John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel
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John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel (1740 - 23 August 1828) was an Irish politician.
He was the son of Anthony Foster of Louth, an Irish judge. He was elected MP to the Irish House of Commons in 1761, and made his mark in financial and commercial questions, being appointed Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1784. His law giving bounties on the exportation of corn and imposing heavy taxes on its importation is noted by William Lecky as responsible for making Ireland an arable instead of a pasture country. In 1785 he became Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
He opposed the Union, and ultimately refused to surrender the Speaker's mace, which was kept by his family. He was returned to the united parliament as a member for County Louth, and in 1804 became Irish Chancellor of the Exchequer under Pitt. In 1821 he was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Oriel of Ferrard in the county of Louth, and died on the 23rd of August 1828.
His wife (d. 1824) had in 1790 been created an Irish peeress, as Baroness Oriel, and in 1797 Viscountess Ferrard; and their son, Thomas Henry (1772-1843), who married Viscountess Massereene (in her own right) and took the name of Skeffington, inherited all these titles; the later Viscounts Massereene being their descendants.
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
| Preceded by New Creation |
Baron Oriel | Succeeded by Thomas Skeffington |
[edit] References
APW Malcomson: "John Foster: The politics of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy" ISBN 0-19-920087-4 ,504 pages - 1978 Oxford: Oxford University Press
[edit] More information
Foster papers Online at the Northern Ireland Public Records Office http://www.proni.gov.uk/records/private/fosmass.htm
