Thomas Furly Forster

Thomas Furly Forster (5 September 1761 – 28 October 1825) was an English botanist. Life Forster was born in Bond Street, Walbrook, on 5 September 1761, the eldest son of Edward Forster the Elder and his wife Susanna Furney. His father retired to Walthamstow in 1764, and, being an admirer of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, brought up his son on his principles. From his uncle Benjamin Forster he acquired a taste for antiquities, coins, prints, and plants. He was introduced to the Linnean system of classification by the Rev. John Dixon, and was further encouraged in his studies by Joseph Cockfield of Upton, Michael Tyson, Sir John Cullum, and Richard Warner, author of the Plantæ Woodfordienses (1771). Forster was one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society, and he visited Tunbridge Wells annually. From 1796 to 1823 he mainly resided at Clapton, and, as he had grown hardy plants in his home at Walthamstow, then devoted himself to greenhouse exotics, giving assistance to the Loddiges family in establishing their nursery in Hackney. In 1823 Forster, with his brother Benjamin, joined the committee of the Anti-Slavery Society. That year he moved to Walthamstow on the death of his mother, and died there 28 October 1825. He was a member of many scientific and philanthropic societies, and among his friends were Richard Porson and Richard Gough, as well as botanists: Sir James Edward Smith, Sir Joseph Banks, Jonas Dryander, James Dickson, Robert Brown, and Adam Afzelius.