Family and Education

s. of Sir Humphrey Forster of Aldermaston by Elizabeth, da. of William, 1st Baron Sandys. educ. Oxf. BA 1540, MA 1543; L. Inn 1542. m. c.1553, Jane, da. of Sir Anthony Hungerford^† of Down Ampney, Glos., 5s. inc. Sir Humphrey 3da. suc. fa. 1556.

Offices Held

Sheriff, Berks. 1569, j.p.q. by 1573.

Biography

Forster had land in Berkshire, Hampshire, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. He was visited at Aldermaston by Queen Elizabeth in 1568. When he was returned for the county his friend and neighbour John Winchcombe was sheriff.

Forster died 10 Jan. 1574. The preamble to his will, expressing his belief in the Trinity and in the forgiveness of sin, concluded with the hope that he might ‘see the glory of [God’s] majesty with the very elect and glorious company of heaven’. Apart from his family and servants, the beneficiaries included Lord Sandys (presumably William, 3rd Baron) and (Sir) Edward Hungerford, a gentleman pensioner who was to marry his widow. Both were overseers to the will. Bequests were made to Salisbury cathedral, the parish church of Aldermaston, the poor and for other charitable purposes.

Vis. Berks. (Harl. Soc. lvi), 208; C142/109/8; Wards 7/15/110; PCC 3 Martyn; E. Ashmole, Berks. i. 22; Machyn Diary (Cam. Soc. xlii), 114; VCH Berks. iii. 335, 389-90, 393; CPR, 1557-8, pp. 340, 457.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: M.N.

Notes

• 1. Did not serve for the full duration of the Parliament.