Robert Henry Forster: The Archaeologist

Forster's interest in the past was already evident in the papers that made up The Amateur Antiquary. It was consolidated in his series of historical novels and by his academic papers, but found its greatest expression in his work on the Corstopitum excavations at Corbridge in Northumberland. Robert, together with his brother T.E. Forster, acted as supervisors for Leonard Woolley in the first season of excavations at Corbridge in 1906, then from 1907 to 1914, he acted as co-director, together with the renowned Newcastle architect and archaeologist, Henry Knowles. Forster became treasurer of the British Archaeological Association in 1905 and a vice-president in 1911. Forster was a competent photographer, a task with which he helped J.P. Gibson at Corbridge until the latter's death in 1912. Many of the surviving subsequent photographs may well be Forster's own. In his obituary of Forster in the 1923 volume of the Journal of the British Archaeological Association, W.H. Knowles noted that he was highly thought of by the labourers who worked on the Corstopitum excavations.

Forster with the circular building (Site 59) at Corbridge in 1914

Academic Papers

• 'Some notes on Hadrian's Wall', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 7, 1901, 69-75
• 'Notes on Durham and other north country sanctuaries', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 11, 1905, 118-39
• 'The tenth iter and the Roman stations in the north of England', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 12, 1906, 128, 161-76
• 'Turgot, prior of Durham', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 13, 1907, 32-40
• 'Notes on Maiden Castle', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 13, 1907, #-#
• 'Walls of Berwick-upon-Tweed', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 13, 1907, 89-104
• 'Notes on the Hangman's Wood Deneholes', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 14, 1908, 95-100
• 'Wilfred's church at Hexham', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 14, 1908, 185-92
• 'Boadicea's battle', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 15, 1909, 70-6
• 'Notes on Warkworth', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 15, 1909, 149-56
• 'Carausius and Allectus', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 16, 1910, 33-43
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1907', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 4, 1908, 205-303
• 'The Corbridge excavations 1907', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 14, 1908, 1-18
• 'The Corbridge excavations 1908', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 15, 1909, 1-14
• 'Corstopitum', Classical Review 23, 1909, 26-8
• 'The Corbridge excavations 1909', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 16, 1910, 1-14
• 'Note on "finds" at Corstopitum', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 17, 1911, 83-4
• 'Discoveries at Corbridge', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 18, 1912, 49-50
• 'The Corbridge excavations 1912', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 19, 1913, 84-7
• 'Corstopitum', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne ser 3 6, 1913, 129-33

Collaborations

with J.G.N. Clift

• 'The forum of Corstopitum', Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne ser 2 23, 1910, 291-6

with T.E. Forster

• 'The Chiselhurst caves', Journal of the British Archaeological Association NS 10, 1904, 87-102

with W.H. Knowles

• 'The Corbridge excavations 1907', Archaeological Journal 65, 1908-9, 53-61
• 'The Corbridge excavations 1908', Archaeological Journal 65, 1908-9, 121-3
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1908', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 5, 1909, 305-424
• The Romano-British Site of Corstopitum. An Account of the Excavations 1907-8, Andrew Reid & Co.: Newcastle upon Tyne, 1909
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1909', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 6, 1910, 205-72
• The Romano-British Site of Corstopitum. An Account of the Excavations During 1909, Andrew Reid & Co.: Newcastle upon Tyne, 1910
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1910', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 7, 1911, 143-267
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1911', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 8, 1912, 137-263
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1912', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 10, 1913, 230-80
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1913', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 11, 1914, 279-310
• 'Corstopitum. Report on the excavations in 1914', Archaeologia Aeliana ser 3 12, 1915, 227-86

with P. Newbold

• The Romano-British Site of Corstopitum. An Account of the Excavations 1906-11, Andrew Reid & Co.: Newcastle upon Tyne, 1912