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Although there is great doubt as to
the Celtic or at least Gaelic origin of the Forbes clan, it was one of the most powerful
and influential of the northern clans.
"The Forbes Family and following", says Smibert, "ranked early among the
strongest on the north-eastern coast of Scotland; and no one can reasonably doubt but that
the ancient Pictish Gael of the region in question constituted a large proportion (if not
of the Forbeses, at least) of the followers of the house".
The traditions regarding the origin of the surname of Forbes are various; and some of them
very fanciful. The principal of these, referred to by Sir Samuel Forbes in his "View
of the diocese of Aberdeen" (MS, quoted by the Statistical Account of Scotland, art.
Tullynessle and Forbes), states that this name was first assumed by one Ochonchar, from
Ireland, who having slain a ferocious bear in that district, too the name of Forbear, now
spelled and pronounced Forbes, in two syllables; although the English, in pronunciation,
make it only one. In consequence of this feat the Forbeses carry in their arms three
bears' heads. A variation of this story says that the actor in this daring exploit was
desirous of exhibiting his courage to the young and beautiful heiress of the adjacent
castle, whose name being Bess, he, on receiving her hand as his reward, assumed it to
commemorate his having killed the bear for "Bess". Another tradition states that
the name of the founder of the family was originally Bois, a follower of an early Scottish
king, and that on granting him certain lands for some extraordinary service, his majesty
observed that they were "for Boice". The surname, however, is territorial, and
said to be Celtic, from the Gaelic word Ferbash or Ferbasach, a bold man.
"On the whole", says Smibert, "the traditions of the family, as well as
other authorities, countenance with unusual strength, the belief, that the heads of the
Forbeses belonged really to the Irish branch, and were among those strangers of that race
whom the Lowland kings planted in the north and north-east of Scotland to overawe the
remaining primary population of Gaelic Picts".
According to Skene, in his treatise De Verborum Significatione, Duncan Forbois got from
King Alexander (but which of the three kings of that name is not mentioned) a charter of
the lands and heritage of Forbois in Aberdeenshire, whence the surname. In the reign of
King William the Lion, John de Forbes possessed the lands of that name. His son, Fergus de
Forbes, had a charter of the same from Alexander, Earl of Buchan, about 1236. Next of this
race are Duncan de Forbes, his son, 1262, and Alexander de Forbes, grandson, governor of
Urquhart castle in Moray, which he bravely defended for a long time, in 1304, against
Edward I of England; but on its surrender all within the castle were put to the sword,
except the wife of the governor, who escaped to Ireland, and was there delivered of a
posthumous son. This son, Sir Alexander de Forbes, the only one of his family remaining,
came to Scotland in the reign of Robert the Bruce, and his patrimonial inheritance of
Forbes having been bestowed upon others. he obtained a grant of other lands instead. He
was killed at the battle of Duplin, in 1332, fighting valiantly on the side of King David,
the son of Bruce. From his son, Sir John de Forbes, 1373, all the numerous families in
Scotland who bear the name and their offshoots, trace their descent.
Sir John's son, Sir Alexander de Forbes (curiously said to be posthumous like the above
Alexander), acquired from Thomas, Earl of Mar, several lands in Aberdeenshire, the grant
of which King Robert II ratified by charter in the third year of his reign. By King Robert
III he was appointed justiciary of Aberdeen, and coroner of that county. He died in 1405.
By his wife, a daughter of Kennedy of Dunure, he had four sons, namely - Sir Alexander,
his successor, the first Lord Forbes; Sir William, ancestor of the Lord Pitsligo; Sir
John, who obtained the thanedom of Formartine (which now gives the title of viscount to
the Earl of Aberdeen) and the lands of Tolquhoun, by his marriage with Marjory, daughter
and heiress of Sir Henry Preston of Formartine, knight (of the Dingwall family), and was
ancestor of the Forbeses of Tolquhoun, Foveran, Watertoun, Culloden, and others of the
name; and Alexander, founder of the family of Brux, and others.
Alexander, the elder son, was created a peer of parliament sometime after 1436. The
precise date of creation is not known, but in a precept, directed by James II to the lords
of the exchequer, dated 12th July 1442, he is styled Lord Forbes. He died in 1448. By his
wife, Lady Elizabeth (sometimes called Lady Mary) Douglas, only daughter of George, Earl
of Angus, and grand-daughter of King Robert II, he had two sons and three daughters.
James, the elder son, second Lord Forbes, was knighted by King James III. He died soon
after 1460. By his wife, lady Egidia Keith, second daughter of the first Earl Marischal,
he had three sons and a daughter, namely - William, third Lord Forbes; Duncan, or
Corsindae, ancestor (by his second son) of the Forbes of Monymusk; and Patrick, the first
of the family of Corse, progenitor of the Forbeses, baronets, of Craigievar, and of the
Irish Earls of Granard. The daughter, Egidia, became the wife of Malcolm Forbes of
Tolquhoun.
William, third Lord Forbes, married Lady Christian Gordon, third daughter of Alexander,
first Earl of Huntly, and had, with a daughter, three sons, Alexander, fourth lord;
Arthur, fifth lord; and John, sixth lord.
Alexander, fourth lord, died, while yet young, before 16th May 1491.
