The New International Encyclopædia/Forster, William

FOR'STER, William (1784-1854). An English philanthropist, born at Tottenham, near London. He became a preacher in the Society of Friends, labored as such in the United States, England, and France, and in 1846 went to Ireland to relieve the distress there caused by famine. In 1849 he was commissioned by the Quaker Yearly Meeting in London to present an address on slavery and the slave trade to rulers of the Christian nations, and within the next few years he had interviews with nearly all the monarchs of Europe, with the President of the United States, and with the Governors of a number of the Southern States. Consult Seebohm (editor), Memoirs of the Life of William Forster (2 vols., London, 1865).