{{short description|English cricketer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2016}} {{Use British English|date=February 2016}} {{Infobox cricketer | name = Basil Samuel Foster | image = | caption = | birth_date = 12 February 1882 | birth_place = Malvern, Worcestershire, England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1959|9|28|1882|2|12}} | death_place = Hillingdon, Middlesex, England | batting = Right-handed | bowling = | columns = 1 | column1 = First-class | matches1 = 34 | runs1 = 753 | bat avg1 = 14.76 | 100s/50s1 = 0/2 | top score1 = 86 | deliveries1 = 81 | wickets1 = 0 | bowl avg1 = – | fivefor1 = – | tenfor1 = – | best bowling1 = – | catches/stumpings1= 32/– | source = http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/13147.html Cricinfo | date = 8 November | year = 2022 | module = {{infobox person | embed = yes | image = Sunshine Girl Vernon Delia .jpg | caption = Foster as Vernon in ''The Sunshine Girl'' (1912), with Phyllis Dare as Delia | spouse = {{marriage|Gwendoline Brogden|1910||end=divorce}}<br>Lillian F. Norton | children = 1 | occupation = Actor<br>Theatre manager | module = {{infobox military person | embed = yes | branch = {{army|United Kingdom}} | unit = 2/8th Hampshire Territorials | battles = World War I }} }} }}

'''Basil Samuel Foster''' (12 February 1882 – 28 September 1959) was an English actor and cricketer who played 34 first-class matches in the early 20th century. He was the inspiration for the Wodehouse character, Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright, having become a stage actor so that he could also play county cricket.<ref name=MH/>

==Early life== Foster was born in Malvern, Worcestershire on 12 February 1882. He was one of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters, of Henry Foster and Sophia Mary ({{nee}} Harper) Foster. Among his siblings were Geoffrey Norman Foster, Henry Knollys "Harry" Foster, Maurice Kirshaw Foster, Neville John Acland Foster, Reginald Erskine "Tip" Foster and Wilfrid Lionel "Bill" Foster. Basil and his brothers were all educated at Malvern College.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>

==Career== During World War I, Foster was machine-gun instructor to the 2/8th Hampshire Territorials.<ref>{{cite book |title=Baily's Magazine of Sports & Pastimes |date=1916 |pages=94–95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aZUbAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA94 |language=en}}</ref>

===Cricket career=== One of the seven Foster brothers who played for Worcestershire, he made his first-class debut for that county against Kent in August 1902, but scored only 4 and 0 as Worcestershire lost by nine wickets. He played against Surrey a few days later, taking three catches, and against Hampshire the following June, but made ducks in both his innings.

Foster did not play first-class cricket again until 1906, when he made 27 and 26 for Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) ''against'' Worcestershire at Lord's. Between then and early May 1912, he played mostly for MCC, making 15 appearances for them in all while turning out only four more times for Worcestershire. It was for MCC that he made his two half-centuries: 86 (from number eight) against the South Africans in 1907, and 74 against Leicestershire in 1910.

After his last match for MCC, Foster returned to county cricket, but now, living in London, with Middlesex. For his new county he made 12 first-class appearances, but in 15 innings never scored more than 35. His final game came against Kent in late August, but only one day's play was possible in the match and Foster made just 8 in his only innings before being caught and bowled by Woolley.

===Actor=== Foster made his stage debut in 1906, as Norman Popple in ''Mr Popple of Ippleton'' by Paul Rubens, at the Marlborough Theatre, Holloway, London.<ref name="WWT">{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=John |title=Who's Who in the Theatre |date=1947 |publisher=Pitman |location=London |pages=600–601 |edition=10th}}</ref> In ''The Dollar Princess'' of 1909, the ''Daily Mirror'' critic wrote that Foster (Earl of Quorn) and Gabrielle Ray (Daisy) "make a fine pair, and play to each other splendidly."<ref>{{cite news |title='The Merry Widow's' Successor |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000560/19090927/036/0004 |work=Daily Mirror |date=27 September 1909|page=4}}</ref>