Arthur, fifth Lord Forbes, succeeded his brother, and being under age at the time, he was
placed as one of the king's wards, under the guardianship of John, Lord Glammis, whose
daughter he had married, but he died soon after his accession to the title, without
children.
His next brother, John, became sixth Lord Forbes, before 30th October 1496, at which date
he is witness to a charter. The sixth lord died in 1547. He was thrice married, first, to
lady Catherine Stewart, second daughter of John, Earl of Athole, uterine brother of King
James II, and by her he had a son John, who died young, and a daughter, Elizabeth, married
to John Grant of Grant; secondly, to Christian, daughter of Sir John Lundin of that ilk,
by whom he had two sons and four daughters; and thirdly, to Elizabeth Barlow or Barclay,
relict of the first Lord Elphinstone, killed at Flodden in 1513, by whom he had a son,
Arthur Forbes of Putachie, and a daughter, Janet, who was also thrice married.
The elder son of the second marriage, John, the Master of Forbes above mentioned, is
stated to have been a young man of great courage and good education, but of a bold and
turbulent spirit. He was beheaded for treason, on the 17th of July 1537.
After the execution of the Master, the king (James V) seems to have been anxious to
compensate the family for his severity towards them, by admitting his next brother,
William, into his favour. He restored to him his brother's honours and estates, and in
1539, appointed him one of the gentlemen of his bedchamber. This William succeeded his
father in 1547, as seventh Lord Forbes, and died in 1593. He had married Elizabeth Keith,
daughter and coheiress, with her sister, Margaret, Countess Marischal, of Sir William
Keith of Inverugie, and had by her six sons and eight daughters. The sons were, John,
eighth Lord Forbes; William, of Foderhouse; James, of Lethendy; Robert, prior of
Moneymusk; Arthur of Logie, called from his complexion, "Black Arthur"; and
Abraham, of Blacktoun.
John, eighth Lord Forbes, was one of the five noblemen appointed by commission from the
king, dated 25th July 1594, lieutenants of the northern counties, for the suppression of
the rebellion of the popish Earls of Huntly and Errol. His lordship was served heir to his
mother 13th November 1604, and died soon afterwards. He had married, while still Master of
Forbes, Lady Margaret Gordon, eldest daughter of George, fourth Earl of Huntly, and had,
with a daughter named Jean, a son, John, who, being educated in the faith of his mother,
entered a religious order on the continent, and died without succession. This lady Lord
Rorbes repudiated, and in consequence a sanguinary contest took place in 1572, in the
parish of Clatt, Aberdeenshire, between the two rival clans of Forbes and Gordon. The
latter, under the command of two of the earl's brothers, attacked the Forbeses, within a
rude entrenchment which they had formed on the white hill of Tillyangus, in the
south-western extremity of the parish, and after a severe contest the Gordons prevailed,
having carried the entrenchment, and slain the Master's brother, "Black Arthur".
The pursuit of the Forbeses was continued to the very gates of Druminner, the seat of
their chief. A number of cairns are still pointed out where those slain on this occasion
are said to have been buried. The eighth Lord Forbes took for his second wife, Janet,
daughter of James Seton of Touch, and had, besides Arthur, ninth lord, another son, and a
daughter.
Arthur, ninth lord, married on 1st February 1600, Jean, second daughter of Alexander,
fourth Lord Elphinstone. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Alexander, tenth Lord
Forbes, who fought against the imperialists under the banner of the lion of the north, the
renowned Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, in whose service he attained the rank of
lieutenant-general, and won for himself a high military reputation. On his return home, he
had a considerable command in the army sent from Scotland to suppress the Irish rebellion
in 1643. He afterwards retired to Germany, where he spend the remainder of his days. He
was twice married - first to Anne, eldest daughter of Sir John Forbes of Pitsligo, by whom
he had, bedsides several children, who died young, a son, William, eleventh Lord Forbes;
and secondly, to Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Forbes of Rires, in Fife, and by her had a
large family.
William, eleventh Lord Forbes, died in 1691. He was thrice married, but had issue only by
his first wife, Jean, a daughter of Sir John Campbell of Calder.
His eldest son, William, twelfth Lord Forbes, was a zealous supporter of the revolution.
In 1689 he was sworn a privy councillor to King William. He died in July 1716. By his
wife, Anne, daughter of James Brodie of Brodie, he had three sons and one daughter.
William, the eldest son, thirteenth Lord Forbes, married, in September 1720, Dorothy,
daughter of William Dale, Seq, of Covent Garden, Westminster. He died at Edinburgh 26th
June 1730. He had a son, Francis, fourteenth lord, who died in August 1734, in the
thirteenth year of his age, and four daughters, one whom, Jean, was married to James
Dundas of Dundas, and another, the youngest, Elizabeth, married John Gregory, M.D.,
professor of the practice of medicine in the university of Edinburgh, and was the mother
of the celebrated Dr James Gregory.
James, second son of the twelfth lord, succeeded his nephew, as fifteenth Lord Forbes, and
died at Putachie, 20th February 1761, in the 73d year of his age. He married, first, Mary,
daughter of the third Lord Pitsligo, widow of John Forbes of Monymusk, and grandmother of
the celebrated Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, baronet, and has a son, James, sixteenth
Lord Forbes, and three daughters; secondly, in July 1741, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James
Gordon of Park, baronet.
