Arthur Forbes, 1st Earl of Granard (1623–1696) was an Irish

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

soldier of Scottish descent. He held the position Marshal of Ireland, commander of the

Royal Irish Army Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, ...

during the reign of Charles II. A supporter of the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

, he fought on the

Williamite A Williamite was a follower of King William III of England (r. 1689–1702) who deposed King James II and VII in the Glorious Revolution. William, the Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, replaced James with the support of English Whigs. On ...

side during the

War of the Two Kings The Williamite War in Ireland took place from March 1689 to October 1691. Fought between Jacobite supporters of James II and those of his successor, William III, it resulted in a Williamite victory. It is generally viewed as a related conflic ...

Early life

Forbes was the eldest son of Sir Arthur Forbes of

Corse Castle Corse Castle near Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, now ruined, was a fortress and centre of a landed estate in the north-east of Scotland. The present castle dates from the 16th century and stands by the Corse Burn, around north-west of Lumphanan. ...

and

Castle Forbes Castle Forbes is a 19th-century country house in the Scots Baronial style near Alford in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The Vale of Alford estate has been home to the Lords Forbes and their ancestors for over six hundred years. An earlier house ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

; who went to Ireland in 1620 with the Master of Forbes's regiment, of which he was lieutenant-colonel, and was granted large estates in counties Leitrim and

Longford Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of ...

King James I James I may refer to: People *James I of Aragon (1208–1276) * James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327) * James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu * James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347) *James I of Cyprus (1334� ...

. His mother was Jane, daughter of Sir Robert Lauder of the Isle of Bass, and widow of

Sir Alexander Hamilton ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

Killeshandra Killeshandra or Killashandra () is a small town or village and civil parish in County Cavan, Ireland. It is located west of Cavan Town. Killeshandra town has a long record of participation in the National Tidy Towns competition and has won ...

County Cavan County Cavan ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Cavan and is based on the hi ...

. His father was killed in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

in 1632, and he was brought up by his mother.

Career

English Civil War

During the rebellion of 1641 Jane Forbes was besieged in

, the family seat, for nine months, and Forbes raised men for her relief, though only eighteen years old. He is next heard of in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, serving under

James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612 – 21 May 1650) was a Scottish nobleman, poet, soldier and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but subsequ ...

in the cause of King Charles I. On the defeat of Montrose in 1645, Forbes was taken prisoner, and for two years he was confined in

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcol ...

. On his release, he made efforts to restore the

Stuarts The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, also known as the Stuart dynasty, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been hel ...

, and then returned to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in 1655.

Under Charles II

In 1660 he was sent to Charles at

Breda Breda ( , , , ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. ...

to assure him that if he would only go over to Ireland the whole kingdom would declare for him. At the Restoration he was appointed a commissioner of the court of claims in Ireland, and received additional grants of land in

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

. In 1661 he entered the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

as member for

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

. In 1663 he did service to the king in the north of Ireland by nipping in the bud efforts there in support of

Thomas Blood Thomas Blood (1618 – 24 August 1680) was an Anglo-Irish officer and self-styled colonel best known for his attempt to steal the Crown Jewels of England from the Tower of London in 1671. Described in an American source as a "noted br ...

's plot. Honours then came his way. In 1670 he was sworn of the

Privy Council of Ireland His or Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland, commonly called the Privy Council of Ireland, Irish Privy Council, or in earlier centuries the Irish Council, was the institution within the Dublin Castle administration which exercised formal executi ...

, and appointed marshal and commander-in-chief of the army. In 1671 he was one of the

Lord Justices (Ireland) The Lords Justices (more formally the Lords Justices General and General Governors of Ireland) were deputies who acted collectively in the absence of the chief governor of Ireland (latterly the Lord Lieutenant) as head of the executive branch o ...

; on several subsequent occasions, he held the post. In 1672 he helped the Presbyterian Church of Ireland, of which he was a member, by procuring for it the first grant of ''

regium donum The Regium Donum (Latin: "Royal Bounty") in British history was an annual grant to augment the income of poor Nonconformist clergy. There were separate grants for English Dissenters and for Irish Presbyterian clergy. The money originally came f ...

