Clan Forbes
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Clan Forbes is a Lowland Scottish clan.
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] Origins of Clan Forbes
Forbes is a parish in the Aberdeenshire area. A reliable tradition tells that the 'Braes o’ Forbes' were once uninhabitable because of bears living in the area. Oconachar, founder of the clan, killed the bears and claimed the land as ‘first occupier’. The present chief still holds part of the Lordship of these Forbes lands. In 1271, the chief of the time, Duncan de Forbes, obtained a charter from King Alexander III of Scotland for the land, confirming his claim.
[edit] Wars of Scottish Independence
Duncan de Forbes, his son, 1262, and Alexander de Forbes, his grandson was the governor of Urquhart Castle in Moray, which he bravely defended for a long time, in 1304, against King 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 there delivered a posthumous son.
This son, Sir Alexander de Forbes, the only one of his family remaining, came to Scotland in the reign of King Robert the Bruce during the Wars of Scottish Independence. 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 Dupplin Moor in 1332, fighting valiantly on the side of King David I of Scotland, the son of Robert the Bruce against the English. From his son, Sir John de Forbes, 1373, all the numerous families in Scotland who bear the name and their offshoots, trace their descent. [1]
Also in the fourteenth century John de Forbes of the Black Lip had four sons with whom the family expanded widely and prosperously. William began the Pitsligo line, John was progenitor of the branch of Polquhoun This may begin with a "T" instead of a "P"; the Forbes of Tolquhoun, who are supposedly descended from the 1st Lord Forbes, inherited Tolquhoun Castle from a Preston ancestor and Alistair of Brux was ancestor of extensions in Skellater and Inverernan.
[edit] 15th Century & Clan Conflicts
By the 15th century there was a point where, from the coasts of Banff and Buchan, to the mountains of Aberdeenshire, there were one hundred and fifty Forbes houses and estates.
- Alexander, the eldest of the brothers, fought in the 1411 Battle of Harlaw against the invaders from the Isles, led by Donald. He was created Lord Forbes by James I around 1444. To this day the Lordship is regarded as Scotland’s premier. His own three sons would extend the family with the branches of Corsindale and Monymusk, Corse, and later the Baronets of Craigievar.
- The Forbes of Pitsligo fought in support of the Clan Ogilvy who were also supported by men from the Clan Oliphant, Clan Gordon and men from the Clan Seton at the Battle of Arbroath on the 24th January 1445. Their enemey was the Master of Crawford and his Clan Lindsay who advanced with over one thousand men. The Earl of Crawford himself was the father of the Master of Crawford. The Earl rode in between the two armies in an attempt to call a truce. However, an illadvised Ogilvie, thinking that this was the start of the Lindsay's attack, threw his spear at the Earl, hitting him in the mouth and killing him instantly. So the battle began which went in the Clan Lindsay's favour. Here fell Ogilvie of Inverquharty, Forbes of Pitsligo, Brucklay of Gartley, Gordon of Borrowfield, and Oliphant of Aberdalgie, along with 500 or so Ogilvie's. However, the Lindsays lost a disproportionate amount of men, most notably the Earl himself. [2][3]
- Clan Forbes was, through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, constantly at feud with their powerful, predatory neighbours the Clan Gordon, whose chief was the Earl of Huntly. The consistent murders by both sides escalated, fuelled with the excuses of religious self-importance.
[edit] 16th Century & Clan Conflicts
- The feud with Clan Gordon which had been carried on for a long time reached a climax in the 1520s with murders committed by both sides occurring constantly. One of the most prominent of those killed by the Forbes action, Seton of Meldrum, was a close connection of the chief of the Gordons, the Earl of Huntly. The Earl of Huntly soon became involved in a plot aimed at the Master of Forbes (son of John, the 6th Lord Forbes), who was heavily implicated in the Seton murder.
- In 1536 Chief of Clan Gordon, the Earl of Huntly accused the Master of Forbes of conspiring to assassinate King James V of Scotland while visiting Aberdeen by shooting at him with a cannon. The Master of Forbes was tried and executed, but within days his sentence was revoked and the Clan Forbes family restored to favour. However the damage to relations between the Clan Forbes and Clan Gordon was irreparable. Attacks by each family and their supporters were carried out more or less continuously throughout the remainder of the century, reducing Aberdeenshire to an unparalleled state of lawlessness.
- The sixth Lord forbes, Chief of Clan Forbes, died in 1547. William forbes 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.