James, sixteenth lord, died at Edinburgh 29th July 1804, in the 80th year of his age. By
his wife Catherine, only daughter of Sir Robert Innes, baronet, of Orton and Balvenie, he
had four sons and two daughters.
James Ochoncar Rorbes, seventeenth lord, the eldest son, born 7th March 1765, entered the
army in 1781, as ensign in the Coldstream regiment of foot guards, in which he was an
officer for twenty-six years, holding important positions, and doing good service for his
country. He died 4th may 1843. By his wife, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Walter
Hunter of Polmood, Peeblesshire, and Crailing, Roxburghshire, he had six sons and four
daughters. The estate of Polmood had been the subject of litigation for nearly fifty years
in the Court of Session and House of Lords, but it was ultimately decided that an old man
named Adam Hunter, who laid claim to it, had not established his pedigree. It consequently
came into the possession of Lady Forbes. His lordship's eldest son, James, a
lieutenant-colonel in the Coldstream guards, predeceased his father in 1835.
Lord Forbes is the premier baron of Scotland, being the first on the union roll. He is
also a baronet of Nova Scotia, the date of creation being 1628.
The Forbeses of Tolquhoun, ancient cadets of this family, one of whom fell at the battle
of Pinkie, 10th September 1547, are descended from Sir John Forbes, third son of Sir John
Forbes, justiciary of Aberdeen in the reign of Robert II, are now represented by James
Forbes Leith, Esq of Whitehaugh, in the same country.
The Forbeses of Craigievar (also in Aberdeenshire), who posses a baronetcy, descend from
the Hon Patrick Forbes of Corse, armourbearer to King James III, and third son, as already
stated, of James, second Lord Forbes. The lands of Corse, which formed part of the barony
of Coul and O'Nele or O'Neil, were in 1476 bestowed on this Patrick, for his services by
that monarch, and on 10th October 1482 he had a charter of confirmation under the great
seal, of the baroncy of O'Neil, namely, the lands of Coule, Kincraigy, and le Cross. In
1510 his son and successor, David, called "Trail the Axe", had a charter of the
lands of O'Nele, Cors, Kincraigy, le Mureton, with the mil and alehouse thereof (the lands
of Coul being now disjoined therefrom), and uniting and incorporating them into a hail and
free barony, "cum furca, fossa, pitt et gallous", &c, to be called the
barony of O'Neill in all time coming. He married Elizabeth, sister of Panter of
Newmanswells, near Montrose, secretary of sate to James IV, and had a son, Patrick of
O'Neil Corse, infeft in 1554. Patrick's eldest son, William, infeft in January 1567, by
his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Alexander Strachan of Thornton, had six sons and five
daughters.
His eldest son, Patrick of Corse and O'Neil, was bishop of Aberdeen for seventeen years,
and died in 1636. The bishop's male line failing with his grandchildren, the family
estates devolved on the descendants of his next brother, William Forbes of Craigievar, the
first of that branch.
His eldest son, William, was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, 20th April 1630, with a
grant of sixteen thousand acres in New Brunswick, erected into a free barony and regality,
to be called New Craigievar.
Sir William's son, Sir John, second baronet, married Margaret, a daughter of Young or
Auldbar, and had six sons and three daughters.
His grandson, Sir Arthur, fourth baronet, represented the county of Aberdeen in parliament
from 1727 to 1747. Sir Arthur was the bosom friend of Sir Andrew Mitchell, British
ambassador to Frederick the Great of Prussia, who left to Sir Arthur the bulk of his
property, including his valuable library, and his estate of Thainston.
His son, Sir William, fifth baronet, born in 1753, by his wife, the Hon Sarah Sempill,
daughter of the twelfth Lord Sempill, had four sons and seven daughters.
His son, Sir Arthur, sixth baronet, was for some time an officer in the 7th hussars. He
died unmarried in 1823, and was succeeded by his brother, Sir John, seventh baronet, born
in 1785. He was a judge in the Hon East India company's service, and married in September
1825, the Hon Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of the 17th Lord Forbes, and had two sons and
six daughters. He died 16th February 1846.
The elder son, Sir William, born May 20, 1836, succeeded as eighth baronet. In 1858 he
married the only daughter of Sir Charles Forbes, Bart, of Newe and Edinglassie. He
married, secondly, in November 1862, Frances Emily, youngest daughter of the late Sir
George Abercromby, Bart. of Birkenbog, and has issue several sons.
The family of Forbes of Pitsligo and Fettercairn, which possess a baronetcy, is descended
from Hon. Duncan Forbes of Corsindae, second son of the second Lord Rorbes.
