1-153-146 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

William Edward Forster, British Liberal politician, 1879. Forster's Norfolk Dumpling, not Easy of Digestion. Forster (1818-1886) is seen sitting down to a meal consisting of an enormous dumpling representing a Conservative Parliamentary majority of 490. Forster was a Quaker and Liberal member of parliament. He helped his father distribute relief to the famine-stricken population in Ireland in 1846, and Ireland was always one of his main concerns. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies and as Vice-president of the Council, with responsibility for education policy. Although strongly supported to become leader of the Liberal party in 1875, Forster decined the nomination. In 1880 Gladstone appointed him Chief Secretary for Ireland. Cartoon from Punch. (London, 1879).