John George Weld Weld-Forester, 2nd Baron Forester PC (9 August 1801 – 10 October 1874), was a British

Tory A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...

politician. He served as

Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

under

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

from 1841 to 1846.

Early life

Forester was born in Sackville Street, London, on 9 August 1801. The Prince of Wales, later

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

, a friend of his father, was his godfather. He was the eldest son of

Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester Cecil Weld-Forester, 1st Baron Forester (baptised 7 April 1767 – 23 May 1828) was a Tory British Member of Parliament and later peer. Early life Born Cecil Forester and baptised at St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury, Editors Vicary Gibbs and H. A ...

, and Lady Katherine Mary Manners. His father assumed the additional surname of Weld 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 ...

.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 3, page 3450. His paternal grandparents were Anne ( Townshend) Forester and Lt-Col. Cecil Forester, MP for Wenlock. Among his extended family was uncle Maj. Francis Forester (MP for Wenlock who married Lady Louisa Vane, a daughter of the 1st Duke of Cleveland).Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes.'' Crans,

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999, volume 1, page 192. His maternal grandparents were

Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland Charles Manners, 4th Duke of Rutland (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 Granby from ...

and

Lady Mary Isabella Somerset Mary Isabella Manners, Duchess of Rutland (born Lady Mary Somerset; 1 August 17562 September 1831) was a British aristocrat and society hostess. Life Rutland was born in 1756. Her mother was the heiress Elizabeth Berkeley and her father was C ...

(a daughter of Elizabeth Berkeley and the 4th Duke of Beaufort).Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

Career

Forester was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

for Wenlock in 1826, a seat he held until 1828, when he succeeded his father as second Baron Forester and entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. In 1841 he was appointed

in the Tory administration of

, which he remained until the government fell in 1846. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1841.

Associations with Disraeli

He was a friend of

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

. Through Lord Forester's mother, another friend of Disraeli,

Lord John Manners John James Robert Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland, (13 December 18184 August 1906), known as Lord John Manners before 1888, was a British wikt:statesman, statesman. Youth and poetry Rutland was born at Belvoir Castle, the younger son of John Ma ...

(later Duke of Rutland), a figure in Disraeli's

Young England Young England was a Victorian era political group with a political message based on an idealised feudalism: an absolute monarch and a strong Established Church, with the philanthropy of '' noblesse oblige'' as the basis for its paternalistic ...

movement, was his own second cousin. Lord Forester secured Disraeli's nomination as Tory parliamentary candidate for

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

for the 1841 General Election. Disraeli was subsequently returned as M.P., despite bitter opposition at the election, and held the seat until the 1847 General Election, when he contested and was subsequently elected for

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. Later in life Disraeli, then a widower, had a simultaneous correspondence with two of Forester's sisters, the then-married Selina, Countess of Bradford and widowed Anne Elizabeth, Countess of Chesterfield. A collection of over 1,100 letters he wrote to the former between 1875 and his death in 1881, during most of which period he was

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, are preserved at

Weston Park Weston Park is a country house in Weston-under-Lizard, Staffordshire, England, set in more than of park landscaped by Capability Brown. The park is located north-west of Wolverhampton, and east of Telford, close to the border with Shropshire ...

, Staffordshire.

Other interests

Lord Forester served in the South Salopian Yeomanry Cavalry, being promoted from Lieutenant to Captain in May 1826 and as late as 1852 was in command of a troop of theirs at

Wellington, Shropshire Wellington is a market town and a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. It is situated northwest of Telford and east of Shrewsbury, near the western terminus of the M54 motorway. The summit of The Wrekin lie ...

. He took part with his troop when the yeomanry were deployed to suppress the ' Chartist' riots in

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

in 1839. A keen fox hunter from university days, Lord Forester was Master of Fox Hounds of the Belvoir Hunt in

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, of which the Duke of Rutland's family were also members, from 1830 to 1858, and was credited with bringing competitive athletics into Shropshire by his patronage of the

Wenlock Olympian Games The Wenlock Olympian Games, dating from 1850, are a forerunner of the modern Olympic Games. They are organised by the Wenlock Olympian Society (WOS), and are held each year at venues across Shropshire, England, centred on the market town of Much ...

,
History of Parliament online article by Margaret Estcott, which refers to the games as "his 'Wenlock programme" as if referring directly to Forester. Normally

William Penny Brookes William Penny Brookes (13 August 1809 – 11 December 1895) was an English surgeon, magistrate, botanist, and educationalist especially known for founding the Wenlock Olympian Games, inspiring the modern Olympic Games, and for his promotion of ...

is the credited founder of the Wenlock Games. where he normally presented the prize cups for the tilting matches. In 1833 Lord Forester served as treasurer of the Salop Infirmary in

Personal life

On 10 June 1856, Lord Forester married the German born ''Alexandrine'' Julie Theresa Wilhelmina Sophie Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne ( Countess von Maltzan) at St John's,

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, London. The widow of

Frederick Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne Frederick James Lamb, 3rd Viscount Melbourne, (17 April 1782 – 29 January 1853), known as The Lord Beauvale from 1839 to 1848, was a British diplomat. Early life Lamb was a younger son of Peniston Lamb, 1st Viscount Melbourne, and his wife ...

, from whom she had been separated in the last years of Melbourne's life, she was a daughter of Joachim Carl Ludwig, Count von Maltzan of

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

. After Lord Forester's death it was stated the couple had one son who died an infant, although this does not appear stated in standard reference works on the peerage. Lord Forester died childless at Willey Hall in October 1874, aged 73, and was buried at Willey parish church. His widow died in 1894. He was succeeded in the barony by his younger brother

George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...

, who was also a Tory politician.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forester, John Weld-Forester, 2nd Baron 1801 births 1874 deaths

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Masters of foxhounds in England Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Shropshire Yeomanry officers UK MPs 1826–1830 Forester, B2