The family of Forbes of Newe and Edinglassie, which also possess a baronetcy, is descended
from William Forbes of Dauch and Newe, younger son of Sir John Forbes, knight, who
obtained a charter of the barony of Pitsligo and Kinnaldie, 10th October 1476, and whose
elder son, Sir John Forbes, was the progenitor of Alexander Forbes, created Lord Forbes of
Pitsligo, 24th June 1633, a title attainted in the person of Alexander, fourth lord, for
his participation in the rebellion of 1745. John Forbes of Bellabeg, the direct descendant
of the said William of Dauch, as born at Bellabeg in September 1743. In early life he went
to Bombay, and engaging in mercantile pursuits, became one of the most extensive and
distinguished merchants in India. Having realised a large fortune he repurchased Newe, the
estate of his ancestors, besides other lands in Strathdon, and the whole of his rental was
laid out in improvements. He died 20th June 1821, and was succeeded by his nephew, Sir
Charles Forbes, eldest son of the Rev. George Forbes of Lochell, by his wife, Katherine,
only daughter of Gordon Stewart of Inveraurie. He was created a baronet, 4th November
1823. He sat in parliament for upwards of twenty years. In 1833 he was served nearest male
heir in general to Alexander, third Lord Pitsligo, by a jury at Aberdeen, and the same
year he obtained the authority of the Lord Lyon to use the Pitsligo arms and supporters.
He died 20th November 1849, and was succeeded by his grandson, Sir Charles, second
baronet, born 15th July 1832, the title devolved on his uncle, Sir Charles Forbes, third
baronet, born at Bombay 21st September 1803, and educated at Harrow school.
The first of the Forbes of Culloden, Inverness-shire, was Duncan Forbes, great-grandfather
of the celebrated Lord President Forbes, descended from the noble family of Forbes through
that of Toquhoun, and by the mother's side from that of Keith, Earl Marischal. He was M.P.
and provost of Inverness, and purchased the estate of Culloden from the laird of
Mackintosh in 1626. He died in 1654, aged 82.
Duncan Forbes, the first of Culloden, married Janet, eldest daughter of James Forbes of
Corsindae, also descended from the noble family at the head of the clan, and had, his
heir, Captain James Forbes of Caithness, and Captain Duncan Forbes of Assynt.
John Forbes of Culloden, the eldest son, was also provost of Inverness. He was the friend
and supporter of the Marquis of Argyll, and from his strong support of Presbyterian
principles he suffered much in the reign of Charles II and his brother James. About the
year 1670, his landed estate was doubled by the purchase of the barony of Ferintosh and
the estate of Bunchrew. As a compensation for the loss which the family had sustained
during the revolution, his eldest son and successor, Duncan Forbes, third of Culloden,
received from the Scots parliament the privilege of distilling into spirits the grain of
the barony of Ferintosh, at a nominal composition of the duty, which remained the same,
after the spirits distilled in other parts of the country were subjected to a
comparatively heavy excise; hence Ferintosh became renowned for its whisky. The privilege
was taken away in 1785. By his wife, Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Innes, of Innes, in
Morayshire, baronet, he had two sons, John, and Duncan, Lord President, and several
daughters.
John, the fourth laird of Culloden, took an active part on the side of the government on
the breaking out of the rebellion of 1715, and, with the afterwards celebrated Lord Lovat,
narrowly escaped being apprehended at Aberdeen by Lord Saltoun, in command of the Jacobite
forces there. Both he and his brother Duncan were engaged in putting down the insurrection
in Inverness-shire. In those convivial times he so much excelled most of his friends in
the quantity of claret that he could drink, that he was distinguished by the name of
Bumper John. Dying without issue in 1734, he was succeeded by his only brother, Duncan,
the celebrated Lord President, whose only child, John Forbes, the sixth of Culloden,
showed, when young, says Mr Burton, "the convivial spirit of his race, without their
energy and perseverance". He lived retired at Stradishall, in Suffolk, and by economy
and judicious management succeeded in some measure in retrieving the losses which his
father had sustained in the public service, and which, with the utmost ingratitude, the
government, which his exertions and outlay had mainly helped to establish, refused to
acknowledge or compensate. John Forbes died 26th September 1772. He was twice married -
first to Jane, daughter of Sir Arthur Forbes of Craigievar, baronet, by whom he had two
sons, Duncan, who died before him, an Arthur, his successor; and secondly, Jame, daughter
of Captain Forbes of Newe, without issue.
Arthur, seventh laird, died 26th May 1803, and was succeeded by his only son, Duncan
George, who died 3d November 1827, when his eldest son, Arthur, born 25th January 1819,
became the ninth laird of Culloden.
There are many other families of this name but too many to list here.
Another Account of the Clan
BADGE: Bealaidh (spartium
scorparium) common broom.
SLOGAN: Lonach.
PIBROCH: Cath Glen Eurainn.
 As in the case of many other of the Highland clans,
there are traditions which trace back the genealogy of the Forbeses to the
blood of the early Celtic kings of Scotland, and through them to a still
more remote ancestry in the royal race of Ireland. These traditions, in so
far as they concern the Clan Forbes, are detailed at length in a brochure
by the Honourable Mrs. Forbes of Brux, published at Aberdeen in 1911, and entitled Who was Kenneth I., King of
Scots? This pamphlet claims a descent for the chiefs of the clan from
Kenneth II.—he who finally defeated the Picts at Cambuskenneth in 838,
and united the kingdoms of Picts and Scots—and behind him, through a
more or less hazy ancestry of individuals whose relationships are
difficult to make out, such as Forbhasach, son of a Lord of Ossory, slain
in 755, Forbasa, Abbot of Rath Aedha in the sixth century, and the like,
to the misty chiefs of the early Irish Hy Nial. That these traditions have
been held by the Clan for hundreds of years is shown by the facts that the
Chiefs, down to the battle of Duplin in 1332, were
known by the name O’Choncar, that more than one later chief, like James
O’Chonacar the 17th Baron,
at the end of the eighteenth century, bore the name of those early Celtic
ancestors, that a son of the second Lord Forbes in 1476 had his lands on
Deeside erected into the barony of O’Neil, and that a Master of Forbes
as long ago as 1632, in the
report of an interview, made an allusion to relationship, believed to date
from early Celtic times, between his own race and the race of the MacKays,
of which Lord Reay was the head. The descriptive name Forbhasach, "bold forehead," appears to have been common in
those times; but as patronymics did not then exist, the name cannot be
said to have been that of a family, or succession of holders from father
to son.
