Colonel Forster 1822 – 1910
Always referred to as simply Colonel Forster, Lieutenant Colonel Francis Rowland Forster was constantly by Sisi’s side when she came to Ireland. He accompanied Empress Elisabeth whilst hunting and represented the Viceroy at official welcomes and departures from the island.
Colonel Forster was Master of the Horse, the fourth most-important official in the Viceroy’s (Lord Lieutenant) household. He served many Viceroys including Earl Spencer and the Duke of Marlborough.
Forster joined the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards and served with distinction in the Crimean War from October 1854 to July 1855. He was present at the battles of Balaclava and Inkerman and at the siege of Sebastapol. Colonel Forster was made Lieutenant Colonel in 1865 and effectively retired from the army in 1865.
In Dublin he took up the post of Master of the Horse five years before Empress Elisabeth went to Ireland and he served in the post for more than 25 years. Colonel Forster also became Chief Ranger of the Curragh, the home of Irish horse racing.
Forster served on Balrothery District Council. He was a supporter of the Liberals but did not agree with Gladstone on Home Rule for Ireland. In 1899 Colonel Forster told the council that if he could believe that Home Rule would not mean civil war he would gladly support it. The Nationalists dominated the council’s membership and in 1908 Colonel Forster was attacked for donating £15 to the cause of unionism.
He was buried at Mount Jerome Cemetery in South Dublin.
Picture: Irish Viceroy’s House where Colonel Forster worked. Now Irish President’s House. By William Murphy – Flickr: Phoenix Park – Áras an Uachtaráin, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15764995
© Sisi in England
https://theirishaesthete.com/tag/garrettstown/
Personal note: search canisgallicus.com O’Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forster Sept. Names follow in families. I can’t seem to find Francis Rowland’s family and wonder if he is related.
Forster family genealogy
of County Galway
John O’Hart
Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation.
1892 (5th Edition)
Volume 2
Libarary Ireland HISTORY GENEALOGY CULTURE
CAPTAIN Francis Forster, Chief of Cloonene, who died 22nd September, 1698, married the daughter of Sir James O’Donnellan, Lord Chief Justice of Connaught, in 1637 (son of Chief of Clan Bresal), and had:
2. Major James Forster, High Sheriff of the county Galway in 1689-99, who married Eleanor, daughter of Colonel Gerald Burke of Tyaquin Castle, Co. Galway, and had:
1. John Forster of Crushnabawn, who d.s.p. in Dublin in 1702. This John married Mary, daughter of Charles Lambert, Esq., an adherent of King James II, and killed at Derry in 1689.
II. Captain Forster, of whom presently.
3. Captain Francis Forster, of Rathorpe; went to France after the Treaty of Limerick, returned in 1693 a Colonel. Succeeded to Cloonene on the death of his elder brother, s.p.; he died in 1720, leaving ten children, from whom the late Captain Blake Forster, of Forster-street, Galways was descened.
4. James Forster, deceased, that eldest son.
Enter my mother’s family lore. See link: https://canisgallicus.com/2015/03/26/publication-family-history-galway-vindicator-1866-the-odonnellan-ffrench-blake-forsters/
canisgallicus 