1253 Hugh Arnold-Forster

Constituency  : West  Belfast  1892-1906,  Croydon  1906-09  ( Liberal  Unionist )

Hugh  took  West  Belfast  from  the  Nationalists.

Hugh  was  the  son  of  an  Indian  civil  servant  and  a  grandson  of  the  famous  headmaster  of Rugby  School , Thomas  Arnold . His  father  died  when  he  was  four  and  he  was  adopted  by W.E. Forster.  He  was  educated  at  Rugby  and  Oxford  and became  a  barrister. He  acted  as private  secretary  to  his  adoptive  father  in  Ireland. In  1884  he  published  The  Citizen  Reader,  a guide  to  civic  duties  and  responsibilities. In  1885  he  joined  a  publishing  company producing educational  manuals.  He  also  married  the  daughter  of  the  Liberal   MP  Nevil  Story-Maskelyne that  year. He   also  agitated  for  naval  reform.

In  1900  Salisbury  made  Hugh  Parliamentary  and  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty. In   1903  he  joined  Balfour's  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  for  War  and  started  reorganising  the War  Office  in  the  wake  of  the  Esher  Report .

Hugh  wrote  pamphlets  on  a  number  of  subjects  such  as  Ireland  and  the  army. He  also  wrote school  text  books.

He  died  in  1909  aged  53.