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{{short description|British architect and military engineer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
[[File:St._Paul's_Cathedral_in_Kolkata.jpg|thumb|[[St Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata]], designed by Forbes, 1839–47.]]
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] '''William Nairn Forbes''' (3 April 1796 – 1 May 1855) was a [[British people|British]] [[architect]] and [[military engineer]] in the [[Bengal Army]].<ref name=":0">{{Citation|title=Forbes, William Nairn|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001/acref-9780199674985-e-6523|work=A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture|year=2015|editor-last=Curl|editor-first=James Stevens|edition=3rd|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199674985.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-967498-5|access-date=2020-06-30|editor2-last=Wilson|editor2-first=Susan}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=William Nairn Forbes|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/William_Nairn_Forbes|access-date=2020-06-30|website=Graces Guide (www.gracesguide.co.uk)}}</ref> He was responsible for the design of the [[Anglican]] [[St Paul's Church, Calcutta]] (1839–47) in [[Bengal]] during [[Company rule in India]], now the [[cathedral]] of the [[Diocese of Calcutta (Church of North India)|Diocese of Calcutta]] and sited in [[Kolkata]], [[India]].<ref name=":0" />

Forbes's design for the [[spire]] and [[crossing tower]] of St Paul's, Calcutta was inspired by [[Norwich Cathedral]], in [[Norfolk]], [[England]].<ref name=":0" /> After damage in successive earthquakes in 1897 and 1934 the tower and spire were redesigned on the model of the "Bell Harry" Tower – designed by [[John Wastell]] – on the crossing of [[Canterbury Cathedral]] in [[Kent]], the seat of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] and the [[mother church]] of the [[Anglican Communion]].<ref name=":0" />

Forbes was also architect in 1831 of the [[Greek Revival]] Calcutta [[India Government Mint, Kolkata|Silver Mint]] and drew inspiration for the [[portico]] from the [[Parthenon]] in [[Athens]].<ref name=":0" />

== Education and early life ==
William Nairn Forbes was the sixth son of John Forbes, of Blackford in [[Aberdeenshire (historic)|Aberdeenshire]], [[Scotland]], where William Forbes was born.<ref name=":1" /> 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]].<ref name=":1" /> He showed an early aptitude for constructing model machines.<ref name=":1" /> In 1811 he commenced study in mathematics and natural philosophy at the [[University of Edinburgh]], where he lived with [[Archibald Alison (author)|Rev. Archibald Alison]] – a relative of Forbes's – and his sons, [[William Alison]] – later [[professor]] of [[medicine]] at Edinburgh – and [[Sir Archibald Alison, 1st Baronet|Archibald Alison]] – historian and later 1st [[Alison baronets|Baronet Alison]].<ref name=":1" /> At university he was taught by Professor [[John Playfair]], co-founder of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]], and by Professor [[John Leslie (physicist)|John Leslie]].<ref name=":1" />

From 1812 he attended [[East India Company Military Seminary]] at [[Addiscombe]], the [[military academy]] for [[officer cadet]]s 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]].<ref name=":1" /> Afterwards he was attached to the [[Royal Engineers]] at [[Chatham, Kent]].<ref name=":1" /> 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]].<ref name=":1" />
[[File:THE STORMING OF BHURTPOOR.jpg|thumb|The [[Siege of Bharatpur]]'s end was within hours of the detonation of Forbes's mines]]

== Career in India ==
Forbes was commissioned [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] and transferred in 1816 to the [[Bengal Engineers]], part of the Bengal Army, [[Presidency armies|presidency army]] of the [[Bengal Presidency]].<ref name=":1" /> Subsequently, he was appointed Surveyor of Embankments in Bengal and [[Orissa]].<ref name=":1" /> He was commissioned [[lieutenant]] in 1818.<ref name=":1" /> That year he was asked to design a [[cathedral]] [[Church (building)|church]] for Calcutta by the [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]], [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings]], but the design was not authorized and was not built.<ref name=":1" />

