{"id":173,"date":"2015-11-12T19:13:08","date_gmt":"2015-11-13T03:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/?page_id=173"},"modified":"2015-12-09T13:41:07","modified_gmt":"2015-12-09T21:41:07","slug":"robert-forster-s-o-s","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/robert-forster-s-o-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Forster (S.O.S)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Overview<\/h3>\n
\"Constable<\/a>
Constable Robert Forster<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Forster was a farmer and officer with the Victoria Police\u00a0Department, alongside his brother John George Forster. Forster was also a member of the 50th Gordon Highlanders prior to 1914. Though Forster enlisted with the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion, he served with the 17th Reserve (Nova Scotia Highlanders) Battalion and the Canadian Army Service Corps before he was \u201cstruck-off-strength\u201d on 11 August 1918.\u00a0Forster returned to Victoria after his service and continued to work for the Victoria Police Department until his death on 11 November 1920.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Before\u00a0Deployment Overseas<\/h3>\n

Before his enlistment with the 16th Battalion on 22 September 1914 and eventual deployment on 29 April 1915, Forster had moved to Victoria with his brother John George Forster from Killavaghan Cootehill, Ireland.[2]<\/a> He worked as both a farmer and an officer with the Victoria Police Department.<\/p>\n

Service Record in Europe (1915-1918)<\/h3>\n

\"Robert<\/a>
Robert Forster Attestation Paper [Library and Archives Canada]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Though Private Forster enlisted with the 16th Battalion, he never served with them. He was transferred to the 17th (Nova Scotia Highlanders) Reserve Battalion on 29 April 1915 in England where they provided support for Canadian Corps. By 10 August 1915, Private Forster had been transferred again, this time to the Canadian Army Service Corps who supplied\u00a0all the transportation and supply services to the military. Forster was stationed in France from 13 October 1915 to 4 April 1919.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

Forster\u2019s service was terminated on 11 August 1919, the same day as his brother. He returned to his role as a Constable with the Victoria Police Department but unfortunately passed away just a year later on 11 November 1920.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Post Military Service<\/h3>\n

Forster’s service was terminated on 11 August 1919, the same day as his brother. He returned to his role as a Constable with the Victoria Police Department. Tragically, Forster was struck by a vehicle while he was operating a police motorcycle on 10 November 1920.\u00a0 Forster’s brother was\u00a0at his side when Robert\u00a0succumbed to his injuries the next evening\u00a0at 8:00 PM on 11 November 1920.[5]<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Written by Isobel Griffin<\/em><\/p>\n

References<\/h3>\n

[1]<\/a> Lieutenant-Colonel H. M. Urquhart.The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force In the Great War, 1914-1919.\u00a0<\/em>Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, Limited, 1932.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Forster, Robert. \u201cAttestation Paper,\u201d Library and Archives Canada RG 150, Accession 1992-93\/166, Box 3211-19.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> History of the 16th Battalion<\/em><\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid.<\/em><\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> \u201cFallen Heroes: Robert Forster.\u201d VICPD. <\/em>https:\/\/vicpd.ca\/aboutus\/history\/fallen-heroes\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Overview Robert Forster was a farmer and officer with the Victoria Police\u00a0Department, alongside his brother John George Forster. Forster was also a member of the 50th Gordon Highlanders prior to 1914. Though Forster enlisted with the 16th (Canadian Scottish) Battalion, he served with the 17th Reserve (Nova Scotia Highlanders) Battalion and the Canadian Army Service … Continue reading Robert Forster (S.O.S)<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3414,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-173","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3414"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":33,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":485,"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/vicpdgreatwar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}