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Northumberland has produced its share of remarkable and brave women non more so than this lady.
These portraits hang in Bamburgh Castle once the ancestral home of the Forsters,they show Dorothy,and General Tom Forster,and a dress once worn by Dorothy.
INTRODUCTION
Dorothy and her brother Tom were the children of Thomas Forster of Adderstone and Francis Forster of Bamburgh,they in fact brought the two houses together.
Their lives were coloured by the fact that their mother died when they were still young and their father married again.In fact he remarried twice.His second wife Mary was killed in a shooting accident.His third wife was Barbara Lawes,who produced children and was hated by the children of the first marriage.
When Tom became co-heir with his aunt Dorothy-the lady Crewe,to the Bamburgh estates,he and his sister Dorothy moved into what is now Bamburgh Hall.
Very little is said of Dorothy at this time but her later exploits suggest she must have lived a vigorous and active life.
Over the years the Forster's had intermarried with many of the great families of Northumberland.In particular they were cousins to the Radcliffes whose head was the Earl of Derwentwater.Derwentwater himself was cousin to James Francis Edward-the Old Pretender-and it was because of these ties that the Northumbrian gentry were for the Stuart cause.It is interesting to note that allegiance to the Stuart cause cut right across religious differences.The Stuarts and the Radcliffes were Catholic:the Forster's and many other Northumbrian families were Protestant's.
The 1715 uprising began in Scotland.For Northumberland the fateful decision came at a meeting on the moors near Blanchland.
The fact that Tom was chosen as General of the English army may seem surprising.He had no experience of soldiering and was utterly unequipped for this.But Derwentwater had spent very little time in Northumberland it was feared tha he might not attract the necessary support that was needed.
The first few weeks were spent marching up and down,till they met some Scots and moved on Preston.After a brave enough fight Tom surrendered.He and Derwentwater were taken prisoner and found themselves in Newgate Gaol in London.Derwentwater went to the Tower and remained there till 24th February 1716 when he was beheaded on Tower Hill.
Meanwhile back in Bamburgh Dorothy received the news,she had nobody to turn to.Her Father was growing old,and anyway they had grown apart,her Aunt Dorothy had just died.She had little or no money.And yet she was determined to rescue Tom,and this she set about doing.
In London there was a cousin who might be able to use her influence.There is a letter written by the cousin and it appears from this Dorothy did not receive any help.Nobody will ever know what actually did happen as there are many different stories.Apparently Dorothy set of from Bamburgh accompanied by the village blacksmith and riding pillion.This was in the depths of winter and the weather was atrocious with deep snow and ice. The journey to London must have taken three to four weeks.It is likely that on their way they called on Lord Crewe at Stene in Northamptonshire and it is probable he gave them some money.
From this point the mystery deepens even further.Somehow Dorothy got hold of a key to the prison and the by bribery and guile got Tom out and shipped him away to France.This was surely an amazing and remarkable feat for a simple country girl who had never been further than Blanchland in Northumberland.
There is a story of a mock funeral in Bamburgh,with a coffin filled with sawdust,but Tom lived in France till he died in 1738.His body was brought back to Bamburgh and was burried in the crypt of the church,which in fact was the family tomb.
Although not certain it is believed that Dorothy married John Armstrong who may have been the blacksmith.Anyway,the grave of Dorothy Armstrong,nee Forster,is beside Tom's.She died in 1767
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