Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester (baptised 7 April 1767 – 23 May 1828) was a

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

and later peer.

Biography

Born Cecil Forester and baptised at St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, Editors Vicary Gibbs and H. A. Doubleday. Parish named "St Chad's, Salop" (sic), birthdate and place not given. he assumed the additional surname of Weld by Royal Licence in 1811, upon inheriting Willey Park from his cousin

George Forester George Forester (21 December 1735 – 13 July 1811) was Member of Parliament for the borough constituency of Wenlock on several occasions between 1758 and 1785. He was the only son of Brooke Forester of Dothill in Wellington and Elizabeth dau ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

and Christ Church, Oxford.History of Parliament article
by R.G. Thorne He was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for Wenlock in 1790, a seat he held until 1820. The latter year he was raised to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as Baron Forester, of Willey Park in the

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. He had initially asked to be titled as Baron Wenlock to spite the rival local Lawley family who later did take the title. During the time of the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted France against Britain, Austria, Prussia ...

, Forester was in 1800 captain of the Wenlock volunteers troops, becoming ultimately lieutenant-colonel in command in 1804. In 1813 he served as treasurer of the Salop Infirmary in Shrewsbury. Lord Forester married Lady Katherine Mary Manners, daughter of

Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland, KG, PC (15 March 175424 October 1787) was a British politician and nobleman, the eldest legitimate son of John Manners, Marquess of Granby. He was styled Lord Roos from 1760 until 1770, and Marquess of Gr ...

, and wife Lady Mary Somerset, in 1800. They had nine children, four sons and five daughters. He died of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intens ...

at Belgrave Square, London in 1828, aged 61, and was buried at Willey parish church. His tomb was sculpted by John Carline.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by rupert Gunnis He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son John George Weld-Forester. Lady Forester died in 1829. His descendants would later be in the British line of succession to the throne through his descendant

Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the mothe ...

, and Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood, the wife of his great-grandson,

Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood Henry George Charles Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (9 September 1882 – 24 May 1947) was a British soldier and peer. He was the husband of Mary, Princess Royal, and thus a son-in-law of George V and Queen Mary and a brother-in-law to Edward ...

. Of his five daughters, Lady Anne, who married

George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield, PC (23 May 1805 – 1 June 1866), styled Lord Stanhope until 1815, was a British Tory politician, courtier and race horse owner. He served as Master of the Buckhounds under Lord Melbourne from 1834 to 1 ...

, and Lady Selina, who married

Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford Orlando George Charles Bridgeman, 3rd Earl of Bradford, PC, DL (24 April 1819 – 12 March 1898), styled Viscount Newport between 1825 and 1865, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. In a ministerial career spanning over thirty ...

, were leaders of fashionable society, and both were intimate friends of Benjamin Disraeli. It was often said that Disraeli in his last years was in love with Selina, but since she was not free to marry, he proposed to the widowed Lady Anne instead, in the hope of remaining close to both sisters. Anne refused his proposal on the grounds that they were both too old to start a new life.

Notes

References

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forester, Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron 1767 births 1828 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1801–1802 UK MPs 1802–1806 UK MPs 1807–1812 UK MPs 1812–1818 UK MPs 1818–1820 UK MPs who were granted peerages Peers of the United Kingdom created by George IV