Mr Arthur Bower Forwood, M.P. Politician

Sir Arthur Bower Forwood, M.P. (1836-1898), Politician, was born in Liverpool and educated locally at Liverpool Collegiate. His father, Thomas Brittain Forwood (1810-1884), refused to send any of his four sons to Oxbridge, arguing that it would 'spoil' them for business. Arthur, instead, went to work for his father's shipbroking firm, Leech, Harrison & Co. displaying hard-headedness in business from an early stage. Arthur bought his father out in 1862, renaming it Leech, Harrison & Forwood, and made great profits from shrewd judgement and his management of the company. Forwood served as a councillor for Liverpool from 1871-98, which included a period as Mayor (1878-9). Lord Salisbury appointed Forwood Financial Secretary to the Admiralty (1886-92), then Admiralty Minister. He did much to promote the Conservative Party, but his brash manner was known to be generally unappealing to his fellow aristocratic colleagues. He died at his home in Gateacre, Liverpool in 1898.

Pining to achieve something more than local renown, he proved himself so good and so discreet a Tory organiser that his opponents, less cynically than respectfully, dubbed him 'The Young Napoleon'.... By sticking closely to his desk, and by never going to sea, he has acquired a reputation for solidity and business aptitude.... He is more practical than polished in his manners.

Vanity Fair, 'Statesmen', No. 572, 1890.