Sir William Forester

Who was Sir William Forester?

Sir William Forester KB, of Dothill Park, Apley Castle, and Watling Street in Wellington, Shropshire, was the son of Francis Forester of Dothill.

He entered Trinity College, Cambridge in 1673 and graduated as MA in 1675.

William Forester succeeded to Dothill Park in about 1675 under the will of his helf-brother Richard Steventon and this became the main family seat at least until his grandson obtained Willey Park by marrying the heiress of George Weld.

He was Member of Parliament for the borough constituency of Wenlock from 1679 until 1715, held a sinecure as Clerk of the Green Cloth, and was made a Knight of the Bath in August 1689.

In 1683 he was almost implicated in the Rye House Plot against Charles II, when a search revealed 50 muskets and pike heads were found hidden in an oven, and a large quantity of gunpowder buried on his estate. He paid off a heavy fine, allegedly helped by selling off valuable timber grown on the Wrekin.

In May 1695, he fought a duel against fellow MP, Colonel Beaumont, over accusations made in the House of Commons. In August 1703 he was one of the commissioners sent by Queen Anne to receive the Archduke Charles of Austria at The Hague.