Seal depicting Henry VIII from
letters patent granting Bamburgh lands to Sir John Forster,
1545. |
The Forster Family
The estates originally belonging to the Forster family, including Bamburgh and Blanchland, provided the wealth enabling the establishment of Lord Crewe's Charity.
Sir John Forster of Adderstone, Northumberland bought the property of the cell of Austin Canons in Bamburgh in 1545 from King Henry VIII. He died in 1602 and his illegitimate son, Nicholas Forster, succeeded to the Bamburgh property. Through his marriage to Jane Radcliffe, Nicholas gained possession of the Blanchland estate. Nicholas' son Claudius inherited the estates from his father in 1609 and in the same year was gifted the Lordship of the Manor of Bamburgh by King James I.
The estates passed down the family, but when the last male heir, Ferdinando, was murdered in 1701, they were split between his sister, Dorothy Forster, and her nephew, Thomas Forster. Dorothy married Nathaniel, Lord Crewe in the same year, bringing her share of the estates to the marriage. Thomas sold his half of the estates to Lord Crewe for the sum of £20,679 in 1709. |
