Constituency : Bradford 1861-85, Bradford Central 1885-6
William was probably the most significant of all the by-election victors in this Parliament. He came in at Bradford unopposed to replace the deceased Titus Salt.
William was a modestly educated lawyer turned wool manufacturer. He was originally a Quaker but had to leave the Friends for marrying outside the faith and became an Anglican. In 1846-7 he went to Ireland with his father on a relief mission which appears to have spurred his interest in politics and philanthropy. He was a member of the Anti-Slavery Society. He tried to stand for Leeds in 1857 but his support for state education brought him into conflict with the voluntarist Edward Baines and he was blocked.In his frustration he set up a rival newspaper The Leeds Express .
William and Baines settled their differences and both stood for Leeds in 1859 but William was unsuccessful by 22 votes. He was a business radical who wanted to extend the Factory Acts. He was regarded with some suspicion by the Manchester School. Bright criticised his enthusiasm for the Volunteer movement. In 1861 he told a public meeting "the prosperity of the working classes.. rested upon... our Indian empire". He strongly supported the North in the American Civil War as fighting against slavery. His motion of 1862 on retrenchment caused some embarrassment between Gladstone and Palmerston. In 1864 he played host to Palmerston at a public meeting in Bradford where he spoke for retrenchment and parliamentary reform.
On the latter topic William accepted office as Under-Secretary for the Colonies under Russell on the condition that it would be a priority for the government. He said of the working masses " If they are excluded as a class and feared as a class, they will agitate as a class and demand admission as a class".
William became known as "The Gorilla" for his ungainly manner. He was untidy and hairy and somewhat blunt in his manner of speaking. He remained an outsider showing no interest in land or country sports. Despite this he was socially popular and liked by the queen. He was a principled man with a certain inflexibility which eventually did for him in Ireland.
After bringing forward two education bills while the Liberals were in opposition William was appointed Vice-President of the Council ( Education Secretary ) by Gladstone in 1868. He was the architect of the 1870 Education Act. This set up school boards with elected representatives where provision was inadequate, the first step towards a national education system. William's relatively modest ambitions were "to fill up its gaps at least cost of public money".William came under fire from both the church and nonconformists seeking to protect their positions. The latter were particularly incensed at the clause allowing school boards to subsidise poor children at church schools and demanded completely secular education at all board schools. Gladstone saw off a threatening amendment by making it a confidence issue and the government accepted the Cowper-Temple clause as a compromise, allowing religious education of a non-denominational character in the board schools. The dissenters were not satisfied by this and their hostility to William , exacerbated by his ex-Quaker status hampered his career thereafter.
William was also largely responsible for the Ballot Act of 1872.
In 1875 Gladstone announced his retirement. Despite the nonconformists' opposition William had a lot of support for the leadership but he eventually refused the nomination after an intervention by Hartington's mistress. He grew apart from Gladstone over the Eastern question denying the Bulgarians' capacity for self-rule although he was opposed to any form of military support for Turkey. He became more enthusiastic about the empire - "what more popular cry than the preservation of our colonial empire" and an enthusiast for some form of imperial federation. He disliked Chamberlain and the Caucus seeing its potential use for imposing policy on the party. He faced a caucus of his own in Bradford led by Alfred Illingworth who were trying to bind him to the policies of the Liberal association.
When Gladstone returned to power in 1880 William became Chief Secretary for Ireland. He saw his Compensation for Disturbance Bill thrown out by the Lords and then had to reluctantly pass the Coercion Act to quell the activities of the Land League. He acquired the unwanted nickname of "Buckshot Forster " as a result of suppressing disorder. Radicals such as John Morley began to attack him in the press. In October 1881 he had Parnell arrested and became a target for assassination. In 1882 Gladstone and Parnell came to an agreement involving the latter's release and co-operation with the Land Act in return for removing the coercion measures . William threatened to resign and the Cabinet decided to accept it. This ended his ministerial career. It has been debated whether William was worn out and wanted a reason to quit or had become personally obsessed with not yielding anything to Parnell. He continued his attacks on Parnell after leaving office. He was also a strong critic of the government's imperial policies and presided at the first meeting of the Imperial Federation League in 1884. He voted against Gladstone in the censure debate following the death of Gordon having said of the PM that he could "persuade most people of most things and himself of almost anything".
William had difficulty securing selection for the new Bradford Central seat in 1885 which he won despite being too ill to campaign .William opposed Home Rule but died before Gladstone's first bill was introduced in 1886 leaving it a moot point whether he would have joined the Liberal Unionists. He was 67.
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