William CALLANT

My Great Great Great Great Grandfather
DNA Matched

Who was William's father? His mother Sarah undoubtedly had some kind of relationship with local landowner and MP George Forester, and almost certainly had at least one child by him. Her daughter Ann is mentioned in Forester's will: "[I] give and bequeath unto Ann Callant single woman and natural daughter of Sarah the now wife of Henry Longmore of the parish of Linley in the county of Salop..."
Meanwhile, the following passage appears in a book about George Forester's 'whipper-in' (a hunting term), Tom Moody: "Such a humour the old Squire had. Towards the last he found that some of his mistresses gave him a good deal of trouble; for in carrying out his desire to leave them comfortably provided for, his best intentions created jealousy, and he found it difficult to adjust their claims as regarded matters of income. Phoebe Higgs, who survived the Squire many years, and lived in a cottage with land attached, on the Willey side of the Shirlot, being the most clamorous. She set out one night with the intention of shooting the Squire, but was un-nerved by her favourite monkey, who had stealthily gone on before, and jumped unobserved on her shoulder as she opened a gate. On another occasion she succeeded in surprising the Squire by forcing her way into his room and pointing a loaded pistol at him across the table, vowing she would shoot him unless he promised to make the sum left for her maintenance equal to that of Miss Callant. He had his children educated; they frequently visited at the Hall, and some married well. He speaks of them as his children and grandchildren in his letters, and manifested the greatest anxiety that everything should be done that could be done, by provisions in his will for those he was about to leave behind him."
I have not found a baptism record for Ann, but William was baptised in 1785, with Sarah being named as his mother. William became a wheelwright, with his eldest son George becoming a grocer in Bridgnorth and one of George's sons becoming a local councillor. Did William receive some kind of financial assistance to set him on his way and raise him from the lower status he would otherwise have enjoyed (or, more accurately, endured)? It's certainly possible that he was one of George Forester's acknowledged - but not recorded - children.
Part of the reason that this is of such interest is that if you trace Forester's lineage back, you eventually come across all manner of notables from British history – if he is indeed my 4 x Great Grandfather, then William Cecil (Elizabeth I's fixer-in-chief) would be my 13 x Great Grandfather, Elizabeth Woodville would be my 17 x Great Grandmother and King Edward III of England would be my 23 x Great Grandfather!