William Nairn Forbes

Major-General William Nairn Forbes (3 April 1796 – 1 May 1855) was a British architect and military engineer in the Bengal Army.

[1] Forbes's design for the spire and crossing tower of St Paul's, Calcutta was inspired by Norwich Cathedral, in Norfolk, England.

[1] Forbes was also architect in 1831 of the Greek Revival Calcutta Silver Mint and drew inspiration for the portico from the Parthenon in Athens.

[2] He was mostly educated by a tutor at home, though for two consecutive winters (1808–1809) he studied mathematics and natural philosophy at King's College, Aberdeen.

[2] From 1812 he attended East India Company Military Seminary at Addiscombe, the military academy for officer cadets of the private army of the East India Company; in 1813 he graduated and received a case of mathematical instruments for his "superior attainments" in his examinations.

[2] There he was noticed by the head of the Royal Corps of Military Surveyors and Draftsmen and recruited to the Trigonometrical Survey, working under the Board of Ordnance in Wales and Shropshire.

[2] Forbes also authored a report on the channel linking the Hooghly River and the Ganges, advising on the engineering of keeping it open for navigation.

[2] For five months in 1847 – the year the cathedral was completed – Forbes was an acting member of the Military Board in place of the absent Chief Engineer.

[2] A bust of Forbes in the Calcutta Mint was installed by the then Government of India, and a monument dedicated to him inside the cathedral and financed by public subscription was erected after his death.