Nigel Forman
British politician (1943-2017)
Francis Nigel Forman (25 March 1943 – 11 May 2017) was a British Conservative politician. After working in the Conservative Research Department from 1968 to 1976 he was elected as an MP. He became a junior minister, Minister of Higher Education, in April 1992, but resigned from that office after 8 months.
Forman lost his Parliamentary seat in the 1997 general election. He later worked as a lecturer, academic writer and Parliamentary expert/instructor. He was married to Susan Forman in 1971. The couple had no children.
Early career
Forman was born in Simla, India where his father served as a brigadier in the Indian Army. Forman was educated at the Dragon School, Shrewsbury School, New College, Oxford, College of Europe (Bruges), Harvard and Sussex University. He obtained various degrees from the latter four including a Master of Public Administration from Harvard, a Certificate of Advanced European Studies (equivalent to a master's degree) from the College of Europe (class of 1965–66) and a Ph.D. from Sussex University. In his Times obituary he was described as "something of a perpetual student".
“Nigel Forman” enters the record as british politician (1943-2017). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nigel, Forman and British can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Nigel Forman” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Nigel, Forman and British provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q13529900. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 2017, 1968 and 1976.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nigel Forman”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nigel Forman primary sources, Nigel Forman archive and Nigel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Nigel Forman”?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Nigel Forman” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.