Matthew FORSTER
- Born: 1786
- Died: 1869
- Grave/memorial: XB 215
Merchant, shipowner and underwriter; MP for Berwick on Tweed 1841-53; he was also a reformer and an advocate of Free Trade. He contributed to the abolition of the West African Slave Trade by importing palm oil from the area for lubricating railway axles. This proved more profitable to the African chiefs than exporting their own people as slaves. Forster lived at Belsize House from the 1830s.
Lived: Belsize House
Reference: Buried in Hampstead, Camden History Society 1986