Clan Forbes

Clan Forbes is a Lowland Scottish clan.

History

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.

13th Century

In 1271, the chief of the time, Duncan de Forbes, obtained a charter from Alexander III for the land, confirming his claim.

14th Century

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 and Alistair of Brux was ancestor of extensions in Skellater and Inverernan.

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.

Clan Conflicts and Battles

• 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.

• 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.

• The feud with Clan Gordon which had been carried on for a long time reached a climax in the 1520's with murders committed by both sides occuring 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 The Master of Forbes was tried and executed, but within days his sentence was revoked and the Clan Forbes family restored to favour.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.

• 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.

• Clan Forbes along with Clan MacKintosh and others were defeated at the Battle of Glenlivet in 1594.

Jacobite Uprisings

During the 1715 Jacobite rebellion, Duncan Forbes of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session, was in opposition to the Jacobite cause. He is remembered however, for his efforts to win the rebels better treatment from their captors. Speaking out for the people after Culloden, "Butcher" Cumberland responded with the sneer, that old woman talked to me about humanity. A memorial to Duncan Forbes stands in the Parliament Hall at Edinburgh.

Castle Forbes

Built in 1815, Castle Forbes stands on the land claimed by Oconachar, overlooking the River Don.

The Chief and The Clan 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.

Coat of Arms of the Lord Forbes.

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.

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