Last Friday, I was fortunate enough to be visited by James Forrester of Ontario, Canada, who had come all the way to Durham to track down his ancestors. The Forster family is one that has a long and storied history in the North East, and I note that there are number of Forsters- also known by the variant name 'Foster'- who appear in the various Durham School Registers. The variation of Mr Forrester's name came, I am informed, when the American Revolutionary War necessitated the branch of the family who were Patriots distinguishing themselves from those who were Loyalists. The specific ancestor Mr Forrester was looking for was William Forster, an Old Dunelmian who did not appear in the School Registers, but who definitely attended the school. 

Born in 1690 to Marmaduke Forster, William Forster was part of a particular branch of the Forster family associated with clerks and clergy. Their ancestor was Mark Forster, who was clerk of Durham from 1610. William's uncle Pexall attended Durham School and William followed in his footsteps, joining the school from circa 1700 to 1707. This was at a time that the school was in Palace Green, under Headmaster Burton. A letter he wrote dating from 1717 comments on this period of his life: 

"My Father by name Marmaduke Forster is an Attorney at Law and my Unkel Pexall Forster my Father's Only Brother now living is a Clergy-man and Rector of Eggs-Cliff in the Bishoprick of Durham.. I was Educated in the Free School in Durham under the Reverend Mr. Burton who was then Master there and has since had the Honor to serve the Nation Seven years at Sea three years with her Late Majesty's Letter and the Remainder as—Middship-man…" 

 "The Reverend Mr. Burton" here refers to Nicholas Burton, who was Headmaster of Durham School from 1699 to 1709. This letter was written in 1717 when, after Forster served from 1708 to 1715 in the Royal Navy, he arrived in New York, which at the time was one of the Thirteen Colonies of North America. Soon after settling there, he was persuaded to begin teaching at St. Peter's Church in Westchester Village. He wrote the letter to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, a Christian missionary organisation founded in 1701 that worked to strengthen Christian teachings in the new American colonies. After six months of being schoolmaster, and aware of the funds needed to teach "thirty-three schollars", he wrote the Society with a request. "But the encouragement of the Town is so small that I shall be Obliged to quite the school if I am no Other way subsisted for an Ordinary Labourer get more by his daily work." 

He continued by highlighting the importance of education in a conclusive run-on sentence. "The greatest good that can be done in this countrey towards a Reformation must be by schools to instruct the rising generation in the Principles of Religion and abolish ignorance which is the grand enemy of the Church in these parts for if they be neglected while Children for want of schools the will when grown up be both negligent and ignorant of their duty towards God and Man and by Degrees become prejudiced against all Religion that is truly so Called for indeed Many of them are thro their ignorance led away by the Quakers who tho they may become thereby more observant in their Duty towards men are made rather worse in other respects being taught by them to deny the Commands of Christ in rejecting the use of Sacrements etc., which they did not deny before tho they did not obey them." 

This was all in the hope of receiving some payment from the VSPG, but Forster waited for several months and nothing arrived. Despondent, in November 1718 he sailed to England to reunite with the rest of the Durham Forsters, in the hope that they would help him raise the money. Upon arriving at the VSPG office, he was surprised to find the truth: that his letter had been accepted and he had been awarded 10 pounds sterling a year as well as a packet of books, but the responding letter had not arrived in America. Regardless, on the 20th January 1720 he was given his new salary (approximately £1,800 in today's money) and within three months he was teaching in Westchester again. Forster would later assume the position of Westchester County Clerk from 1722 to 1746, which together with his position of Recorder of the Borough consisted of tasks such as witnessing wills and hearing criminal cases. 

Much of the Forster family attended Durham School; as previously noted, his uncle Pexall Forster was an OD, as was both his first cousin and his first cousin once removed (both called William Forster). Ferdinando Forster, whose unusual death in a duel has been covered in a previous 'From the Archives' article, was also an Old Dunelmian, although he came from the Bamburgh branch of the family. It is heartening to see the old Durham family flourish so well across the pond, truly proving right that line in the Durham School Song, 'From Seaton Sluice to Zanzibar, sing Floreat Dunelmia'. I would like to thank Mr James Forrester for sharing his impeccable and far-reaching research.