John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel was an Anglo-Irish peer and politician, who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer of Ireland and as the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
Background
He was the son of Anthony Foster of Dunleer, Louth, Chief Baron of the Irish Exchequer, (and son of John Foster, Member of Parliament for Dunleer), by his first wife Elizabeth Burgh. He also inherited Collon House in County Louth from his father, and made extensive improvements to the house and grounds. Collon was famous for its variety of trees and shrubs.
Career
Foster lived in Merville, now part of the University College Dublin Campus in Clonskeagh, which came into his ownership in 1778. He 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 being largely responsible for making Ireland an arable instead of a pasture country.
In 1785 he became the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.
In 1768, Foster was elected for Navan and in 1783 for Sligo Borough. Both times he had also stood for Louth, which constituency he then chose to represent.
He held this seat until the Acting of Union in 1801, which he opposed. He ultimately refused to surrender the Speaker"s mace, which was kept by his family.
Foster 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 23 August 1828. John and Margaretta also had a daughter, Anne, who married James Blackwood, 2nd Baron Dufferin, but had no children. APW Malcomson: "John Foster: The politics of the Anglo-Irish Ascendancy", 504 pages, 1978 Oxford: Oxford University Press APW Malcomson: *An Anglo-Irish Dialogue: A Calendar of the Correspondence between John Foster and Lord Sheffield 1774-1821", 102 pages, 1975 Belfast: Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.
Membership
Royal Society; 1st United Kingdom Parliament. 2nd United Kingdom Parliament. 3rd United Kingdom Parliament.
4th United Kingdom Parliament.
5th United Kingdom Parliament. 6th United Kingdom Parliament.
7th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was elected Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) to the Irish House of Commons for Dunleer in 1761, a seat he held until 1769.