'', which the church continued to enjoy until the passing of the Irish Church Act in 1869, with the exception of a short interval. James Kirkpatrick, in his ''Essay Upon the Loyalty of Presbyterians'' (1713), gave an account of Forbes's lobbying. In 1675 he was created Baron Clanehugh and Viscount Granard. In 1684 he raised the

18th Regiment of Foot 18 (eighteen) is the natural number following 17 and preceding 19. It is an even composite number. Mathematics 18 is a semiperfect number and an abundant number. It is a largely composite number, as it has 6 divisors and no smaller number ha ...

, was made colonel thereof, and in the same year was advanced to the dignity of

Earl of Granard Earl of Granard is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1684 for Arthur Forbes, 1st Viscount Granard. He was a lieutenant-general in the army and served as Marshal of the Army in Ireland after the Restoration and was later Lord ...

Under James II

James II endeavoured to make use of Granard; but he was not pliable, and was removed from the command of the army,

Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell Richard Talbot, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell, ( – 14 August 1691) was an Irish politician, courtier and soldier. Talbot's early career was spent as a cavalryman in the Irish Confederate Wars. Following a period on the Continent, he joined the court ...

being put in his place. When James's

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

parliament passed the acts of repeal and attainder, he remonstrated with the king. Finding his arguments vain, he went to the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

, entered his protest against the measures, and retired to Castle Forbes. Here he was unsuccessfully besieged by Irish forces.

Williamite War

When

William III William III or William the Third may refer to: Kings * William III of Sicily () * William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702) * William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg (1817–1890) N ...

went over to Ireland, Granard replaced

John Mitchelburne Colonel John Mitchelburne (2 January 1648 – 1 October 1721) was an English soldier and playwright. He rose to prominence during the Williamite War in Ireland when he commanded the defenders of Derry. Early life and career Mitchelburne was born i ...

in command of a force of five thousand men for the reduction of

Sligo Sligo ( ; , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of 20,608 in 2022, it is the county's largest urban centre (constituting 2 ...

, the surrender of which he secured. This was his last public service.

Personal life

He married Catherine Stewart ( Newcomen), daughter of

Sir Robert Newcomen ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

of Mosstown, co. Longford, and widow of

Sir Alexander Stewart ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part o ...

, ancestor of the Mountjoy family. Together, they had five sons and one daughter, including: *

Arthur Forbes, 2nd Earl of Granard Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

(–1734), who married Mary Rawdon, daughter of

Sir George Rawdon, 1st Baronet Sir George Rawdon, 1st Baronet (1604–1684), of Moira, County Down which he founded, was an English army officer and politician. Early life Born in November 1604, he was the only son of Francis Rawdon (1581?–1668) of Rawdon Hall, near Leeds. ...

and Hon. Dorothy Conway (a daughter of the 2nd Viscount Conway), in 1678. * Hon. Robert Forbes (d. 1686), who was killed at the Siege of Buda. * Lady Catherine Forbes (d. 1743), who married

Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall Major-General Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall (1666 – 10 April 1706), was an English Army officer and peer. Early life He was the eldest son of Arthur Chichester, 2nd Earl of Donegall, and Jane Itchingham (–1712). Among his siblin ...

. His closing years were spent quietly at Castle Forbes, where he died in 1696.Mosley, Charles, editor. ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes.''

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

(Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, volume 2, page 1628. He was succeeded by his eldest son Arthur, 2nd Earl of Granard.G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14'' (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes,

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

Alan Sutton Publishing The History Press is a British publishing company specialising in the publication of titles devoted to local and specialist history. It claims to be the United Kingdom's largest independent publisher in this field, publishing approximately 300 ...

, 2000), volume I, page 445, volume VI, page 55.

Coat of arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granard, Arthur Forbes, 1st Earl of 1623 births 1696 deaths Nobility from Aberdeenshire Military personnel from Aberdeenshire Scottish soldiers Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Forbes, Arthur Irish Presbyterians Forbes, Arthur Members of the Irish House of Lords Earls of Granard

202 Year 202 ( CCII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Severus and Antoninus (or, less frequently, year 955 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 202 for this yea ...

Irish soldiers Royalist military personnel of the English Civil War Williamite military personnel of the Williamite War in Ireland Peers of Ireland created by Charles II