Vere Foster

After following his Irish father into the British diplomatic service, with postings in South America, in Ireland he was moved by the Great Famine to organise relief efforts and to improve the conditions of passage for emigrants.

[5] When news reached England of the Irish famine, Foster was sent to report the effects on his family's estate, Glyde Court in County Louth.

Their tenants were not the worst effected by the potato blight, but Foster was appalled by the numbers of starving people staggering along the roads, many trying to reach the ports in the hopes of finding passage to England or the United States.

He shed attachment to divine revelation and the established church, convinced that:it is more pleasing, to be at peace than at enmity with one’s fellow creatures, and… that superior pleasure is derivable from doing that which is agreeable to the best interests of society rather than the contrary.

[8]He enrolled in the Glasnevin Model Farm in the hope of being able assist in the promotion of progressive techniques that would improve both the quantity and quality of foodstuffs produced in Ireland, and reduce the fatal dependence of poorer tenant farmers and cottiers on the potato.

With his brother's help, he set up a scheme whereby forty young women were able to secure passage to the United States, with food, clothing cooking utensils and money for essentials until they found employment.

"[10] Dressed as a poor emigrant, with a former Glasnevin teacher, James Ward, in 1850 he travelled steerage to New York on one of the notorious “coffin ships”, contracting fever and, on arrival, remaining in hospital for some months.

He drew on connections in Ireland and England to have the scheme recommended to public figures and employers in Washington and New York (where he won the support of the Catholic Archbishop John Hughes).

[6][7] In 1879, with agricultural prices depressed and a developing Land War in Ireland, Foster again promoted female emigration to the United States and the British colonies.

[16] His funeral cortege, which passed up Protestant Sandy Row and the largely Catholic Falls Road to the Belfast City Cemetery, was accompanied by barely a dozen mourners.

[20] He is also commemorated in Dublin by Irish National Teachers’ Organisation, at their head office, Vere Foster House in Parnell Square.