Charles Marshall Foster - Forever the Optimist
By Donna Caruso
TFHS Inc. Member No. 5259
Genealogy is a wonderful pastime for those of us who are hooked. We collect all sorts of information. Sometimes it is funny, sometimes it makes us sad and often it is very frustrating, but we still plod along trying to locate another generation and when we do, we often let everyone around us know about it, even it they are not interested! We love to discover interesting ancestors and I have been lucky enough to find my share, from all different backgrounds. Like most of us I have many folders filled with information about them and we feel like we have gotten to know these people a little, but it has taken until just recently for me to realize that my most interesting ancestor was one that I actually remember, but only just. He was my great grandfather, Charles Foster.
Charles Foster was born in Victoria in 1881. He was one of twelve children born to George Foster and Isabella Forscutt. George Foster was the son of an Irish convict who had been transported to NSW for stealing food to feed his family after two of his three children had died of starvation. Isabella was the daughter of Samuel Forscutt, a free settler, who owned poultry stores in Melbourne. George and Isabella met in Melbourne where they married. When my great grandfather was born they were living in Hotham, which is now the suburb of North Melbourne. George Foster was a highly regarded tailor and during Charles' childhood the family moved from state to state, with George working for many reputable firms. In 1887, when Charles was about six years old, the family relocated to Tasmania and soon afterwards, George took up a position with J. Mather and Son in Hobart, but after only a year, George packed up his large family and all of their possessions again and moved them to Sydney and later Queensland.
By the time they got to Gympie in Queensland some of the children and Isabella were quite homesick for Tasmania. George was probably out-numbered and they moved back to Tasmania and settled in Collinsvale. Here my great grandfather, Charles and his brother Arthur, built a house for their parents in Mill Road and many of the family's friends from Hobart came to visit and enjoy the 'country air'. George again procured work in Hobart and returned home to Collinsvale for weekends. They were a very close, happy and religious family, with a hectic social life, and they all shared a love of music.
As the children got older and began their own working lives and families, their new independence inevitably sent them in separate ways. Some of them remained in Collinsvale, but as a 14-year old Charles moved to Hobart, where his first job was building motors for handcarts on which painters of the period carried their ladders. Charles had many years before discovered that he had a fascination for wheels, motors and the like, so this job was just perfect for him. Unfortunately his father didn't think so and sent him back to school for another two years. After that he completed a mechanical engineer apprenticeship with Hobart firm John Paterson in Collins Street. History repeated itself when Charles left Tasmania and like his father before him, worked in Sydney and Brisbane, eventually returning to Tasmania to help build the state's first buses.
In 1907, at age 25, he married Mary Collett, who was the daughter of Theodore Bartley Collett and Annie Saltmarsh. Theodore was the son of Arthur Thomas Collett, who was a landowner in the Evandale district of Tasmania and who, along with good friend Theodore Bartley, (Theodore Bartley Collett's namesake), was instrumental in establishing the first retail outlet in Launceston for the sale of Van Diem en's Land meat. Prior to this the bulk of meat was shipped from the mainland. Annie Saltmarsh was the daughter of Richard Saltmarsh, who was also a large landowner in Northern Tasmania. Richard Saltmarsh was the grandson of First Fleeters, William Saltmarsh and Mary Phillips.
Both Charles and his wife, Mary Foster, were musically talented. Mary was an excellent pianist, while Charles sang baritone and was a member of the Hobart Orpheus Club and conductor of the choir for many years. Charles and Mary ended up having two daughters. My grandmother Jean Foster was born in 1908, and her sister Dorothy in 1910. Not surprisingly, Jean and Dorothy were also both musically gifted. Dorothy obtained work in radio, (remembering this was long before the days of television). She became quite a well known personality and played the part of Ada, half of the comedy duo 'Ada and Elsie', a popular radio show of the time.
Charles spent his spare time tinkering in his workshop and trying to invent gadgets that would make life easier for himself and his young family. After WWI he enthusiastically began working on a one piece car chassis. Prior to this the car chassis had been made up of many different pieces. By 1925 he had plans drawn up for his new invention and formed a company to sell his idea. So many prominent Hobart businessmen wanted to become shareholders in the new company, that many had to be turned down. My great grandfather, together with his lawyer, travelled firstly to America where Ford, Overland and Cadillac all turned down the idea. It was soon apparent that the lawyer, who was taken on the trip to ensure that any deal that was made was watertight, would not be much help as he had a drinking problem and was drunk for the duration of the expedition.
They continued onto England where things looked a bit more promising after both Metropolitan Vickers in Birmingham and the Don Steel Works in Sheffield were interested in the invention. But the excitement was short-lived as both firms reported back that the technique would be too expensive to introduce to their plants and they predicted that Charles was twenty
years ahead of his time. My great grandmother Mary ended up being the only person to do well out of the failed company, as Charles had given her 100 shares that she sold straight away and bought furniture. She had figured that if the company did well she would benefit anyway. It was in fact twentyfive years later that the leading car manufacturers began turning out cars with a one piece car chassis, but unfortunately by then Charles had let his patent lapse.
After his experience in America and England Charles never relied on other people's money for his inventions and only sold his new ideas in a small way. By the 1930s Charles had his own grandchildren all of whom, including my father, still live in Hobart. Their memories of their grandfather are all happy ones. My father was always at his grandfather's side in the large workshop, sharing many a joke and many memorable experiences.
Charles' other passion was fishing. He and good friend Peter Crisp built a shack at Penstock Lagoon, which I believe is still used by fisherman today. For some years he was a committee member of the Licenced Anglers Association of Tasmania. But his true love was inventing and forever being the optimist and never discouraged by failure, he continued to come up with both useful and some quite silly and humorous ideas. One of the more successful inventions was a machine that greatly improved the appearance of the Tasmanian apple pack and also substantially increased the production of the same.
On a lighter note he invented the 'Fish Donger', which he overproduced and failed to sell. This instrument was meant to be used to kill fish in a humane and fast way, by giving them a good hard tap on the head with the 'Donger'. Around this time two murderers had escaped from Hobart Gaol and once again Charles jumped at the opportunity of selling his excess stock to Hobart housewives, who were ready to use the 'Donger' on the escapees if they came to their doors. Next came the 'C M Foster Instant Fire Lighter' that were actually cut strips of inner tubes and were marketed as a means to help start the open fires that most homes had in those days. The idea was to place a piece of the rubber under the kindling to encourage burning. Again this invention failed dismally as the melted rubber ran out over many a hearthrug.
This man, who only ever saw good in people, ended up patenting over fifty inventions, but never made the millions that he had dreamed of. Fate dealt Charles a terrible blow when, in his senior years, his hand slipped while cutting a piece of wood with a lathe and he lost his right hand at the wrist. At this time Charles was still a very active man and in his 80s, but he did what any good inventor would do, he invented himself a new hand! It was a hook-like contraption that served him well and soon he began making fly boxes that he sold to sporting stores in Hobart.
This is how I remember my great grandfather-the old man with the hook hand. Sadly my most vivid memories of him were during his last days, but I grew up hearing and reading much about him. My grandparents lived in Charles' house until they themselves both passed away, so my childhood visits to their home, along with my brother, sister and cousins were often spent playing in that old workshop filled to the brim with rusting machinery and dusty tools where my great grandfather had for many years before spent so much of his time.
Notes and References available upon request.
This story was originally published in 2001 by the Tasmanian Family History Society Inc in My Most Interesting Ancestor.
The original introduction to this publication may be found here.