In 1907, Foster played cricket against P.G. Wodehouse in the Actors against Authors game at Lord's. Foster later collaborated with Wodehouse, portraying the lead role, in the 1928 New Theatre production of ''A Damsel in Distress'', as well as the role of Psmith in the 1930 Shaftesbury Theatre production of ''Leave It to Psmith''; both productions were adapted by Wodehouse and Ian Hay from novels written by Wodehouse.<ref>{{cite book |author-last= Wodehouse |author-first= P. G. |title= Wodehouse at the Wicket |publisher= Arrow Books |date=2011 |isbn=978-0099551362 |page=197 |editor-last=Hedgcock |editor-first=Murray |editor-link=Murray Hedgcock }}</ref>

Foster became manager of the Richmond Theatre in 1939.<ref name="WWT"/>

== Personal life == On 12 June 1910 at Hampstead, Foster was married to actress Gwendoline Brogden.<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://archive.org/details/stagedeathsbiogr0001unse |title=Stage deaths : a biographical guide to international theatrical obituaries, 1850 to 1990 |date=1991 |location=New York |publisher= Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-27593-7}}</ref> Before their divorce, they were the parents of one daughter:<ref name="Mosley2003">Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.'' Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 1, page 137 and page 1478.</ref>

* Mary Gwendoline Foster (1916–1999), who married, as his second wife, Inigo Freeman-Thomas, 2nd Marquess of Willingdon (when he was styled Viscount Ratendone) in 1934. They divorced in 1939 and she married Frederick Robert Cullingford. They divorced and she married Brig. Donald Croft-Wilcock in 1944.<ref name="LadyForwoodnpg">{{cite web |title=Mary Gwendoline (née Foster), Lady Forwood |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp14489/mary-gwendoline-nee-foster-lady-forwood |website=www.npg.org.uk |publisher=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=22 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=28 Apr 1934 |title=Betrothed Again |pages=28 |work=The Province (Vancouver, British Columbia) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/499275041/}}</ref> They too divorced and she married Sir Dudley Forwood, 3rd Baronet in 1952.<ref name="SirDBLObit1961">{{cite news |title=Sir Dudley Forwood, Bt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1319594/Sir-Dudley-Forwood-Bt.html |access-date=22 July 2025 |work=The Telegraph |date=27 January 2001 |language=en}}</ref>

After his divorce from Brogden, he married Lillian F. Norton. They too divorced.

Foster died in Pield Heath, Hillingdon, Middlesex, aged 77.

===Descendants=== Through his daughter Mary, he was a grandfather of Rodney Simon Dudley Cullingford (1940–1999), who was adopted by her fourth husband, Sir Dudley Forwood, 3rd Baronet. Upon Forwood adopting him, Rodney changed his name to Rodney Simon Dudley Forwood by deed poll. He married Jennifer Jane Nelson, Baroness Arlington,<ref name="Morris2020">{{cite book |last1=Morris |first1=Susan |title=Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage 2019 |date=20 April 2020 |publisher=eBook Partnership |isbn=978-1-9997670-5-1 |page=861 |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Debrett_s_Peerage_and_Baronetage_2019/99tHEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PA861 |access-date=22 July 2025 |language=en}}</ref> daughter of Maj.-Gen. Sir Eustace John Blois Nelson and Lady Margaret ''Jane'' FitzRoy (sister of the 9th Duke of Grafton and granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Grafton), in 1964.<ref name="Mosley2003"/>

==References== <references>

<ref name=MH>{{citation |page=197 |title=Wodehouse at the Wicket |chapter=Extras |author=Murray Hedgcock |publisher=Random House |year=2011}}</ref>

</references>

==External links== * {{cricinfo|id=13147}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foster, Basil}} Category:1882 births Category:1959 deaths Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Cricketers from Worcestershire Category:English cricketers Basil Category:Hampshire Yeomanry soldiers Category:Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers Category:Middlesex cricketers Category:People educated at Malvern College Category:Sportspeople from Malvern, Worcestershire Category:Worcestershire cricketers