Vere Foster was a Victorian philanthropist and educator described by the author Brendan Colgan, as an “English Gentleman and Irish Champion”.
During the Great Famine of the 1840s in Ireland he set up an agricultural training school and assisted the poor wherever he could, and personally helped with the re-settlement of thousands of emigrants to North America escaping starvation and disease.
For those unable to emigrate he set his sights on improving their life chances by lifting educational standards in Irish schools, spending a vast fortune building and equipping schools and designing his own ‘Copy Books’ for the teaching of writing.
Jean Cannon shares the story of one of the most remarkable and unifying figures in the history of post-famine Ireland. as part of our Barton Heritage Project partnership in association with Barton Civic Society.
Joseph Wright Hall, 2pm, free.
