Francis William Forester

Occupation: Capt. 3rd (King's Own) Hussars, retired 1891.
Lt.Col. West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry 1895-1900.

Comments: Educated at Eton.

His wife, Aline, was his second cousin, one generation removed. Both he and she had descended from sisters of the late 4th Duke of Cleveland, Harry George Powlett

Master of the Quorn (1905-18), Old Berks and Wilton Hunt foxhounds. At the time of Frank's death, the Quorn Hunt was regarded as the world's premier hunt.

He was also owner of a number of racehorses. 'Hackler's Pride', Capt. Forester's best horse, won the Cambridgeshire in successive years and gave the ring a severe shaking.
'Uninsured' won the Lincolnshire handicap (1904) and 'Light Dragoon' won the Cesarewitch (1922) at odds of 100-to-1 against. Forester adopted the racing colours of the 4th Duke of Cleveland, and was a member of the notoriously successful 'Druid's Lodge Confederacy'.

President of Bath Cricket Club, North Parade, Bath.
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Capt FW Forester's death as reported in the Bath Weekly Chronicle & Herald 1942

CITY LOSES BENEFACTOR
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Owner of Bathwick Dies Aged 82
OWNER of the Bathwick Estate, supporter of a variety of good causes in Bath, Capt. Frank W. Forester has died on his thousand acre estate at Hundcott (sic) House, Salisbury, at the age of 82.
Till the sale of a large number of the properties in 1919, the Bathwick Estate included 530 houses, 60 shops, 50 detached residences, and 200 or 300 other properties. The total area was 600 acres, yielding over £15,000 a year.
In fact, he owned practically the whole of Bathwick.
Born in 1860 Capt. Forester was educated at Eton, served in the 3rd Hussars, from which he retired as captain in 1891, and was lieut.-colonel West Somerset Yeomanry Cavalry, 1895-1900.
GIFTS OF MONEY
He was also for a time Master of the Quorn Hounds, acknowledged as the world's premier hunt.
He has a son and three daughters.
Capt. Forester's interests in Bath never flagged. Lately he gave £500 to its Air Raid Relief Fund, and a similar sum came from the Bathwick Estate.
In 1938 when Cleveland House was sold by auction he gave the proceeds-£600, to the new Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases to which he had just previously sent £100.
HISTORY OF ESTATE
The history of the Bathwick Estate makes a fairly well-known page of Bath history.
The Manor was purchased by William Pulteney, the popular orator of his day (who became the Earl of Bath), who had some property upon the Lansdown side which he exchanged for some of the properties on the Bathwick side of the river.
In the course of its descent in his family, after his death as a millionaire, the property was inherited in 1765 (sic) by the wife of Sir William Johnstone, Bart, of Westerhall, Dumfriesshire, who assumed the name of Pulteney.
Their only child was Henrietta Laura, created Countess of Bath who diedd in 1808, when it passed to the first Duke of Cleveland, and was bequeathed by the fourth Duke to his great-nephew (sic) Capt. Forester.
WHEN BUILDING BEGAN
It was not until the estate had fallen into the possession of Mr. Johnstone (afterwards Sir William Johnstone Pulteney) that it was used for building purposes.
By an Act of Parliament the bridge across the Avon was begun about 1776 and in 1789 Argyle Street appears on the map then in rapid succession Laura Place, Johnstone Street, and Pulteney Street and finally Sydney Place.
Before the close of the century Bathwick was the favourite resort of many of the best families who visited Bath. The parish forom a quiet rural retreat soon became one of the first importance.
The architects (sic) plan, though never fully carried out, is almost of necessity more complete, and realise a more perfect design than any other city or town in the kingdom, from the fact that the configuration of the site and the absence of old buildings and conflicting interests left the architect, Baldwin, free to exercise his taste and judgement as his genius directed.
TURF SUCCESSES
He was a member of the famous Druids Lodge Confederacy whose successes in big handicaps some 40 years ago were the talk of the turf. He owned Hackler's Pride, winner of the Cambridgeshire in successive years.
He was a grandson (sic) of the last Duke of Cleveland, whose racing colours he adopted. Hackler's Pride was the best horse he owned.
Her success gave the ring a severe shaking, as did that of his horse, Uninsured, in the Lincolnshire Handicap of 1904.
Capt. Forester won the Cesarewitch in 1922 with Light Dragoon but this was a quite unexpected victory, the horse being a rank outsider at 100 to 1 against.
He was one of the best known figures in the hunting field. Among the packs of which he was master were the Old Berks, the Quorn and the Wilton. He hunted until he was 70 years old.

