Place Name
Named after Henry William Forster, 1st Baron Forster (January 31, 1866 – January 15, 1936) whose political career saw him become the first MP of the newly-created Bromley constituency. The son of Major John Forster, an Army officer, he was born at Southend Hall, Catford, then in Kent, when the area was still rural backwater. After Eton and Oxford he became the MP for the Sevenoaks Division following the 1892 general election. A seat until 1918, when he was elected for the new Bromley constituency. Henry held various offices under Prime Ministers Arthur Balfour, H. H. Asquith, and David Lloyd George, and in 1919 was elevated to the peerage as Baron Forster of Lepe in the County of Southampton. The following year he was made the Governor-General of Australia. Henry married the Honourable Rachel Cecily Douglas-Scott-Montagu, daughter of the 1st Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, in 1890. The family suffered personal loss during the First World War when their two sons, John Forster and Alfred Henry Forster, were both killed. The Forster Memorial Park in Catford was created in their memory.
