DOWN MEMORY LANE: Miserly Highland offerings to provost’s guests at Culloden became notorious
There have undoubtedly been many strange decisions made by Provosts of Inverness down the centuries but perhaps the most curious is the one where the leading citizen refused to travel back from Europe unless his wife agreed to offer better food and drink to their guests, writes Bill McAllister.
Duncan Forbes, the great-grandfather of the one who was Lord Chancellor and has a local primary school named after him, was born in Alford, Aberdeenshire, in 1572, into the Forbes of Pitsligo landed family. The Forbes name is recorded in the area in the 13th century and the clan spread around the Moray Firth area in medieval times.
The clan name is believed to come from Ochonocar, who killed a bear and as reward was given the Braes of Forbes, Aberdeenshire.
In 1599, Duncan married Janet Forbes, eldest daughter of James Forbes, head of another branch of the clan from Corsendae, and the couple went on to have three sons and two daughters. They moved to Inverness where he became a successful merchant, importing and exporting goods, and joined the council.
The Scottish Parliament records for 1622, for the purposes of a tax on annual rents and funds loaned with property as security, show that Duncan Forbes owed £6,666 13s 4d in Scots coin to five individuals. This, however, was handsomely overtaken by the £10,000 he was due from five other people, including Sir Adam Mackay of Strathnaver.
He was elected Provost for a three-year term from 1625 and the following year Forbes purchased what was then called the ‘Bucht’ estate and then went on to acquire the estate called ‘Cullodene’. The Edmonstones and Strachans had previously owned ‘Caillodden Castle’. The name comes from the Gaelic for ‘back of the small pond’ and the estate dates back to the 13th century.
Forbes was also a member of the Scottish Parliament and had supported the local Mackintoshes in their legal struggle with the Earl of Moray. This, in turn, saw the Mackintosh laird sell Culloden to Forbes,who remodelled the ‘castle’ into a four-storey building with battlemented front.
In 1632, ‘Duncan Forbes of Bucht’, as the records show, was elected to another three-year term as Provost but when he was awarded a third term in 1643, it was as ‘Duncan Forbes of Culloden’.
As a prominent citizen and businessman, Duncan enjoyed welcoming others of social standing to his splendid Culloden home. However, his wife was extremely parsimonious and her habit of laying out only the most basic of fare to their guests began to cause him considerable embarrassment as it became a local talking point.
On a business trip to Amsterdam, Forbes determined to sort things out and wrote to Janet to declare that he would not return to Scotland unless or until she wrote to him declaring that she would ‘lay a more generous table’ to their friends and allies.
Janet did not exactly rush into making a decision. Months passed and no such assurance reached Duncan in Holland. Finally, after almost a year, his wife relented and wrote promising to be a more expansive hostess.
Delighted, Duncan ended his exile and his guests were henceforth much more satisfied by their dinner…..
He was known as ‘Grey Duncan’, for his flowing grey beard, which can be seen in his portrait in Inverness Town Hall.
The painting shows Forbes in armour, as, for centuries, local burgesses had required armour because of the threat from armed clansmen and various armies and militias.
Indeed, where Chapel Yard cemetery is now, once stood the Bow Butts, the burgh’s archery venue and Forbes and his ilk honed their skills there.
‘Grey Duncan’ died on October 14, 1654, at the age of 82. His elder son John Forbes of Culloden was elected Provost from 1646 to 1651 and again from 1652 to 1655.
John’s son Duncan, the 3rd of Culloden, became Duke of Roxburghe through his marriage to Marie, daughter of Sir Robert Innes of Innes, Moray. It was their son Duncan who became Lord President, Scotland’s senior law officer, a supporter of the British Government against the Jacobites who sought after Culloden to mitigate the harshness with which the losers were treated.
‘Grey Duncan’, the man whose Dutch exile succeeded in gaining worthy fare for his guests, had founded a distinguished Inverness lineage.