John Forster (British Army officer)

Major-General John Burton Forster CB (1856 – 13 June 1938) was a British Army officer.

John Burton Forster
Born	1856
Died	13 June 1938
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service / branch	British Army
Rank	Major-General
Commands	Kurram-Kohat Force Regimental Districts, Southern Ireland Quetta Brigade 55th (West Lancashire) Division 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division
Battles / wars	Second Anglo-Afghan War Nile Expedition First World War
Awards	Companion of the Order of the Bath

Military career

Educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Forster was commissioned into the Royal Irish Regiment on 23 November 1872.^[1] After seeing action in the Second Anglo-Afghan War in 1879 and then the Nile Expedition in 1884, he became commanding officer of the Kurram-Kohat Force in India in December 1897.^[2] He went on to be Assistant Adjutant-General at the Headquarters of the Bengal Command in 1902, brigadier-general commanding the Regimental Districts in Southern Ireland in May 1907 and commander of the Quetta Brigade in India in April 1910.^[2]

Forster returned to the UK to become General Officer Commanding 55th (West Lancashire) Division in September 1914 at the start of the First World War.^[3] Due to the casualties suffered by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) during the opening months of fighting on the Western Front, the division's volunteers were used as reinforcements. After the division's last remaining infantry formation of volunteers departed, he became General Officer Commanding 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division in April 1915 before retiring in early 1917.^[2] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 24 January 1917.^[4]

He was honorary colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment from 1918 to 1922.^[5]

References

1. "No. 23922". The London Gazette. 22 November 1872. p. 5452.
2. "JB Forster". Old Wellingtonian Lodge. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
3. "Army Commands" (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2020.
4. "No. 29916". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 January 1917. p. 923.
5. "The Royal Irish Regiment". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 10 January 2006. Retrieved 9 July 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)

Military offices
Preceded by Frederick Hammersley	GOC 55th (West Lancashire) Infantry Division 1914–1915	Succeeded by Sir Hugh Jeudwine
New title	GOC 57th (2nd West Lancashire) Division 1915–1916	Succeeded by Robert Broadwood