FORBES, David (son of Edward Forbes of Oakhill, Isle of Man, banker). b. Douglas 6 Sep. 1828; educ. Brentwood, Essex and Edin. univ.; superintendent of mining and metallurgical works at Espedal, Norway 1848–58; F.G.S. 1853 and one of secretaries 1871; F.R.S. 3 June 1856; partner with Evans and Askin, nickel smelters, Birmingham 1856; A.I.C.E. 1 Feb. 1853, mem. of council 1872–73; visited Bolivia, Peru, South Sea islands and Africa in search of mines and minerals 1857–66; foreign sec. of Iron and Steel Institute 1871–6; one of the first to apply the microscope to the study of rocks; wrote 58 papers on scientific subjects. d. 11 York place, Portman sq. London 5 Dec. 1876. Quarterly Journal of Geol. Soc. xxxiii, 41–8 (1877); Min. of proc. of Instit. of C.E. xlix, 270–75 (1877); Journal of Iron and Steel Institute 1876 pp. 519–24.
FORBES, Duncan. b. Kinnaird, Perthshire 28 April 1798; village school master of Straloch 1815; educ. Carmichael sch., Perth gram. sch. and St. Andrew’s univ., M.A. 1823, LLD. 1847; employed in Calcutta academy Nov. 1823 to 1826; assistant to Dr. John Borthwick Gilchrist, teacher of Hindustani and to Dr. Sandford Arnet 1826–37; professor of oriental languages, King’s coll. London 1837–61; hon. fellow of King’s coll. 1861; catalogued Persian MSS. in British Museum 1849–55; author of The Hindustani Manual 1845; The history of chess from the time of the early invention of the game in India 1860; A grammar of the Bengali language 1861; A grammar of the Arabic language 1863 and other books. d. London 17 Aug. 1868. Annual Report R. Asiatic Soc., May 1869 pp. vii-viii.
FORBES, Edward (2 child of Edward Forbes of Douglas, Isle of Man, banker). b. Douglas 12 Feb. 1815; ed. at univ. of Edin. 1831–36; naturalist to H.M.’s surveying ship Beacon, in the Levant 1841–42; professor of botany at King’s college, London, Oct. 1842; F.G.S. 4 Dec. 1844, librarian and curator 1842–44, pres. 1853; F.R.S. 13 Feb. 1845; palæontologist at Museum of practical geology 1 Nov. 1844 to 1854; founded Club of the Metropolitan Red Lions 1845; professor of natural history in Univ. of Edin. April 1854 to death; published with Sylvanus Hanley A History of British Mollusca 4 vols. 1848–53; author of many books and papers on natural history. d. Wardie near Edinburgh 18 Nov. 1854. J. H. Bennett’s Memoir of E. Forbes 1855; Memoir of E. Forbes by G. Wilson and A. Geikie 1861, portrait; Sir A. Grant’s Univ. of Edin. ii, 434 (1884); I.L.N. xxv, 564, 566 (1854), portrait.
FORBES, Francis Reginald (2 son of 6 Earl of Granard 1760–1837). b. Moira castle, Ireland 17 Sep. 1791; attached to embassy at St. Petersburg, July 1812; minister plenipotentiary at Dresden 26 Nov. 1832; raised to rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 2 May 1857, transferred to Rio de Janeiro 13 Dec. 1858; retired 2 Sep. 1859, pension granted him 1 Nov. 1859. d. Geneva 5 Nov. 1873.
FORBES, Rev. George Hay (brother of Right Rev. A. P. Forbes). b. 4 Aug. 1821; episcopal minister at Burntisland 1849 to death; founded and endowed the Pitsligo press at Burntisland, issued theological pamphlets, ancient liturgies and missals, and a periodical called The Panoply 1853–69, all of which he printed himself, the press was moved to Edinburgh, January 1884; author of The goodness of God, Prize essay 1849; Doctrinal errors of the English prayer book 1863. d. The Parsonage, Burntisland 7 Nov. 1875.