DEATH NOTICE
FORESTER - On Sunday, Sept 20th, at Hurdcott House, Barford St. Martin, Salisbury, Captain Francis William Forester (late 3rd Hussars), husband of Aline Forester, and father of Major H. W. Forester, Mary FitzGerald, Aline Bailward and Catherine Baird.
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Bathwick Estate Company Ltd
Was incorporated as a Private Unlimited Company in 1920s, with a share capital of £200,000
Capt Forester sold the Bathwick & Wrington Estates on 4th Sep 1924 for £187,492. It's possible that this was a 'paper deal' done to enable his solicitor, Edward Harrow Ryde (apparently the purchaser too), to attempt auction of the whole estates. His solicitor, who was later to be a solicitor in the Supreme Court, was based at 45 Russell Street, London - the same address as the registered office of the Bathwick Estate Company.
At some stage, Forester appears to have bought back many of the properties from their owners, and transferred them to the Bathwick Estate Company. 46 Great Pulteney Street is one such example, having been purchased by Capt. Forester's Agent, Evelyn Wood Farwell, of 11 Laura Place, Bath. He bought 46 Gt Pulteney St on 10-Oct-1913, for £400, using Forester's money.
Forester's former agent, Frederick George Farwell, who looked after the Bathwick & Wrington Estates in 1892 while Forester was preparing his Act of Parliament to raise money by mortgage, is believed to be Evelyn Wood's father. They both resided, at some point, in 11 Laura Place, though Evelyn later moved to Kilmesdon. near Bath.

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Darlington & Stockton Times, 8th Jan 1949, page 3

ROCKLIFFE PARK FLASHBACKS

Rockliffe Park's next owner was Capt. (later Lt.-Col.) F.W. Forester, a well known Turf personality who in 1894 married Miss Aline Laura Milbank, daughter of the late Sir Powlett Milbank of Park House, Bedale and a sister of Sir Frederick Milbank of Barmingham Park. Lieut-Col Forester came to Rockliffe about 1900 and left in 1905 on being appointed Master of the Quorn, which position he held until 1918. It was while he was at Rockliffe that the house was badly damaged by fire, the blaze being witnessed by hundreds of Darlington people who trekked four miles for that purpose.
WON CAMBRIDGESHIRE TWICE
Lieut-Col Forester crowned a series of Turf successes by winning the Cambridgeshire in 1903 and 1904 with Hackler's Pride and the 1922 Cesarewitch with Light Dragoon. He was grandson of the 17th Lord Saltoun and inherited large Somerset estates from his great uncle (sic) the last Duke of Cleveland. At the time of his marriage, he was Master of the Old Berks and after his 13 years mastership of the Quorn took over the Wilton Hounds for a period. He then lived at Hurdcott House, Salisbury, where he died a few years ago.
From Lieut-COl Forester, Rockliffe Park was bought by Col. Robert Claydon Swan, who, like his predecessor, distinguished himself in the hunting field. After a few years he took up residence at Scopwick House, Lincoln, selling Rockliffe Park to Lord Southampton...(the text continues with details of Lord Southampton's arrival and departure in 1947).
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A search in the index of Vols I, II, III of Northern Turf History by Fairfax-Blakeborough, Published by J.A. Allen & Co, London 1950 gave no information. But Fairfax-Blakeborough also wrote Vols IV, V and VI, and other racing books like 'The Turf Who's Who' and 'Paddock Personalities'. It could be that 'Turf' books could yield further info on Capt. F.W. Forester and possibly a picture as well. [D.H. Wheeler, 30-7-2001]
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MATHIEU, PAUL. THE DRUID'S LODGE CONFEDERACY. The Gamblers who made Racing Pay. 1990. [13575]

