Date of Birth: 19/08/1818
Place of Birth: Dublin, Ireland
Date of Death: 03/01/1900
Place of Death: South Kensington, London, England
Parliamentary Service
| Member of the NSW Legislative Council |
01 Jun 1849 |
31 May 1850 |
1 year |
An Elective Member of the first Legislative Council 1843 - 1856 for the District of Port Phillip |
| Member of the NSW Legislative Council |
01 Jun 1846 |
20 Jun 1848 |
2 years 20 days |
An Elective Member of the first Legislative Council 1843 - 1856 for the District of Port Phillip |
Qualifications, occupations and interests
Civil servant; landowner and author. Educated privately and at age 17 entered Trinity College in Dublin B.A in 1839. After studying law for some months he sailed for Sydney and travelled overland to Port Phillip in 1841. He took up a run near Avoca in May 1842 and in 1844 went into partnership on a neighbouring property. His pastoral ventures identified him with the colony's conservative squatting element. In 1850 Foster sold his land rights and returned to Ireland. In 1853 returned to Victoria and acted as an administrator for the colony. Became a target of much criticism and became a scapegoat for the Eureka goldfields.
Membership of other Parliaments & Offices Held
Member of the first (pre-Responsible Government) Legislative Council of Victoria 1853-1856; Colonial Secretary of Victoria under Lieutenant-Governor La Trobe, 1853-1854. Member of the Legislative Assembly of Victoria for Williamstown 1856-1857. Treasurer in the short-lived O'Shanassy Ministry, March-April 1857.
Local Government Activity
Personal
Second son of John Leslie Foster, a Tory member of Parliament and Baron of the Irish Court of Exchequer, and his wife the Honourable Letitia Fitzgerald Vesey, a daughter of Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci. Married in Ireland in 1850 to Emily Fletcher, daughter of the Rev. J. J. Fletcher DD, of Dunran, County Wicklow, Ireland, and had issue, 1 son and 4 daughters.
Additional Information
Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 4 (where he is listed as John Leslie
Fitzgerald Vesey Foster).
In the 1847 'Directory for the Town and District of Port Phillip' he is listed
as 'Foster, J. F. L. V.'. (SEE
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~dotwells/1847E.htm)
