Richard Foster (Royal Marines officer)

Born on 27 January 1879, Foster grew up and was educated at Stubbington House School,{{cite book|title=Who Was Who 1961–1970|year=1979|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing, London|isbn=0-7136-2008-0}} a boys' preparatory school near Fareham in Hampshire, where his grandfather and father, and later his brother, served as headmaster.{{cite book |title=The Rise of the English Prep School |first=Donald P. |last=Leinster-Mackay |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-905273-74-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnM9AAAAIAAJ |pages=66–68 |accessdate=28 November 2019}} The school specialised in preparing pupils for armed forces officer entrance examinations, particularly for the Royal Navy.{{cite book |chapter=The nineteenth-century English preparatory school: cradle and crèche of Empire? |first=Donald P. |last=Leinster-Mackay |pages=65–66 |title='Benefits Bestowed'?: Education and British Imperialism |editor-first=J. A. |editor-last=Mangan |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=1988 |isbn=9780719025174 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AoTpAAAAIAAJ |accessdate=28 November 2019}}

Foster was commissioned into the Royal Marine Artillery in September 1897.{{London Gazette|issue=27520|page=602|date=30 January 1903}} In the next few years he held a number posts, including adjutant of the Royal Carmarthen Artillery (Militia) from 1905 to 1908. He attended the army Staff College, Camberley, from 1912 to 1913.

During the First World War Foster held a number of staff appointments, both at home and on the Western Front. He became a temporary lieutenant colonel in September 1915,{{London Gazette|issue=29287|date=7 September 1915|page=8871}} serving as assistant adjutant and quartermaster general, 63rd (Royal Naval) Division until August 1918 and then assistant quartermaster general, 10th Army Corps until February 1919. For these services he received the Distinguished Service Order in 1918; was made a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in June 1919;[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13463/page/2149 "No. 13463".] The Edinburgh Gazette. 17 June 1919. p. 2149 an officer of the Belgian Order of Leopold with the Croix de Guerre in October 1919[https://www.thegazette.co.uk/Edinburgh/issue/13520/page/3481 "No. 13520".] The Edinburgh Gazette (Supplement). 27 October 1919. p. 3481 and was four times mentioned in despatches. He then served as assistant quartermaster general of the British Army of the Rhine until April 1923.

Foster was assistant adjutant general of the Royal Marines 1928–1930 and colonel commandant of the Royal Marines Chatham Division 1930–1932. Promoted major general in 1932, Foster was appointed Adjutant-General Royal Marines in October 1933,{{London Gazette|issue=33983|date=3 October 1933|page=6355}} at the time the highest appointment within the Royal Marines. While still adjutant-general, he was promoted to lieutenant general in 1934 and retired from the Royal Marines in October 1936,{{London Gazette |issue=34329 |date=6 October 1936 |page=6363}} receiving the rank of full general.

He was made a companion of the Order of the Bath in January 1930,{{London Gazette|issue=33566|page=3|date=31 December 1929|supp=y}} and elevated to Knight Commander of the Order in 1935.{{London Gazette|issue=34166|page=3594|date=31 May 1935|supp=y}}

Foster was colonel of the East Surrey Regiment from March 1939{{London Gazette|issue=34605|page=1548|date=7 March 1939}} to 1946. The 31st Foot, which became part of the East Surrey Regiment in 1881, had been first raised as a regiment of marines{{cite book|last=Langley|first=Michael|title=The East Surrey Regiment|page=1-8|year=1972|publisher=Leo Cooper, London|isbn=0-85052-114-9}} and Foster did much to develop the ties between the Royal Marines and the East Surreys.{{cite web|url=http://www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels_and_co/colonels/east-surrey-regiment/general-sir-richard-carter-foster.shtml|title=Colonels of The East Surrey Regiment, General Sir Richard Carter Foster |publisher=Queen's Royal Surreys|accessdate=28 November 2019}} He was also honorary colonel commandant of the Chatham Division of the Royal Marines from 1941 to 1949.

Foster died on 3 April 1965 at the age of 86. There is a memorial plaque to him in the East Surrey Regiment chapel, All Saints Church, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.

One of Foster's brothers, Lieutenant Archibald Courtenay Hayes Foster, was killed in action in British East Africa on 20 September 1914.{{cite news|title=Lieut A C H Foster|website=Commonwealth War Graves Commission |accessdate=28 November 2019 |url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1422776/foster,-archibald-courtenay-hayes/}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Adjutant-General Royal Marines|years=1933–1936}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Colonel of the East Surrey Regiment|years=1939–1946}}

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• [https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw220434/Sir-Richard-Foster-Carter-Foster Photograph of Sir Richard Foster] held by the National Portrait Gallery, London

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Category:1879 births

Category:1965 deaths

Category:Royal Marines personnel of World War I

Category:People educated at Stubbington House School

Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath

Category:Royal Marines generals

Category:East Surrey Regiment officers

Category:Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley

Category:19th-century Royal Marines personnel