- During the Anglo-Scottish Wars a branch of the Clan Forbes, the Forbeses of Tolquhoun, ancient cadets of this family, one of whom fell when they fought at the Battle of Pinkie on the 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
- 1571, Feud with Clan Gordon continued, During the 15th and 16th centuries the Clan was engaged in a long and bitter struggle against the Clan Gordon. By 1571 the feud had got to the point where other clans began taking sides. The Clan Leslie, Clan Irvine and Clan Seton who had their own feuds with the Forbeses joined forces with Clan Gordon. However opponents of the Gordons such as Clan Keith, Clan Fraser and Clan Crichton joined forces with Clan Forbes. The feud culminated in two full scale battles in 1571; The Battle of Tillieangus and the Battle of Craibstone. It was at the Battle of Tillieangus that the 6th Lord Forbes's youngest son known as Black Aurther Forbes was killed. Legend has it that "he stooped down to quench his thirst and one of the Gordons gave him his death blow through an open joint in his armour".
- 1571, The Castle Druminnor, then Lord Forbes's seat, was itself plundered and sacked and in the same month the Gordons followed this up by the atrocious massacre of 27 Forbeses of Towie at Corgarff. Two acts of Parliament were required to force the clans to lay down their arms but the struggle had drawn the Forbeses deep into debt making it necessary for them to sell much of their land.
- At the Battle of Glenlivet in 1594 the Earl of Argyll's forces which consisted of Clan Campbell, Clan Stewart of Atholl, Clan Forbes and the Chattan Confederation of Clan MacKintosh were defeated by the Earl of Huntly's forces which consisted of Clan Gordon, Clan Comyn/Cumming and Clan Cameron. [4]
[edit] 17th Century & Civil War
In the early 17th century Clan Forbes had a number of alliances by marriage or friendship. Among these was a strong bond to the Clan Burnett of Leys. The Forbes crest is emblazoned in plasterwork on the ceiling of the great hall of Muchalls Castle built by Alexander Burnett.
During the Civil War the Clan Forbes led by Forbes of Craigievar and Forbes of Boyndlie fought as Covenanters at the Battle of Aberdeen against the Royalists in 1644.
[edit] 18th Century & Jacobite Uprisings
During the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session, was in support of the British government and in opposition to the Jacobite cause.
During the 1745 to 1746 rebellion an attempt was made by the Jacobites to capture Duncan Forbes. A plan was formed by Prince Charles for seizing him by some of the Frasers, a party of whom, amounting to about 200 men, accordingly made an attack upon the Forbes house of Culloden during the night between the 15th and 16th of October; but Duncan Forbes being upon his guard, they were repulsed. The apprehension of such an important personage would have been of greater service to the Jacobite cause than the gaining of a battle. [5]
This fact did not represent the entire clan, and in fact many in the Forbes clan became Jacobites. Robert Forbes, the episcopalian bishop of Ross and Caithness was arrested for being a Jacobite in 1745 but survived to write a three volume account of the Jacobite Uprising, entitled "The Lyon in Mourning."
[edit] Clan Forbes Castles
- Castle Forbes stands on the land claimed by Oconachar, overlooking the River Don it has been the seat of the Chief of Clan Forbes for almost 600 years. The present castle was built in 1815 by the 17th Lord Forbes and is currently occupied by his great-great-great grandson Malcolm, the Master of Forbes, and his wife Jinny.[6]
- Corgarff Castle was built in about 1550 by John Forbes of Towie and was fought over between the Clan Forbes and Clan Gordon.
[edit] The Chief and the Clan Forbes today
The present chief of the Clan, Nigel, the 22nd Lord Forbes, lives at Balforbes on the south side of the river Don, within the 'modern' Forbes Estate.
He followed his father Atholl, the 21st Lord Forbes, into the Grenadier Guards and fought in the campaigns of France, Belgium, North Africa, Sicily and North West Europe during World War II after which he became Military Assistant to the High Commissioner for Palestine, General Sir Alan Cunningham. Like his father and many earlier holders of the title he was elected to serve as a Representative Peer for Scotland in the House of Lords and was Minister of State for Scotland in the MacMillan government of 1958/9. Both Nigel, Lord Forbes and his son, Malcolm, Master of Forbes, attend and officiate at clan gatherings as time permits.
Septs include Watt, Watson, Lumsden, Fordyce, Berry.
