Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet (1739–1806), also known as William Forbes of Pitsligo, was a Scottish banker, landlord, philanthropist and writer.

Life and career

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

on 5 April 1739. His father Willam Forbes, heir to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, was an advocate; the family estate at

Monymusk Monymusk () is a planned village in the Marr area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. History Malcolm Canmore first established Celtic foundation on the site in 1078 The Culdees of Munimusc are recorded as inhabiting the site in 1170. Monymusk Pri ...

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 ...

had been sold by his grandfather. Forbes's maternal grandmother was a sister of

Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Forbes of Pitsligo Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Forbes of Pitsligo (1678–1762) was a Scottish Jacobite nobleman and refugee, also known as a writer. Life He was the only son of Alexander Forbes, 3rd Lord Forbes of Pitsligo, by Lady Sophia Erskine, third dau ...

, whose activities in 1745 led to the forfeiture of his estate, also in Aberdeenshire. His mother, Christian Forbes, was a member of a collateral branch of the Monymusk family, and was left a widow when William, the elder of two surviving boys from a family of five, was only four years old. She settled in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in 1745 for the education of her children, who were brought up as

Scottish episcopalians Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

. The younger boy died in 1749, and in October 1753 Lady Forbes, with her surviving son, settled in Edinburgh. A friend of the family, Sir Francis Farquharson of Haughton, arranged with Messrs. Coutts, a prominent firm of bankers in Edinburgh, to admit Forbes as an apprentice, and he entered their service in 1754. It was run by the sons of John Coutts. The apprenticeship lasted four years, and then he was clerk in the counting-house for two years more, at the end of which he was given a small share in the business as a partner. In 1761 John Coutts, the principal partner of the Edinburgh firm, died, leaving none of the sons of John Coutts the elder in a position to run it. A new partnership, including Forbes, was proposed and established in 1763. After seven years (in 1770) he married Elizabeth Hay, eldest daughter of Sir James Hay of Smithfield, Bt. His mother died in 1789. From 1763 to 1773 the active members of the firm, still under the original name, were Sir Robert Herries, Forbes, and James Hunter. The name Coutts was retained till 1773, when a new contract was made, and the firm became Forbes, Hunter, & Co., Sir William Herries having settled in London to conduct in St James's Street the business later known as Herries & Co. Forbes was now the head of the firm, and decided to confine the transactions of the house to banking alone. The house became one of the most trusted in Scotland, and remained stable in the financial crises and panics of 1772, 1788, and 1793. In 1783 the firm, after difficult preliminaries, began to issue notes. Forbes had become an authority on finance, and in 1783 he took part in preparing the revised Bankruptcy Act. William Pitt used to consult him, and adopted in 1790 some of his suggestions on the stamps on

bills of exchange A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...

. In 1799 Pitt offered him an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, which he declined. The company in 1838 became the

Union Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group. The bank was established by the Parliament of Scotland in 1695 to devel ...

. Forbes worked to win back some of the alienated possessions of his ancestors. Lord Pitsligo's only son, the Hon. John Forbes, had bought

Pitsligo Pitsligo was a coastal parish in the historic county of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, containing the fishing villages of Rosehearty, Pittulie and Sandhaven,

. William Forbes bought some of the upper barony (the lower barony had passed by purchase to a stranger), and on the death of John Forbes he succeeded in 1781 to the whole. He improved the estate and laid out the village of

New Pitsligo New Pitsligo (), also known as Cavoch (locally ''Cyaak''),

in 1783. In that year he was one of the co-founders of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. Forbes was also involved in philanthropic projects in Edinburgh: the High School, the Merchant Company, the Morningside Lunatic Asylum, and the Blind Asylum. Forbes and his business partner Hunter Blair supported the construction of the South Bridge. He also succeeded in giving the Scottish episcopalians a surer standing in Edinburgh. Archibald Alison was brought to the city at his suggestion, and in Alison's works there is a funeral sermon to his memory. His Edinburgh property was Clam Shell Land on the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is the nickname of a series of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. The term originated in the early 20th century and has since entered popular usage. The Royal ...

(still marked with a carved clam shell but no longer known by this name) until around 1770 when he moved to a new property in the

New Town, Edinburgh The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. Many of the partners of the firm where Forbes worked were involved in the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...

. In March 1792 he was elected Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen on the death of the incumbent rector,

Sir William Fordyce Sir William Fordyce (1724 – 4 December 1792) was a Scottish physician. Life The son of Provost George Fordyce (1663-1733) of Aberdeen, and brother of David Fordyce, was born at Aberdeen in 1724, and educated at Marischal College; also serving ...

