George_Weld-Forester,_6th_Baron_Forester
Baron Forester
Title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Baron Forester, of Willey Park in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[1] It was created on 17 July 1821 for Cecil Weld-Forester, who had previously represented Wenlock in the House of Commons. Born Cecil Forester, he assumed the additional surname of Weld by royal licence in 1811. His son, the second Baron, also represented Wenlock from 1790 in Parliament, and later served in the Tory administration of Sir Robert Peel as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords) from 1841 to 1846.
He was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Baron. He sat as a Conservative Member of Parliament for Wenlock for 46 years, and was Father of the House from 1873 to 1874. His nephew, the fifth baron, also represented Wenlock in Parliament as a Conservative. Both his son, the sixth baron, and grandson, the seventh baron, served as mayor of Wenlock. As of 2017[update], the title is held by the latter's grandson, the ninth baron, who succeeded his father in 2004.
The family were anciently hereditary foresters of Wellington Hay in Mount Gilbert Forest, and lived at Wellington or at Watling Street Hall (later Old hall), where they had a half virgate of land held by keeping the Hay. John Forester (died c. 1521) leased Wellington Hay from perhaps 1512, and another John Forester bought its freehold in 1555.[2] The family became gentry and several of the family became Members of Parliament for Wenlock. Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, was a great-great-granddaughter of the 1st Baron Forester.
The family seat since 1811 is Willey Hall, near Willey, Shropshire. The estate was inherited by Brooke Forester through his wife, Elizabeth Weld, and has remained in the Weld-Forester family for over two centuries.[3]