In December 1819 Forbes was recalled to [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]] to supervise the manufacture of new machines for the [[Royal Mint]] at Calcutta.<ref name=":1" /> In 1820, he joined the [[London]]-based [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] as [[corresponding member]].<ref name=":1" /> With the completed tools and parts he returned to India in 1823 and was put in charge of the new [[Mint (facility)|mint]]'s construction as "Superintendent of the Mint Machinery".<ref name=":1" /> 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]].<ref name=":1" />

Forbes requested in November 1825 that he be allowed to join the [[Siege of Bharatpur]]; this was granted, and Forbes broke his right arm and two ribs during [[reconnaissance]] of the lines.<ref name=":1" /> Nonetheless, he was instrumental in preparing the large [[Mine (military)|mines]] by which breaches in the walls were effected and [[Bharatpur, Rajasthan|Bharatpur]] stormed.<ref name=":1" /> According to [[Stapleton Cotton, 1st Viscount Combermere]], the commanding officer and [[Commander-in-Chief, India]], Forbes "was of the greatest possible use" and "a first-rate Officer of Engineers".<ref name=":1" /> Thereafter Forbes returned to the mint and was promoted [[captain]] in 1827.<ref name=":1" /> In 1828, Forbes was for two months on [[sick leave]], the only such absence of his career.<ref name=":1" /> Also in 1828, Forbes became a full member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.<ref name=":1" />

In 1831 Forbes designed the new building for the mint, known as the "Old Silver Mint", which he designed in the newly fashionable Greek Revival style.<ref name=":0" /> In 1832–33 Forbes joined a team [[surveying]] a route for a [[canal]] between [[Rajmahal]] and Calcutta and submitted the survey report.<ref name=":1" /> Forbes was appointed Master of the Calcutta Mint in June 1836.<ref name=":1" /> He was promoted [[major]] in 1839.<ref name=":1" />

In 1839, work began on the construction of Forbes's designs for [[St Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta]], which he had prepared at the behest of [[Daniel Wilson (bishop)|Daniel Wilson]], the [[Bishop of Calcutta (Church of North India)|Bishop of Calcutta]].<ref name=":1" />

Forbes was made [[Lieutenant colonel (United Kingdom)|lieutenant-colonel]] in 1841.<ref name=":1" /> 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|Chief Engineer]].<ref name=":1" /> Forbes had spent much energy on the cathedral project, in addition to his official duties.<ref name=":1" /> That December, Forbes was sent again to Britain sit on a commission into the running of the [[Royal Mint]].<ref name=":1" /> In April 1849 this work was done and Forbes returned to the mint in Calcutta, in which post he remained until 1854, having been promoted [[colonel]] in 1852.<ref name=":1" />

Forbes was member of various [[learned societies]], including the [[Geological Society of London]], the Institut d'Afrique, and [[The Asiatic Society]].<ref name=":1" /> Outside his own line of work, Forbes was also interested in [[steam power]] and [[drainage]] in [[town planning]].<ref name=":1" />

== Illness and death ==
In 1854, the year he was promoted [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|major-general]], Forbes began to complain of exhaustion; though having always been in robust health he continued work at the mint and was working on designs for a new Calcutta Post Office. In November he suffered "spasm of the heart".<ref name=":1" /> By 1855 he was forced by worsening health to seek permission to return to Britain.<ref name=":1" />

Forbes embarked on the "''Oriental''" on 9 April 1855; he died at sea on 1 May.<ref name=":1" />

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.<ref name=":1" />

== Bibliography ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.kolkataonline.in/city-guide/amp/churches-in-kolkata Churches in India] at KolkataOnline

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, William Nairn}}
[[Category:1796 births]]
[[Category:1855 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century Scottish architects]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Aberdeen]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:Scottish military engineers]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army generals]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Geological Society of London]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Institution of Civil Engineers]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:People who died at sea]]
[[Category:Architects of cathedrals]]

William Nairn Forbes - Revision history

Bot at 15:42, 16 November 2022