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'''John Forbes''' (1801–1840) was a British director of the [[East India Company]] and Member of Parliament.<ref name="HoP">{{cite web |title=Forbes, John (1801-1840), of 15 Harley Street, Mdx., History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/forbes-john-1801-1840 |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>

==Early life==
He was the eldest son of [[Sir Charles Forbes, 1st Baronet]], and his wife Elizabeth Cotgrave, daughter of Major John Cotgrave of the East India Company service, and may have been born in India. By 1809 he was being educated in the United Kingdom. In 1811 his father took up residence at [[Castle Newe]], Aberdeenshire. He matriculated at [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] in 1819.<ref name="HoP"/><ref>{{alox2||title=Forbes, John (2)}}</ref>

His father's uncle and business partner, John Forbes (1743–1821) known as "Bombay Jock", had in 1767 formed Forbes & Co., trading at Bombay (now [[Mumbai]]) with significant involvement of Parsi merchants.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Rose |first1=Jenny |title=Between Boston and Bombay: Cultural and Commercial Encounters of Yankees and Parsis, 1771–1865 |date=6 November 2019 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-25205-2 |page=49 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B8-8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA49 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Powell |first1=Dean |title=Dr William Price: Wales's First Radical |date=15 September 2012 |publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited |isbn=978-1-4456-2052-7 |page=95 |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TUdpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PP95 |language=en}}</ref> His father put 20% of his inheritance from "Bombay Jock" in or soon after 1821 towards purchasing East India Company stock for John, who then had a vote in the company's affairs.<ref name="HoP"/> When John turned 21, a party was held, and a [[cairn]] made on Lonach Hill in the [[Strathdon]] area in 1822, to celebrate. Further commemoration from 1823 led to the traditions of the [[Lonach Gathering]].
[[File:Cairn on Lonach Hill - geograph.org.uk - 687513.jpg|thumb|Cairn on Lonach Hill, [[Aberdeenshire]], commemorating the 21st birthday of John Forbes (1801–1840)]]

==In politics==
His father Charles, a baronet from 1823, became Member of Parliament in 1818 for {{constlk|Malmesbury}}, a constituency controlled by [[Joseph Pitt]]. For the [[1826 United Kingdom general election|1826 general election]], Sir Charles bought the second seat in the two-member constituency from Pitt, for John Forbes.<ref>{{cite web |title=Malmesbury 1820-1832, History of Parliament Online |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/constituencies/malmesbury |website=www.historyofparliamentonline.org}}</ref>

Forbes did not speak in Parliament, but generally supported the [[Liverpool ministry]] and its Tory successors. He did however vote in favour of measures for [[Catholic emancipation]]. He married in 1828 Jane Mary Hunter, daughter of Henry Lannoy Hunter. He was an MP to 1832 and the [[Great Reform Act]], after which his father dropped out of politics.<ref name="HoP"/>

==Later life==
[[File:Mary Jane Hunter Silvy.jpg|thumb|left|Mary Jane Forbes, 1861 photograph]]
A sufferer from [[tuberculosis]], Forbes with his wife had a family of one son and five daughters, all of whom were affected by the disease. He died before his father, and his son later became [[Sir Charles Forbes, 2nd Baronet]].<ref name="HoP"/>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, John}}
[[Category:1801 births]]
[[Category:1840 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]]

John Forbes (1801–1840) - Revision history

Ajay Kumar: Created a new article