Clan Forbes Society Blogs

In the turbulent world of sixteenth-century Scotland, where clan alliances could shift from blood-bound loyalty to bitter betrayal, the tragic fate of John, Master of Forbes, stands as a stark reminder of how swiftly honor could be undone by vengeance. Once part of a powerful triad with the Gordons and Setons, the Forbes family found itself cast out and hunted after a retaliatory killing in Aberdeen shattered decades of kinship.

The crisis that erupted in Scotland in the late 1630s began not with cannon fire, but with a prayer book. When Charles I of England attempted to impose religious uniformity across his kingdoms, he ignited resistance that would swell into the Bishops’ Wars and ultimately help precipitate the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

Brothers John and Duncan Forbes of Culloden rallied the townspeople of Inverness to resist the 1715 Jacobite siege.

The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was one of the most consequential wars fought on Scottish soil. Popular myths abound to this day – such as this was a battle for Scotland’s freedom from England and that the clash pitted lowland Scots against the Highlanders. However, the first-hand accounts of two prominent members of Clan Forbes expose these myths as pure fabrications.

The House of Forbes was almost extinguished as the result of the wars of Scottish Independence. However, the first lairds of Forbes persevered to win the admiration of King Robert I and son King David II.

Attempt to Surprise Edinburgh Castle, detail of etching by Terrason By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller If the competence of Charles Forbes of Brux had been as great as his enthusiasm for the Jacobite cause, George I may well have lost the British throne to James Francis Edward Stuart, son of the deposed James VII and II. Under James’s daughter Queen Anne, John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, (1675–1732) was a Commissioner for the Union, Scottish Secretary of State, Keepe

The Darien Scheme was an ill-fated attempt by Scotland to secure a colony in Central America in the late 17th century. Like many Scots at the time, twelve members of Clan Forbes subscribed to the project. The colony was a complete financial failure due, in part, to the active opposition by King William III. For the family of Forbes of Tolquhon, this precipitated the later forfeiture of the entire Tolquhon estate. For the rest of the country, the economic disaster led irrevoca

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller The 1567 abdication of Catholic Queen Mary and the succession of her son Protestant James VI did little to quell the religious and political tension in Scotland. By 1638, this erupted into full-blown war, involving many Forbeses. John Knox (1514 - 1572), National Library of Wales The conflict had its origins when the Church of Scotland broke with the Catholic Church and adopted a Calvinist confession of faith in 1560. Scottish min

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Clan Forbes had a complicated relationship with Mary, Queen of Scots. William, 7th Lord Forbes, was Protestant and initially supported Catholic Queen Mary. Also supporters were Arthur Forbes, 4th laird of Rires, and his wife Lady Margaret Beaton Forbes of Rires, also known as Lady Reres, who was a companion to the Queen. Throughout her life, Mary made a number of decisions that forced Lord Forbes to change his support. This was th

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Against the backdrop of the struggle between supporters of the deposed Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots, and of her young son, James VI, the former allies Forbeses and Gordons become foes. This was precipitated on September 4, 1571, when George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly, commanded a raid on Stirling Castle that resulted in the murder of the King’s Regent, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox. William, 7th Lord Forbes, was shocked by

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller The uneasy truce between the Forbeses and Gordons was shattered against the backdrop of the abdication of a Queen, the Assassination of a Regent, and the bloody battles of the Scottish civil war known the Marian War, named for Mary, Queen of Scots. James V, King of Scots. By Corneille de Lyon - Weiss Gallery Image The feud between the Forbeses and Gordons had been simmering since George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, had falsely accu

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Long before the building of the 13th century “Old Tower” of the original Castle Forbes (now called Druminnor Castle), our Gaelic and Pictish ancestors spread throughout what is called Scotland today. After sheets of ice from the Ice Age started to melt away, humans started migrating into the British Isles. The first immigrants were likely the “Bell Beaker” people, named from the shape of their pottery jars. Starting in about 2,500

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Forbes of Rires family members were fiercely loyal to Catholic Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in the 16th century but became avid supporters of the Protestant Covenanter movement that opposed Stuart monarch Charles I in the 17th century. The first cadet family of Pitsligo was founded by Arthur Forbes of Rires, third son of Sir Alexander Forbes, 2nd laird of Pitsligo. In 1477, he married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Michael Wem

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller The 1542 Battle of Solway Moss led to the 1543 Treaty of Greenwich which promised that King Henry VIII’s son, the future Edward VI, would marry Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1534, English King Henry VIII had pushed the Act of Supremacy through the Parliament. This Act broke removed England from the authority of the Catholic Pope and proclaimed him the Supreme Head of the Church of England. He urged his nephew James V, King of the Scots

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Pitsligo, became a key figure in the Jacobite attempts to overthrow the British government in 1745. He provides a fascinating view of the inner workings of the army commanded in the name of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” through his correspondence published as Jacobite Letters to Lord Pitsligo 1745-1746 (Tayler, Alistair and Henrietta. 1930. Aberdeen: Milne & Hutchison.) Alexander Forbes was born in 1678 to Ale

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Only two Tiffany stained glass windows exist in Scotland. One is installed St. Cuthbert’s Church in the bustling capital of Edinburgh. However, the larger and more impressive work is a fixture of a small village kirk, St. Peter's Church in Fyvie. The memorial window was the gift of the American business associates of a successful Scottish steel magnate who lost his only son in the Boer Wars. Alexander Forbes-Leith, Baron Leith of

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Ruins of the Abbey of Abroath Sir William Forbes, 1st laird of Pitsligo (circa 1385 - 1445), came to the aid of his allies, the Ogilvies, and this led to his demise. The monks of the Abbey of Abroath appointed Alexander Lindsay, Master of Crawford and Chief of the Lindsays, as the "Bailie of the Regality" who was tasked with dispensing justice. The Lindsays were allied with the Douglases, the most powerful family in Angus at the t

By B. R. Forbes, Clan Historian & Storyteller Detail of "Battle of Worcester" by Thomas Woodward Catholic Charles I, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, fought the armies of the English and Scottish parliaments in the English Civil War. He was beheaded in 1649 for high treason in 1649 for refusing to agree to a constitutional monarchy. In England, the monarchy was abolished and the Commonwealth of England was established as a republic. However, the Scots accepted his son

While 2021 may be remembered as a horrible year for many people, Forbeses experienced another "annus horribilissimus" 450 years earlier. Alex Forbes of Druminnor Castle relates some of the background and calamities of the House of Forbes during that time. - Editor ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late 1571 saw by far the worst episode in the long history of the Forbes family. It was the climax of t