. He retained this position until 1794 when he was succeeded by James Ferguson MP. In 1801 he commissioned Edinburgh architect

Richard Crichton Richard Crichton (died 1817) was a Scottish architect operating in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was described as "competent and versatile". Life He was born around 1771, the son of James Crichton (d.1797) an Edinburgh mason. ...

to build a new mansion, Colinton House, in the grounds of Old Colinton House (which was left to become ruinous), all of which he had purchased from the Foulis family. The property passed to the son William on his death, and is now the main building of

Merchiston Castle School Merchiston Castle School is an independent boarding school for boys in the suburb of Colinton in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has around 470 pupils and is open to boys between the ages of 7 and 18 as either boarding or day pupils; it was modelled ...

. Forbes declined invitations to stand for parliament. He was a member of

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

's literary dining club, and he is mentioned in

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel ...

's ''Tour to the Hebrides''. Lady Forbes, with whom he made his only lengthy visit to the continent in 1792–3, died in 1802. He died at 39 George Street in Edinburgh on 12 November 1806. He is buried in

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 1 ...

in the vault immediately east of MacKenzie's domed tomb on the south side. The vault was built at the height of the graverobbing fears in Edinburgh and demonstrates the design art of "secure burial".

Works

His long friendship with the poet James Beattie enabled him to produce ''An Account of the Life and Writings of James Beattie, LL.D., including many of his Original Letters''. This appeared in two quarto volumes in 1806, and was republished in three octavo volumes the following year. Forbes had written before this the tribute to his mother, which remained in manuscript till 1875, another portion of the same manuscript, not hitherto printed, being devoted to the memory of his wife. In the ''Narrative of the last Sickness and Death of Dame Christian Forbes'', 1875, Forbes paid tribute to his mother. He was also author of ''Memoirs of a Banking-House'' in 1803.

Children

On 20 September 1770 Forbes married Elizabeth Hay (died 26 December 1789), daughter of Sir James Hay of Haystoun, 4th Baronet of Smithfield, and Dorriel Campbell. Miss Hay was a noted singer with the Edinburgh Music Society based in St Cecilia's Hall. They had thirteen children: # Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet of Pitsligo (21 December 1773 – 10 October 1828) # Christian Forbes, daughter, (6 June 1775 – 1863), who married Sir Alexander Wood # John Hay Forbes, Lord Medwyn (19 September 1776 – 25 July 1854) # James Forbes (9 April 1778) # Rebecca Forbes, daughter, (24 Dec. 1779–1826) who married

Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry Colonel Alexander Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry (15 September 1773 – 17 January 1828), sometimes called by the Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic version of his name, Alastair or Alasdair, was Scottish clan chief, clan chief of Clan MacDonell of Glenga ...

# Elizabeth Forbes, daughter, (2 March 1781 – 1840), who married Colin Mackenzie of Portmore WS

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

. Elizabeth was a great beauty and was painted by

Sir Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a for ...

# Daniel Forbes (7 August 1782) # Adam Forbes (7 September 1783) # Grace Forbes, daughter, (23 March 1785) # Jane Forbes, daughter, (10 June 1787–24 Nov. 1862) who married, 11 September 1806,

James Skene of Rubislaw James Skene of Rubislaw (1775–1864) was a Scottish lawyer and amateur artist, best known as a friend of Sir Walter Scott. Life The second son of George Skene (1736–1776) of Rubislaw, Aberdeen and his wife Jane (Jean) Moir of Stoneywood ...

. Parents to

William Forbes Skene William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary. He co-found ...

# Frances Farquharson Forbes, daughter, (10 August 1788) # George Forbes (5 September 1790 – 26 September 1857), banker # Charles Forbes (23 November 1791) His grandchildren include

James David Forbes James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...

and Sir

John Stuart Hepburn Forbes Sir John Stuart Hepburn Forbes, 8th Baronet, of Monymusk, of Fettercairn and Pitsligo, FRSE (1804–1866) was a Scottish baronet, landowner, advocate and agriculturalist. His name sometimes appears as Hepburn-Forbes. Life He was born in Dean ...

and famous great-grandchildren include George Forbes.

Coat of arms

References

Profile
electricscotland.com. Accessed 16 June 2007

stirnet.com. Accessed 16 June 2007
"''Memoirs of a Banking-House''" (fully online)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet 1739 births 1806 deaths 18th-century Scottish businesspeople 19th-century Scottish businesspeople 18th-century Scottish landowners 19th-century Scottish landowners 18th-century British philanthropists 19th-century Scottish philanthropists 18th-century Anglicans 19th-century Anglicans 19th-century Scottish memoirists Nobility from Edinburgh Businesspeople from Edinburgh Philanthropists from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Scottish bankers Scottish Freemasons

106 106 may refer to: * 106 (number), the number * AD 106, a year in the 2nd century AD * 106 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 106 (emergency telephone number), an Australian emergency number * 106 (MBTA bus), a route of the Massachusetts Bay Transpor ...

Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard Scottish antiquarians Scottish biographers Scottish Episcopalians People from Monymusk People from Pitsligo