James Forbes, 17th Lord Forbes

The lands of Forbes, Aberdeenshire, still in their possession, have been held by this family since the reign of William the Lion (1165–1214).

He entered the army as an ensign in the Coldstream Guards 13 June 1781, became lieutenant and captain 21 April 1786, captain and lieutenant-colonel 23 August 1793, colonel 3 May 1796, major-general 29 April 1802, lieutenant-general 27 March 1808, and general on 12 August 1819.

In 1815 he commissioned the building of the present Castle Forbes, based on the previous house, to designs by architect Archibald Simpson.

He had married at Crailing, 2 June 1792, Elizabeth, eldest daughter and heiress of Walter Hunter, esq., of Polmood, in the county of Peebles, and Crailing, in the county of Roxburgh, by the Lady Caroline Mackenzie, fourth daughter of the Earl of Cromartie, and had ten children.

James Forbes, was an officer in the Coldstream Guards in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, but had predeceased his father in 1835.