Family and Education

b. 1690, 1st s. of Sir William Forester, M.P., of Dothill, clerk of the Green Cloth, by Lady Margaret Cecil, da. of James, 3rd Earl of Salisbury. m. 1714, Catherine, da. and h. of William Brooke of Clerkenwell, 3s. 3da. suc. fa. 1718.

Offices Held

Biography

William Forester, whose grandmother was sister of the 1st Earl of Bradford, inherited a predominant interest at Wenlock, for which his family were returned in almost every Parliament for three centuries. Succeeding his father at Wenlock, he voted with the Government in all recorded divisions. Whilst the South Sea bill was before Parliament he had dealings in South Sea stock and was credited by the Company with £1,000 stock at 272 on 25 Mar. 1720, but was able to show that he had subsequently paid for it.1 Though he did not stand at the next two general elections, he returned his brother-in-law, John Sambrooke, in 1727, his son, Brooke, from 1739, and his son-in-law, Sir Bryan Delves, in 1741. Re-elected unopposed in 1734, he abstained from voting on the Spanish convention in 1739 but thereafter constantly voted with the Administration as one of the group of Shropshire Whigs associated with H. A. Herbert, Lord Powis. He died 12 Nov. 1758.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: J. B. Lawson

Notes

• 1. CJ, xix. 569.