Arthur M. Forrester

Born in Ireland and later active in Manchester, Arthur M. Forrester was part of a literary family: he wrote alongside his mother, the poet Ellen Forrester, and is also described in reliable reference material as Arthur Marshall Forrester. Contemporary and reference sources connect him with Irish nationalist writing and with the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

His best-known surviving book is An Irish Crazy-Quilt: Smiles and Tears, Woven into Song and Story (1891), a collection that mixes poems, songs, and prose pieces. He also co-authored Songs of the Rising Nation with Ellen Forrester, showing how closely his writing was tied to Irish political feeling as well as to popular verse.

Forrester died in 1895, still relatively young, but his work remains of interest for readers who enjoy 19th-century Irish writing that moves easily between lyric poetry, journalism, and spirited national commentary.