Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/82

 sister, Jane Martha, and her husband, William Edward Forster [q. v.], who had no children of their own. Perfect confid- ence and affection marked for life the rela- tions between foster-parents and adopted children.

From a private school at Exmouth kept by his kinsman, John Penrose, Hugh passed in 1869 to Rugby, then under the head- mastership of Frederick Temple ; but when Temple was succeeded by Dr. Hayman [q. v. Suppl. II] Forster removed the boy and placed him under a private tutor. On 24 Jan. 1874 he matriculated at University College, Oxford. There he graduated B.A. in 1877 with a first class in modern history. He only proceeded M.A, in 1900. At the time of leaving Oxford he with his brother and sisters formally assumed the name of Arnold-Forster.

Settling in London, Arnold-Forster read for the bar in the chambers of Mr. R. A. M'Call (now K.C.) and was called to Lincoln's Inn on 5 Nov. 1879. There was early promise of a lucrative practice, but on Forster's appointment as chief secretary for Ireland in the second Gladstone administration in 1880, Arnold-Forster, his adopted son, became his private secretary, and he shared Forster's labours, anxieties, and incessant perils through the next two years. During this period, too, he gave first proof of his literary aptitudes. In 1881 he published anonymously ' The Truth about the Land League,' a damaging collection of facts, speeches, and documents, which ran through many editions and helped to discredit the nationalist cause in Great Britain. Thenceforth Arnold- Forster wrote much on political and social questions in the press or in independent books.

In 1885 he became a member of the publishing firm of Cassell & Co., and devoted himself with characteristic thoroughness to its affairs, until he became absorbed in politics. For Cassell's he prepared many educational handbooks designed to propagate a wise patriotism. These works included ' Citizen Reader ' series (1886 and frequently re-issued), de- scribing for children the principles and purposes of English institutions ; ' The ' Laws of Every-day Life' (1889); 'This World of Ours,' lessons in geography (1891) ; 'Things New and Old' (1893, Eng- lish History readers in seven volumes) ; 'History of England ior Children' (1897); and ' Our Great City ' (1900). He was also largely concerned as a member of the firm of Cassell's in the preparation of 'The Universal Atlas,' which subsequently be came 'The Times Atlas.'

Meanwhile he was developing his political interests. In 1884, on the foundation of the Imperial Federation League with Forster for its president, he became it secretary, and thenceforward enthusiastically advocated a closer union of empire, actively supporting the efforts Mr. Joseph Chamberlain in that direction and ultimately accepting his policy of tariff reform and colonial preference. From boyhood he had devoted himself to the close study of naval affairs and of warships. His love of the sea was insatiable, and he spent many a holiday cruising in a Thames barge, which he fitted out in quite homely fashion. In 1884 he inspired the famous articles on ' The Truth about the Navy ' (published by Mr. Stead in the 'Pall Mall Gazette'), which led to a large increase in the navy estimates under the Gladstone government and to endeavours of later governments to place the navy on a footing of adequate efficiency. In a forecast of a modern naval battle entitled ' In a Conning Tower ' (1888, 8th edit. 1898) he showed a technical knowledge remarkable in a civilian.

As early as 1881 Arnold-Forster declined an invitation to stand for parliament as liberal candidate for Oxford. In 1883 a similar invitation from Devonport led him to make several speeches in that constituency ; but before the election (of 1885) he followed Forster in dissent from the liberal policy, especially in Egypt, and he withdrew his candidature. He joined the newly formed liberal unionist party in 1886 on Gladstone's adoption of home rule^ and was defeated as a unionist candidate in June 1886 for Darlington, and again at a bye-election in 1888 for Dewsbury. At the general election of 1892 he was elected for West Belfast, and retained that seat until 1906. As a private member of parliament he addressed himself with somewhat uncompromising independence chiefly to naval, military j and imperial questions. Pamphlets on 'Our Home Army' (1892), 'Army Letters' (1898); and 'The War Office, the Army, and the Empire' (1900) gave him some reputation as a critic of military affairs. Interesting himself during the early stages of the Boer war in land settlement in South Africa, he pressed the subject on the attention of Mr. Chamberlain, then colonial secretary, who in August 1900 sent out a commission of inquiry with Arnold-Forster as chairman. Amid many interruptions and impediments he completed his task