FORBES, Henry. b. 1804; pupil of Smart, Hummel, Moscheles and Herz; organist of St. Luke’s, Chelsea; his opera The Fairy Oak produced at Drury Lane 18 Oct. 1845; his cantata Ruth performed London 1847; conductor of Società Armonica 1827–50; composer of National Psalmody 1843. d. London 24 Nov. 1859.
FORBES, James. b. Bridgend, Perthshire, May 1793; head gardener to Duke of Bedford at Woburn abbey, Beds. 37 years; A.L.S. 17 Jany. 1832; published Hortus ericaceus Woburnensis 1825; Salicetum Woburnense 1829; Hortus Woburnensis 1833; Pinetum Woburnense 1839. d. The Abbey Gardens, Woburn 6 July 1861. Proc. of Linnæan Soc. (1861) 104.
FORBES, James David (youngest son of Sir Wm. Forbes, 7 Bart. 1773–1828). b. Edinburgh 20 April 1809; ed. at Univ. of Edin., LLD. 1860; F.R.S. Edin. 1828, sec. 1840–51; F.R.S. 7 June 1832, Rumford medallist 1838 for discovery of polarisation of heat; a founder of British Association 1832; professor of natural philosophy in Univ. of Edin. 30 Jany. 1833, resigned April 1860; dean of Faculty of Arts 1837; granted civil list pension of £200, 14 Oct. 1845; surveyed Mer de Glace 1850; principal of St. Andrews 2 Dec. 1859 to Oct. 1868; author of Travels through the Alps of Savoy with observations on glaciers 1843 and of upwards of 149 articles in scientific transactions. d. Clifton hill house, Bristol 31 Dec. 1868. Life and letters of J. D. Forbes 1873; Proc. of Royal Soc. xix, 1–9 (1871); Sir A. Grant’s Univ. of Edin. ii, 354–7 (1884); Contemporary Review xxii, 484–508 (1873).
FORBES, Sir John (4 son of Alexander Forbes of the Enzie, Banffshire). b. Cuttelbrae, Ruthven, Banffshire 18 Oct. 1787; ed. at Marischal coll. Aberdeen 1803–6 and Univ. of Edin., M.D. 1817; assistant surgeon R.N. 1807–16 when placed on h.p.; phys. at Penzance 1817–22, at Chichester 1822–40, in London 1840–59; F.R.S. 5 Feb. 1829; founded British and Foreign medical review, Jany. 1836, edited it 1836 to Oct. 1847, 48 numbers; phys. extraord. to Prince Consort, Aug. 1840 to 1859; phys. in ord. to H.M.’s Household, Feb. 1841 to 1859; F.R.C.S. Lond. 1845; knighted at Buckingham palace 8 Aug. 1853; author of Original cases illustrating the use of the stethescope 1824; editor with A. Tweedie and J. Conolly of Cyclopædia of practical medicine 1833–35, 4 vols.; author of A physician’s holiday in Switzerland 1848; Sight seeing in Germany 1856. d. Whitchurch near Reading 13 Nov. 1861. E. A. Parke’s Memoir of Sir John Forbes; Proc. of Royal Soc. xii, 6–10 (1862).
FORBES, Rev. John. b. Dunkeld, Perthshire; educ. Perth academy and St. Andrew’s univ., D.D. 1837; LLD. of Glasgow univ. 1840; minister at Hope park chapel, Edinburgh 1826, at Outer-High church, Glasgow 18 Dec. 1828; left the Presbyterian ch. 24 May 1843; contributed to The evidences of Revealed Religion 1838; Free church minister of Free St. Paul’s Glasgow 1843; author of Differential and integral calculus; Three sermons on Lord’s Day 1831 and other books. d. Glasgow 25 Dec. 1874 aged 73. Wylie’s Disruption Worthies (1881) 253–60; John Smith’s Our Scottish Clergy (1848) 231–7.