Whatever may be the truth about the remotest ancestry
of the clan, and whatever might be the relationship of early individuals
bearing names more or less resembling that of Forbes, it seems clear that
the cognomen at present borne by the chiefs and others of the race was
derived from the lands of Forbes in Aberdeenshire. In the brochure already
alluded to it is claimed that these lands have been possessed
uninterruptedly by the Forbes chiefs in right of their descent from the
early Scottish kings, who personally owned them. In 1736 the fifteenth
baron wrote: "We know of no person by tradition, nor the history of
any one, who possessed the lands of Forbes before ourselves." At any
rate, in the days of William the Lion the lands were in possession of the
family, the first of the name upon record being John de Forbes. From
Fergus de Forbes, the son of this individual, all the Scottish families of
the name are believed to have descended. The lands were formally granted
by charter to the head of the house by King Alexander II. about the middle
of the thirteenth century, and towards the close of that century the owner
played a part in a striking episode which brought his race into prominence
on the page of Scottish history.
This owner was Alexander,
eldest son of Fergus de Forbes, above mentioned. As governor of the royal
castle of Urquhart on Loch Ness, he made a spirited defence of that
stronghold against the army of Edward I. of England in 1303. The Scottish
garrison was hard pressed, and presently it became evident that it would
be starved into surrender. The governor did not regard his own fate, but
he had with him in the castle his wife, then about to become a mother, and
for her safety and the preservation of the succession of his family he was
most anxious that a means should be found of conveying her through the
English lines. One day the gate of the castle opened, and the English saw
a beggar woman driven forth. The tale she told was that she had happened
to be inside the castle when the siege began, but that now, as provisions
were running short, the garrison were no longer willing to feed a useless
mouth, and had driven her out. Believing this tale, the English allowed
her to pass, and the governor had the satisfaction of seeing her make her
way to safety. Shortly afterwards the castle fell, and Forbes with his
entire garrison was put to the sword. His wife, however, shortly
afterwards gave birth to a son, and the succession of the Forbes family
was preserved. The gallant governor who thus fell is said to have been
otherwise known as O’Chonochar, and according to tradition he, or a
predecessor, was buried under a rock in Glen Urquhart, known to this day
as Innis O’Connochar. The name is said to have been used by the chiefs
of Clan Forbes down to a recent period.
To the posthumous son of
the brave governor of Urquhart Castle, King Robert the Bruce granted
certain lands adjoining those already owned by him in Aberdeen-shire. This
head of the house, who was also named Alexander, was with the host under
the Regent Earl of Mar which was surprised by Edward Baliol at Duplin in
1332, and he was among those who fell in that disastrous battle. His son,
Sir John Forbes, was a distinguished personage in the reigns of Robert II.
and Robert III. His wife was a daughter of Kennedy of Dunure, ancestor of
the noble house of Ailsa, and, of their four sons, the second, Sir
William, became ancestor of the Lords Pitsligo; the third, Sir John, of
the Forbeses of Culloden, Watertown and Foveran; and the youngest,
Alexander, of the Forbeses of Brux.
The eldest son, Sir
Alexander de Forbes, when King James I. was a prisoner in England, led a
following of a hundred horse and forty spearmen to France, where he fought
against the English under Henry V. at the battle of Beauge in 1421 and is
immortalised by the poet Ariosto. Later in life—some time between 1436
and 1442 —he was created a Lord of Parliament by James II. His wife was
a daughter of George, Earl of Angus, and, a granddaughter of King Robert
III., and his eldest son, the second baron, married a daughter of William,
first Earl Marischal, and granddaughter of the first Lord Hamilton and the
Princess Mary, daughter of King James II. Of this second baron’s three
sons, Duncan of Corsindie became ancestor of the Forbeses of Pitsligo and
other families, while Patrick of Corse, who was armour-bearer to James
III., became ancestor of the Forbeses of Craigievar and the Forbes Earls
of Granard in Ireland.
According to Macfarlane’s
Genealogical History, the Forbes Chiefs had the whole ruling and
guiding of the King’s affairs in the district between Forfar and
Caithness shires down to the year 1500. Alexander, the fourth baron, in
1488, after the death of James III. at Sauchieburn, where Forbes himself
had taken part, displayed the bloody shirt of the murdered king on a
spear, and, marching through the north country, summoned all loyal
subjects to rise and execute vengeance. He succeeded in getting together a
large force, but on learning of the defeat of the Earl of Lennox in the
south, he laid down his arms, and was pardoned and received into favour by
the youthful James IV.
