Down Memory Lane: Reflecting on life of historic Inverness man Duncan Forbes
Duncan Forbes rose to a position of power no Invernessian had ever reached. Yet his conflicting responses to two Jacobite rebellions shaped his career for the better, and then for the worse.
The man who has a primary school in Inverness named after him won admiration and respect on both sides of the conflict. Yet the Duncan Forbes story is not widely known, and will take more than one column to explain.
He was the son and namesake of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, MP for Nairn and Inverness.
In 1625 his grandfather ‘Grey Duncan’ Forbes, Provost of Inverness, acquired the Culloden lands from the Laird of Mackintosh, the estate taking its name from the Gaelic for “back of the small pond”.
The family’s land ownership expanded and by 1667 they purchased Ferintosh, in the Black Isle, then bought Bunchrew estate, where ‘our’ Duncan was born in November 1685.
In 1688 Jacobites, upset with the Forbes family’s support for the House of Hanover, plundered Culloden house and estate and torched a distillery at Ferintosh.
The Scottish Government responded by granting the family the right to distil alcohol at Ferintosh free of excise duty – and it would soon produce two-thirds of all the country’s legal whisky.
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Duncan Forbes’s education began at Inverness Grammar School in Church Street before five years at Marischal College, Aberdeen, followed by a short spell at Edinburgh University. After two years at the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands, he qualified as a lawyer.
Returning home, he met Mary Rose, daughter of Hugh Rose, clan chief and head of the leading Nairnshire family, owners of Kilravock Castle. Duncan and Mary were married in 1708.
He practised as an advocate and created such a positive impression that in 1709, at the age of 24, Duncan was admitted to the Scottish Faculty of Advocates, whose members were reconciling the separate Scottish and English legal systems which continued despite the 1707 Union of the Crowns.
In 1714 Duncan was appointed Sheriff of Midlothian, which included Edinburgh. Like his father, he had become an ally of the powerful Duke of Argyll,which helped secure the Sheriffdom.
Duncan’s elder brother John was MP for Inverness-shire and later for Nairnshire while his brother in law Hugh Rose was MP for Ayr Burghs.
When the 1715 Jacobite Rising broke out, the Duke of Argyll was appointed the government’s commander of British forces in Scotland and John and Duncan Forbes took steps to strengthen the defences at Culloden House and Kilravock Castle, also raising independent companies to oppose the Jacobites locally.
Inverness was being held for the Jacobites by Sir John Mackenzie, head of the Clan Mackenzie, but Hugh Rose, John Forbes and Lord Lovat met at Kilravock and agreed to retake the town.
Arthur Rose, son of the Kilravock chief, was shot dead in a raid on the Tolbooth, in Bridge Street. This triggered a hasty resolution with Sir John Mackenzie and his men being allowed to escape on boats from Inverness harbour.
In recognition of his services, Duncan Forbes was made Depute Advocate of Scotland in 1716.
This prestigious role, however, meant he had to prosecute Jacobite prisoners. He complained that many had been moved to Carlisle instead of being tried in Scotland.
He is alleged to have collected money to support these prisoners and wrote to the Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole in an appeal for clemency on their behalf. This led to the first mutterings that he was a secret Jacobite sympathiser.
Duncan’s rise continued and in 1721, with Argyll’s support, he became MP for Ayr Burghs and the following year he was elected MP for Inverness Burghs, a role he would fulfil at Westminster for 15 years.
In 1725, Forbes was appointed Lord Advocate of Scotland, the most senior role a Highlander had ever assumed. Next week, however, we see how his reaction to the Battle of Culloden proved pivotal to his power.
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