Peter Forster (bishop)
Bishop of Chester (born 1950)
Peter Robert Forster (born 16 March 1950) is a British former Anglican bishop. He was Bishop of Chester in the Church of England from 1996 and a Lord Spiritual (member of the House of Lords) from 2001 until his retirement in 2019. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 2021.
Early life and education
Born in Solihull, the son of Thomas Forster by his marriage to Edna Russell, Forster was educated at the town's Tudor Grange Grammar School. He stated in the House of Lords on 8 February 2016 that he had spent his gap year making Land Rover Defenders and was auto-enrolled into the TGWU. He studied at Merton College, Oxford, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in chemistry, promoted to Master of Arts (MA Oxon) in 1973. At the University of Edinburgh, he graduated as a Bachelor of Divinity (BD) in theology in 1977 and as a Doctor of Philosophy in 1985.
Ordained ministry
Forster was ordained a deacon at Petertide (29 June) in 1980 and a priest the next Petertide (12 July 1981), both times by David Sheppard, Bishop of Liverpool, at Liverpool Cathedral. From 1980 to 1982, he was assistant curate of the Mossley Hill Parish Church in Liverpool. He was senior tutor at St John's College, Durham, from 1983 to 1991 and became the vicar of Beverley Minster in 1992.
Episcopal ministry
In 1996, Forster was appointed the 40th bishop of Chester.
“Peter Forster (bishop)” enters the record as bishop of Chester (born 1950). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Peter, Forster and bishop can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Peter Forster (bishop)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Peter, Forster and bishop provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q336912. VIAF identifies the subject as 17466666. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1950, 1996, 2001 and 2019.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Peter Forster (bishop)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Peter Forster (bishop) primary sources, Peter Forster (bishop) archive and Peter 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 “Peter Forster (bishop)”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Peter Forster (bishop)” 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.