure, landed influence in Northumberland and Durham, and the wider European diplomatic maneuvers involving Louis XIV and later French ministers.

Role in the 1715 Rising

In the 1715 Rising Forster assumed command of the Jacobite forces in Northumberland and County Durham, taking over a field role amid the invasion plans coordinated by the Earl of Mar and the planned landing of the Old Pretender. Leading troops that included clansmen, gentry retainers, and militia elements from places such as Alnwick and Bamburgh, Forster confronted Crown forces under officers loyal to George I and commanders like General Wills and James Stanhope. He presided over defensive positions and engaged in the campaign that culminated at the Battle of Preston, where Jacobite forces were besieged in the town against government units including elements raised from Lancashire and supported by artillery under Crown command. The surrender at Preston resulted in Forster’s capture alongside other leaders such as Earl of Derwentwater and several nobles, concluding his active military role in the rising.

Exile, captivity, and later life

Following the collapse of the 1715 Rising Forster was taken into custody and transported to London for trial alongside prominent prisoners such as the Earl of Derwentwater and Lord Nithsdale’s associates. Although many Jacobite peers faced attainder and execution, Forster avoided hanging largely through legal advocacy in the courts of King’s Bench and by interventions among sympathizers in Westminster and with influential figures in the House of Commons. After periods of detention and legal proceedings he was released from formal capital sentence but was effectively proscribed; some accounts record attempts to seek refuge among continental contacts in France, Spain, and the Dutch Republic before he ultimately lived under restrictions and moved between northern estates and obscure exile. He spent his later years distancing himself from active conspiracy, living quietly on family lands until his death in 1738, while contemporaries like Lord Mar and other Jacobite exiles continued to agitate on the Continent.

Legacy and historical assessment

Historians assess Forster as a representative figure of northern Catholic gentry whose mixed identity—landowner, MP, and reluctant military commander—embodied the complexities of the Jacobite movement in early 18th-century Britain. Scholarship situates his role at Preston and in the 1715 campaign within analyses of the Jacobite rebellions, the failures of coordinated uprisings, and the impact upon families such as the Radclyffe family and Fell family in northern society. Forster’s career is discussed in studies of the Hanoverian succession, legal prosecutions in the aftermath of dynastic conflict, and the politico-religious networks connecting the Stuart court in exile with British Catholic and nonjuring constituencies, including clergy associated with the nonjuring schism. His personal papers and references in contemporaneous correspondence provide source material for historians of the period examining the intersection of local power in Northumberland, allegiance to the Stuart claim, and the legal repercussions meted out by ministers aligned with Robert Walpole and other early Georgian statesmen.

Category:Jacobite rising of 1715 Category:18th-century English people Category:People from Northumberland