Forbes Family

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	Forbes The Clan Forbes is said to originate from one Ochonochar, who slew a bear and won the up until then uninhabitable Braes of Forbes in Aberdeenshire. His family settled there and a charter of 1271 altered the tenure to feudal. Alexander de Forbes was one of the fiercest opponents of King Edward I of England and lost his life defending the castle of Urquhart beside Loch Ness. His son died at the battle of Dupplin in 1332 at which Edward Balliol and the 'disinherited barons' who opposed Robert Bruce defeated the Regent Mar. The first Lord Forbes, created a peer in 1445, married the granddaughter of Robert II King of Scotland. There were a large number of cadet branches: Pitsligo, Boyndlie, Callendar, Castleton, Rothiemay, Culquhonny, Culloden, Tolquhon, Waterton, Thainston, Pitnacalder, Foveran, Brux, Ledmacoy, Belnabodach, Kildrummy, Towie, Invernan, Corsindae, Balfluig, Monymusk, Leslie, Corse, Craigievar, and Echt. Duncan Forbes of Culloden was Lord President of the Court of Session at the time of the 1745 Rebellion of Prince Charles and used his great influence to oppose the Prince's cause, but then afterwards fought valiantly to ease the cruel reprisals inflicted on the Highlands. Duncan Forbes re-established the Highland Regiments which enabled the young men of the hills to keep some of their pride, and to follow the military example of their ancestors. The Forbes built and owned many beautiful castles, notably Craigievar in Aberdeenshire, which belongs now to the National Trust for Scotland; Monymusk, a sixteenth-century tower, which had been an Augustinian priory, Pitfichie Castle near Monymusk; and Drumminor, near Rhynnie. Corgarff Castle, Strathdon; Pitsligo Castle and Colquhonnie Castle, Strathdon; and Corse Castle in Aberdeenshire are all ruins.