He initially trained as a land agent with his mother's brother in Sheffield, but he then started to tour England and Scotland as a minister.

When his brother-in-law, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, entered parliament in 1818, he wrote to him to encourage him to take up the cause of slavery.

[8] Prominent English evangelical Quakers which included Elizabeth Robson, Forster and Anna Braithwaite, decided to travel to the United States to denounce Hicks' views between 1821 and 1827.

[6] A picture was commissioned showing William Forster as a member of the new British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society which was formed in 1839 at an important international convention in June 1840.

The difference developed over the ways that the society should support the abolition of slavery, which was still an important part of the American economy.

Four delegates were sent from Britain: Forster, his brother Josiah, George Stacey (pictured above) and John Allen.

[4] It was during this journey that Forster died and was buried in the Quaker town of Friendsville in Tennessee (which was on the Underground Railroad).