Gregory Foster

Sir Thomas Gregory Foster (10 June 1866 – 24 September 1931) was the Provost of University College London from 1904–1929,[1] and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1928 to 1930.[2]

Early life

He was born in London and attended University College School[3] and graduated from University College London (UCL) in 1888 with a degree in English.[2] He obtained a PhD from Strasbourg University in 1892 with his dissertation on the Anglo-Saxon poem Judith (Judith: studies in metre, language and style, with a view to determining the date of the Oldenglish fragment and the home of its author).[3]

Career

He first taught at UCL became a professor of English language and literature at Bedford College, London before returning to UCL where he spent 25 years in administration as secretary, principal and later provost.[2] As Vice-Chancellor of the University of London he was instrumental in having the new university building established in central London at Bloomsbury rather than Holland Park in west London.

Personal life

He was knighted in 1917 and created a baronet in 1930. In 1894 he married Fanny Maude (d.1928) and they had two sons and two daughters. He died in Hove, Sussex in 1931 and his second wife later the same year.[3]

See also

• List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
• List of British university chancellors and vice-chancellors

References

1. Elizabeth J. Morse, ‘Foster, Sir (Thomas) Gregory, first baronet (1866–1931)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2009 accessed 22 Dec 2010
2. Sir Gregory Foster, Bt : Abstract : Nature
3. AIM25 collection description
4. ‘FOSTER, Sir Thomas Saxby Gregory’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 22 Dec 2010