Lizzie Foster

The daughter of a Scottish father and Tasmanian mother, Lizzie Foster was a twin but her sister Denise died shortly after birth, Lizzie moved to London with her mother and siblings after the death of her father in 1869. She married the Reverend John Priestley Foster in 1876 and was one of several 1908 Olympic archers married to vicars. Foster served parishes mostly in the south-west of England, and Lizzie and her husband moved to Taunton in 1916 and lived at West Monkton House where they became well-known in the area. They were recognisable when seen riding around the streets and roads of the area in their small open carriage that was pulled by four Shetland ponies. John was a Gloucestershire Justice of the Peace. As an archer, Foster was a regular winner of tournaments at the Vale of White Horse Archers meetings in the pre-World War I years.