John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel

Who was John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel?

John Foster, 1st Baron Oriel was an Irish peer and politician.

He was the son of Anthony Foster of Louth, an Irish judge. He was elected Member of Parliament to the Irish House of Commons for Dunleer in 1761, a seat he held until 1769. 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 responsible for making Ireland an arable instead of a pasture country. In 1785 he became the last Speaker of the Irish House of Commons.

Foster lived in Merville, now part of the University College Dublin Campus in Clonskeagh, which came into his ownership in 1778.

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 Act 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 the 23rd of August 1828.