1st.Ed. 181pp. B/W illus.
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Capt. Forester contributed literature to form a reading room in Cresswell School (in Northumberland, a few miles north of Newcastle) in 1897 and there was a membership of 29. 

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Saxelbye Park
To the west of Saxelby lies Saxelbye Park, described in 1935 as a "handsome modern mansion standing in extensive grounds, at present unoccupied". It was built in the 19th century by William Wright. His son Charles Wright played cricket for Leicestershire. In 1990 it opened as a luxury hotel.
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Records of Bathwick Estate Co Ltd, held at Somerset archives at http://www.somerset.gov.uk/archives/dservea/

Following is a list of dates of title deeds for various properties in the Bathwick Estate, which show Capt Forester's current residences at the time each deed was made:

21 Mar 1896
resident at: Londonderry Lodge Bedale Yorkshire

10-Jul-1896, 31-Dec-1896, 12-Jan-1897, 20-May-1897, 27-May-1897, 26-Jun-1897, 11-Jul-1899
resident at: Smeaton Manor, Northumberland.

15-Nov-1897, 18-Nov-1897, 13-Dec-1897 & 23-Dec-1897
resident at: Cresswell Morpeth Northumberland.

18-Jul-1898, 3-Aug-1898, 15-Aug-1898,1-Sep-1898, 9-Nov-1898
resident at: Kineton Warwickshire

19-Jul-1899, 5-Jul-1899 (listed as Pilmore Hall), 30-Sep-1899 (Pilmore Hall), 13-Feb-1900 (Pilmore Hall), 1-Aug-1900, 12-Nov-1900, 8-Jan-1901, 30-Oct-1901, 6-Nov-1901, 24 Dec 1901, 25-Mar-1903, 15-Jun-1903, 26-Jun-1903, 1-Jan-1904, 26-Sep-1904, 25-Jul-1906, 11-Mar-1908, 6-May-1911, 26-Jun-1913, 14-Oct-1913
resident at: Rockliffe Park near Darlington Durham

21-Nov-1907, 4-Mar-1908, 25-Mar-1908, 9-Jun-1909, 15-Apr-1909, 30-Dec-1911, 6-Nov-1912, 26-Aug-1913, 8-May-1915, 8-Sep-1916, 5-Feb-1917, 28-Sep-1917, 25-Apr-1919, 24-Apr-1920, 4-Aug-1920, 28-May-1921, 21-Dec-1921, 4-Apr-1922, 29-Oct-1924
resident at: Saxelbye Park Melton Mowbray Leicester

16-Feb-1934, 28-Sep-1935, 29-Jan-1936
resident at: Hurdcott House Barford Saint Martin Wiltshire (Hurdcott Estate, Wiltshire. Owned by the Gowayn family 1385-1708; passed to the Pitts family then by marriage to the Powell family in the 19th century. Bought by Captain Forester, and his home until his death in 1942.)

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Of Smeaton Manor (http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/NRY/Greatsmeaton/Greatsmeaton90.html) : About half a mile from the village is Smeaton Manor, a neat residence erected in 1877, the seat and property of Lieut.-Col. Godman.

(from http://architecture.about.com/library/bl-webb.htm )
Philip Webb - Architect & designer
b.12-Jan-1831, d. 17-Apr-1915
Place of Birth: Oxford, England
Education: Articled in G. E. Street's office, Oxford
1878: Smeaton Manor, Yorkshire