John, the sixth Lord
Forbes, was three times married. His first wife was Catherine, daughter of
John Stewart, Earl of Athol, the half-brother of James II, her mother
being the famous Fair Maid of Galloway, heiress of the great race of the
Black Douglases, who had first been successively married to her cousin
William, Earl of Douglas, stabbed by James II. in Stirling Castle, and
afterwards to his brother James, last of the Douglas Earls, who was
overthrown by King James II. and ended his days as a monk in the Abbey of
Lindores. By his first wife Lord Forbes had one surviving daughter, who
married the Laird of Grant. By his second wife, a daughter of the Laird of
Lundin, he had two sons, John and William. Of these, the elder, John, was
that Master of Forbes whose dark and turbulent career furnishes one of the
most outstanding episodes in the reign of James V.
Already, in 1527, a fierce
feud between the families of Forbes and Lesley had, with its ramifications
through the districts of Mar, Garioch, and Aberdeen, plunged the country
in blood. Among others of the lawless acts of the Master of Forbes was his
murder of Seton of Meldrum, and he was known to have lent his services to
further the schemes of Henry VIII. against Scotland. The Master had
married a sister of the Earl of Angus, the ambitious chief of the
Douglases, who had married the widow of James IV., and for long exercised
royal power during the boyhood of James V. On the midnight escape of James
from Falkland, to assume royal power, and banish the Douglases from the
kingdom, the Master of Forbes took a vigorous part in the schemes by which
their friends endeavoured to secure their return. He appears in particular
to have been the moving spirit who induced the Scottish lords at Wark to
mutiny against the Regent Albany, and in 1536 he was accused by the
Earl of Huntly of a design to shoot King James himself as he passed
through Aberdeen. Upon these charges he and his father, Lord Forbes, were
both imprisoned. The father was acquitted amid much popular rejoicing, but
the Master was condemned and executed, declaring himself innocent of
treason, but acknowledging that he ought to die for the murder of the
Laird of Meldrum. The trial and execution of the Master of Forbes took
place on 14th July, 1538, and two days later the beautiful Janet DougIas,
Lady Glamis, sister of the banished Earl of Angus, was condemned and burnt
to death for conspiring to poison the king. An account of these mysterious
events is to be found in Pitcairn’s Criminal Trials of Scotland. That
the king believed the Forbes family, apart from the Master of Forbes, to
have no part in the crime is shown by the fact that Lord Forbes was
speedily set at liberty, that no attempt was made to forfeit the family
estates, and that William, the Master’s younger brother, was appointed
to an office in the royal household.
In the reign of James V.’s
daughter, Mary Stewart, the feud between the Forbeses and their neighbours
the Gordons came to a height. The Gordons were the great upholders of the
Roman Catholic Church in the north, while the Forbeses were steady
supporters of the Reformation. In the transactions of the time Adam Gordon
of Auchendoun, the Earl of Huntly’s brother, played a conspicuous part.
After Gordon had defeated the Forbeses in one hard-fought battle, the
Regent Earl of Mar gave the Master of Forbes some horsemen and five
companies of foot to support an attempt at dislodging the Gordons, who had
taken possession of Aberdeen. Forbes, however, fell into an ambuscade laid
for him by Gordon, a certain Captain Carr with a party of hagbutters doing
great execution among his ranks, along with a company of bowmen from
Sutherlandshire in the service of Auchendoun. On this occasion the Master
of Forbes was defeated and taken prisoner.
It is worth noting here, as
a clue to some of the ill-feeling between the Fotbeses and the Gordons,
that the Master of Forbes here mentioned, and who afterwards became eighth
Lord, had married a daughter of the Earl of Huntly, and had divorced her,
as the notorious Earl of Bothwell had divorced her sister, Lady Jean
Gordon, in order to marry Queen Mary.
Another episode of the
strife between the two clans was even more dramatic than that above
mentioned. Part of it is related in one of the best known Scottish
ballads, "Edom o’ Gordon." It was in 1571, when Adam Gordon
was Acting Deputy-Lieutenant for Queen Mary’s party in the north, and in
the late autumn following the incident above narrated. The Gordons
summoned the House of Tavoy or Corgarf, belonging to John Forbes, to
yield. Forbes’ lady, a daughter of Campbell of Cawdor, refused to do
this without her husband’s instructions, and thereupon the Gordons fired
the house, and she and her family and attendants, twenty-seven persons,
were burnt within. The ballad relates in true folk-song fashion the lady’s
proud colloquy from her towerhead with the enemy, and its cruel answer:
Out, then, spake the
Lady Margaret,
As she stood on the
stair;
The fire was at her
gowd garters,
The lowe was at her
hair.
But the climax is
reached when the lady’s daughter, suffocating in the smoke, begs to be
roIled in a pair of sheets, and dropped over the wall. The fair burden is
received on the point of Gordon’s spear.
Oh, bonnie, bonnie,
was her mouth,
And cherry were her cheeks,
And clear, clear was her yellow hair,
Whereon the red bluid dreeps.
Then wi’ his spear
he turned her ower—
Oh, gin her face was wan!
He said, "You are the
first that e’er
I wished alive again! "
He turned her ower
and ower again—
Oh, gin her skin was white!
