Vere Foster was born in Copenhagen, where his Irish father was British minister. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. Having served in the British Diplomatic Corps in South America, he visited Ireland during the Great Famine. The appalling conditions which he witnessed confirmed him in his desire to work for the alleviation of misery k. It is said that he gave many emigrants their passage money and that he himself travelled on (some appalling) emigrant ships to America, and the evidence he gathered helped to secure reforming legislation. Several hundred new parish school houses were built with grants which he procured. He assisted in the establishment of the teachers' union which was to become the Irish National Teachers' Organisation of which he was first President. He published a series of drawing and copy books for schools. He wrote The Two Duchesses and died in Belfast, where he had been working for the relief of the sick and poor. Virtually his entire fortune had been spent on these causes, yet when he died in Belfast, few newspapers gave him an obituary notice. He lies in the City Cemetery in Belfast and is commemorated by an Ulster History Blue Plaque at College Gardens, Belfast.

Born:	1819
Died:	1900