Life

Forbes was the third son of John Forbes

John Forbes (preacher)

-Life:He was born about 1568, was educated at the university of St. Andrews, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1583, and was ordained minister of Alford, Aberdeenshire in 1593. When the proceedings of the synods of Aberdeen and Moray against George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly were interfered...

, minister of Alford, Aberdeenshire

Alford, Aberdeenshire

Alford is a large village in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, lying just south of the River Don. It lies within the Howe of Alford which occupies the middle reaches of the River Don....

, and afterwards of Delft

Delft

Delft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....

. He studied at the university and King's College of Aberdeen, of which his uncle, the bishop, was chancellor, and took his degree in 1631. Returning to Holland he became an army chaplain. He was in Scotland in 1638, and signed the national covenant in presence of the General Assembly held at Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 in that year.

In 1641 he became minister of the British church at Delft, in which his father had officiated. He was an acquaintance and correspondent of Principal Baillie, who makes favourable mention of him in his letters of 1644, 1645, and 1646. He commends a manuscript which Forbes had written and sent him, and wishes to see it in print. He asks Spang, minister of the Scots church at Campvere, to ‘keep correspondence with that young man,’ and to urge him to ‘use diligence’ against the British sectaries in Holland, and to ‘write against the anabaptists.’ After a short ministry at Delft he again became a military chaplain (apparently to the Scots brigade), and continued to officiate in that capacity till the nglish Restoration|Restoration.

The king Charles II, having restored episcopacy in Scotland, appointed Forbes, then chaplain to Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot

Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot

Andrew Rutherford, 1st Earl of Teviot was the son of William Rutherford of Quarrelholes, Roxburghshire. His education was received in Edinburgh, and he took up the career of soldier of fortune....

, governor of Dunkirk, to the bishopric of Caithness, and with five others he was consecrated at the abbey church of Holyrood

Holyrood Abbey

Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, and after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded...

 7 May 1662 by the archbishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow and the bishop of Galloway. He had probably received presbyterian ordination in Holland, but none of the presbyterian clergy who were raised to the episcopate in Scotland were reordained. James Kirkton, referring to his appointment to the bishopric, calls him ‘the degenerate son of ane excellent father.’

Forbes died in 1680, aged about sixty-nine.

Family

He married in Holland a daughter of Colonel Erskine, an officer of the Scots brigade, and had a family. His son John, who was commissary of Caithness, died at Craigievar, Aberdeenshire, in October 1668, and was buried at Leochel in the Craigievar aisle.