Researching George Foster

A five-time All-Star, Foster was one of the most feared right-handed sluggers of his era, leading the National League in home runs in 1977 and 1978, and in RBIs in 1976, 1977, and 1978. He won the National League's Most Valuable Player Award in 1977 and a Silver Slugger Award in 1981. In 2003, Foster was inducted into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.

Foster was a Member of Parliament (MP) and a Senator in the Canadian Parliament for a total of 45 years, 5 months and 24 days. He enjoys the unique distinction of having served in the cabinets of seven Canadian Prime Ministers: Macdonald, Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, Tupper, Borden and Meighen.

He coined the phrase "splendid isolation" to praise British foreign policy in the late 19th century.

Two factors thwarted whatever ambitions he may have had to become Prime Minister himself: his legally questionable marriage in Chicago to his newly divorced former landlady, and his later involvement in a trust company scandal.

Born in Dover, New Jersey, Foster moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1867. He attended the public schools and the University of Chicago. He was graduated from Union College of Law at Chicago in 1882. He was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Chicago. He was in the Justice of the Peace for the town of South Chicago 1891-1899. He was acting police magistrate of the principal police court of the city 1893-1899.

Foster was elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-sixth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1899 – March 3, 1905). He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1904. He resumed the practice of law. He served as assistant corporation counsel of Chicago from 1912 to 1922. He retired from active pursuits in 1928 and moved to Wheaton, Illinois, where he died November 11, 1928. He was interred in Calvary Cemetery in Chicago.

Born in Knowlton, Canada East, the son of Samuel E. Foster and Ellen Green, Foster was educated at Knowlton Academy and McGill University (B.C.L., 1881). He was called to the Quebec bar in 1881 and was created a Queen's Counsel in 1896. His son George Buchanan Foster was a World War I flying ace.

Foster was the Conservative candidate in Brome in the 1896 federal election but was defeated by Liberal Sydney A. Fisher.

He was summoned to the Senate of Canada in 1917 on the advice of Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden and served until his death in 1931.

He began his career as a full-back, but was later moved into central defence. He began his career at Plymouth Argyle in 1974, and went on to spend eight years with the "Pilgrims", winning promotion out of the Third Division in 1974–75, as well as the club's Player of the Year award in 1978 and 1980. He also played on loan at Torquay United and Exeter City. He was sold on to Derby County for a £40,000 fee in June 1982, before moving on to Mansfield Town the following year. He spent the next decade with the "Stags", and after being named as the club's Player of the Year, was then named on the PFA Team of the Year as he helped Mansfield to win promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1985–86. He also won the Football League Trophy with the club in 1987. He was appointed player-manager in February 1989, and led the club to promotion out of the Fourth Division in 1991–92, but was sacked after failing to keep Mansfield in the Third Division. He ended his playing career with 649 league appearances in a 20-year career in the Football League. He later managed Conference club Telford United from 1993 to 1995, before becoming a professional scout.