He said, "I might ha’e spared thy life,
To ha’e been some man’s delight!"
The burning of Corgarf,
thus chronicled, had a sequel which affords a striking illustration of the
manners of feudal times. The incident is related in Picken’s Traditional
Stories of Old Families, from which it may be quoted: "Subsequent
to this tragical affair," says the writer, "a meeting for
reconciliation took place between a select number of the heads of the two
houses in Lord Forbes’ castle of Druminor. The difference being at
length made up, both parties sat down to a feast. The eating being ended,
the parties were at their drink. ‘Now,’ said Huntly to his neighbour
chief, ‘as this business has been satisfactorily settled, tell me, if it
had not been so, what it was your intention to have done.’ ‘There
would have been bloody work,’ said Forbes, ‘bloody work, and we would
have had the best of it. I will tell you. See, we are mixed one and one,
Forbeses and Gordons; I had only to give a sign by the stroking down of my
beard, and every Forbes was to have drawn the skean from under his left
arm, and stabbed to the heart his right-hand man.’ As he spoke, Forbes
suited the sign to the word, and stroked down his flowing beard. In a
moment a score of skeans were out, flashing in the light of the pine
torches held behind the guests. In another moment they were buried in as
many hearts; for the Forbeses, whose eyes constantly watched their chief,
mistaking this involuntary motion for the agreed sign of death, struck
their weapons into the bodies of the unsuspecting Gordons. The chiefs’
looked at each other in silent consternation. At length Forbes said, ‘This
is a sad tragedy we little expected; but what is done cannot be undone,
and the blood that now flows on the floor of Druminor will just help to
slocken the auld fire of Corgarf.’"
After the murder of the
Bonnie Earl of Moray at Dunnibristle in 1592, Lord Forbes, who was Moray’s
close friend and the feudal enemy of his murderer, the Earl of Huntly,
marched with the slain man’s bloody shirt on a spear’s head through
his territories, and incited his followers to revenge.
John, son of the Lord
Forbes who played a part in so many tragic incidents, and of Lady Margaret
Gordon, above referred to, was much revered for his pious life. He adhered
to the Roman Catholic Church, and his fame is remembered to the present
day under the name he took of "Father Archangel." His escape
from Scotland to Antwerp in the disguise of a shepherd’s boy was one of
the romances of that time. He took the habit of a Capuchin friar at
Tournay in 1593, and is said to have converted 300 Scottish soldiers to
Catholicism at Dixmude. In 1606, only six weeks after succeeding to the
peerage, he died of the plague at Ghent while visiting those attacked by
that disease. A Latin life of him by Faustinus Cranius was translated into
English, French, and Italian.
The tenth Lord Forbes was
one of the Scottish nobles and soldiers of fortune who in the first half
of the seventeenth century won fame under the banners of Gustavus Adolphus
of Sweden. In those wars he attained the rank of Lieutenant General, and
after his return to Scotland, he was sent to Ireland in 1643 as one of the
commanders entrusted with the suppression of the rebellion there against
Charles I.
The twelfth baron was a
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Horse Guards in the latter years of the
seventeenth century, and was made a member of the Privy Council by King
William III. His elder son, the thirteenth baron, had his own troubles in
the events of his time, since his wife, a daughter of William Dale of
Covent Garden, lost no less a sum than £20,000 through rash investment in
the great South Sea Bubble. The sixteenth baron was appointed
Deputy-Governor of Fort William in 1764, and the post was evidently not
altogether a sinecure, since he died there forty years later.
The seventeenth baron,
already mentioned as bearing the name James O’Choncar, distinguished
himself as Colonel of the 21st Fusiliers. He served with the Coldstream
Guards in Flanders under the Duke of York, and, at the Helder under Sir
Ralph Abercromby in 1799, attained the rank of General in the Napoleonic
wars, and was made a Knight of the Royal Sicilian Order of St. Januarius.
He was a representative peer for Scotland, acted as High Commissioner to
the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1825 till 1830, and
was created a baronet of Nova Scotia. His son, again, Walter, the
eighteenth baron, commanded a company of the Coldstream Guards at
Waterloo, and took part in the terrific struggle at the Chateau of
Hougomont.
The nineteenth Lord, who
succeeded in 1868, was premier baron of Scotland, a representative peer,
and a Deputy-Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire.
Among the cadet branches of
the family it is uncertain whether that of Pitsligo or that of Craigievar
was the elder, there being a doubt as to which of their ancestors, Duncan
and Patrick respectively, was second son and third son of the second Baron
Forbes.
Pitsligo is said to
have been acquired by marriage with a daughter of Fraser of Philorth in
the middle of the sixteenth century; but a hundred years earlier, in 1448,
John Forbes of Pitsligo was among those slain in the battle between the
Lindsays and the Ogilvies over the justiciatship of the Abbey of Arbroath.
The fourth and last Baron Forbes of Pitsligo was a noted Jacobite, who
played a conspicuous part in the Earl of Mar’s rising in 1715. After
living abroad for five years he was allowed to return, but having raised a
regiment for Prince Charles Edward at the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 he
was attainted, and lived in hiding till his death in 1762.
