Colonel William Henry Foster DL JP (c. 1848 – 27 March 1908)[1] was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician, who owned the Black Dyke Mills in the West Riding of Yorkshire and lived in Hornby Castle in Lancashire.

[5] Foster was appointed as High Sheriff of Lancashire in June 1891, after the death of George Preston,[6] and in September 1892 he became a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

[10] However, in August that year another local meeting asked him to stand, and an announcement was made to that effect, but he was not formally adopted as a candidate until 29 June 1895.

[13] In the hearings at Lancaster Castle, Foster denied the charges, telling the court that at a meeting where his record as an employer had been attacked, he had said that work was available at the mills.

[12] The crucial issue had been when Foster became a candidate; if the court had found that he was adopted earlier, then his expenses in promoting the Conservative Party in Lancaster before June 1895 should have been included in his election return,[10] although his agent said that this would not have pushed his total expenditure over the limit of £1,400.