Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Forbes of Pitsligo

Biographical Summary

"Alexander, fourth Lord Forbes of Pitsligo, was born about 1678, and succeeded his father about 1691. He took the oaths and his seat in Parliament 21 May 1700 ; he was an opponent of the Union, and did not vote in, or even attend, the Parliament of 1706-7. He was implicated in the Risings of 1715 and 1745 ; in the first of these he seems to have escaped the notice of the Government, but for his share in the second he was attainted, and his honours and title forfeited. As the attainder was passed under the title of Lord Pitsligo (under which designation he was usually known) he appealed against it, but after a judgment being pronounced by the Court of Session in his favour 16 November 1749, it was reversed by the House of Lords on appeal 1 February 1750. Lord Forbes of Pitsligo published in 1734 a series of essays. He died at Auchiries, Aberdeenshire, 21 December 1762, and was buried, along with his predecessors in the title, in a vault opposite the pulpit in Pitsligo Church. He married, first (contract 5 May 1703), Rebecca, daughter of John Norton, merchant, London. She died June 1731, and he married, secondly (contract 26 September 1731), Elizabeth Allen, 'sister to Thomas Allen of Finchley.' She died s.p. in 1759. By his first wife he had an only son, John, Master of Pitsligo."

SOURCE: The Scots peerage, Vol. IV, page 75