Meanwhile the second son of
the union with the heiress of Pitsligo had founded another family. His
eldest son, William Forbes, married Margaret, daughter of the ninth Earl
of Angus, and their eldest son, another William, was created a baronet of
Nova Scotia in 1626. The fourth baronet married a daughter of the Earl of
Kintore, and John, the eldest son of this union, married Mary Forbes,
daughter of the third Lord Forbes of Pitsligo, through whom, on the
decease of John, Master of Pitsligo in 1781, her descendants became
nearest heirs and representatives of that noble family. The sixth baronet,
Sir William Forbes, was the famous Edinburgh banker of the eighteenth
century. His second son was a Judge of the Court of Session under the
title of Lord Medwyn, and the eighth baronet, who married a daughter of
the sixth Marquess of Lothian, assumed the additional surname and arms of
Hepburn, as heir of entail to the barony of Invermay, and as heir at law
to the estate of Balmanno, on the death of Alexander Hepburn Murray
Belshes.
The Forbeses of Newe are
also descended from Duncan, son of the second Lord Forbes. Their immediate
ancestor was William Forbes of Dauch and Newe, younger brother of Sir John
Forbes, created Lord Forbes of Pitsligo in 1633. The baronetcy dates from
1823, its first holder having been a merchant at Bombay. Ten years later,
Sir Charles Forbes was served nearest heir-male general to Alexander,
third Lord Pitsligo, and in the same year the Pitsligo arms and supporters
were granted him by the Lord Lyon.
The Forbeses of Craigievar,
again are descended from Patrick of Corse, armour-bearer to James III.,
who for his services had bestowed upon him the barony of O’Neill. The
second baron of O’Neill and laird of Corse was known significantly as
Trail the Axe. The fifth took an active part in the settlement of the
Church after the Reformation, and was for seventeen years Bishop of
Aberdeen; and his son, Dr. John Forbes of Corse, was Professor of
Theology. in King’s College, Aberdeen, and author of many valuable
works. The present line is descended from the brother of the Bishop,
William Forbes of Craigievar, which, by the way, means the "Rock of
Mar." It was his son who, in 1630, was created a baronet of Nova
Scotia. He commanded a troop of horse on the Parliament side in the Civil
Wars, and was active otherwise in the public business of his time. His
son, again, known as "the Red Sir John," did much to repair the
fortunes of his house, which had suffered seriously during the Civil Wars,
and he sat repeatedly in the Scottish Parliament. Later heads of the house
also distinguished themselves, and Sir William, the eighth baronet,
inherited the Sempill peerage as representative of the Hon. Sarah Sempill,
eldest daughter of John, twelfth Lord Sempill, and wife of Sir William,
the fifth baronet of Craigievar. The next representative of the house, his
son, Sir John Forbes Sempill, eighteenth Baron Sempill, served through the
Sudan and South African campaigns.
Still another notable
family of the clan has been that of the Earls of Granard in Ireland, who
are descended from Sir Arthur, sixth son of Trail the Axe, above referred
to. Sir Arthur settled in Ireland in 1620, and obtained extensive
territorial possessions from the crown in the county of Longford. These
were erected into the Manor of Castle Forbes, and Sir Archibald was made a
baronet of Nova Scotia in 1628. Four years later, as Lieutenant-Colonel,
he accompanied his regiment to take part in the wars of Gustavus Adolphus,
and was killed in a duel at Hamburg. His eldest son distinguished himself
under the Marquess of Montrose in the Civil Wars, and after the
Restoration was made a Privy Councillor, Marshal of the Army in Ireland,
and one of the Lords Justices, before he was raised to the peerage in
1673. A year later he raised the eighteenth Royal Irish Regiment, and was
made Earl of Granard. The second Earl was imprisoned, by William the Third
in the Tower, served in Turenne, and took part at the battle of Saspach
and the siege of Buda. The third Earl, distinguished in public service,
naval, military, and political, died senior admiral of the British Navy.
The sixth Earl, who opposed the Union with Great Britain, was made a peer
of the United Kingdom as Baron Granard of Castle Donington in
Leicestershire, a mansion which figured conspicuously in the public eye as
the place of internment of German officer prisoners during the war of
1914, And the present Earl of Granard, eighth of his line, has highly
distinguished himself in public service as a Lord in Waiting, Assistant
Postmaster-General, and Master of the Horse, as well as special Ambassador
to announce the accession of King George V. at the courts of Lisbon,
Madrid, the Hague, Brussels, Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Christiania.
Among other distinguished
bearers of the name of Forbes, the most famous was Duncan Forbes of
Culloden, President of the Court of Session, whose exertions at the time
of the last Jacobite rebellion did much to prevent a general rising of the
Highland clans, and to preserve the throne for George II. Duncan Forbes
was descended, through the family of Tolquhon in Aberdeenshire, from Sir
John, third son of Sir John de Forbes, who died in 1405. He purchased
Culloden from the laird of MacIntosh in 1726, and, according to Marshal
Wade, could count upon a Highland following of 200 men.
Altogether, from first to
last, there is perhaps no Highland family which can boast so many branches
highly distinguished in so many spheres of public life as that which has
sprung from the stem of this ancient Aberdeenshire house.
Septs of Clan Forbes:
Bannerman, Fordyce, Michie.
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