Archibald Forbes
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Archibald Forbes | |
|---|---|
 Archibald Forbes, by Elliott & Fry, c. 1880s. | |
| Born | 17 April 1838 Morayshire, Scotland |
| Died | 17 April 1900 (aged 62) Clarence Terrace, London |
| Occupations | War correspondent, author, soldier |
Archibald Forbes (17 April 1838 – 30 March 1900) was a Scottish war correspondent and author. He reported on the Franco-Prussian War, the Third Carlist War and the Russo-Turkish War. Being a British Army veteran; he likewise reported on various British colonial conflicts, notably the Anglo-Zulu War. Meanwhile he also wrote several biographies and historical works.
He was the son of Very Rev Lewis William Forbes DD (1794–1854), minister of Boharm, Banffshire, and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1852, and his second wife, Elizabeth Leslie, daughter of Archibald Young Leslie of Kininvie. He was born in Morayshire in 1838.[1]
After studying at the University of Aberdeen from 1854 to 1857, he went to Edinburgh, and after hearing a course of lectures by (Sir) William Howard Russell, the famous correspondent, he enlisted in the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons. While still a trooper he began writing for the Morning Star, and succeeded in getting several papers on military subjects accepted by the Cornhill Magazine.[1]
Early career
On being invalided from the army in 1867,[2] he started and ran with very little external aid a weekly journal called the London Scotsman (1867–1871). His chance as a war correspondent came when he was employed by the Daily News to cover the Franco-Prussian War. Joining up with the Prussian Army near Cologne, he accompanied them on their march into France, witnessing battles at Spicheren, Gravelotte and Sedan before joining the forces besieging Metz.[3] In all the previous reports from battlefields comparatively sparing use had been made of the telegraph.[1]
Forbes laments his own supineness in the matter of wiring full details from the scene of operations. But the intensity of competition rapidly developed the long war telegram during the autumn of 1870, and no one contributed more effectively to this result than Forbes. He witnessed many of the events of the autumn campaign and entered Paris with the Prussians (with whom he established excellent relations) on 1 March 1871. On this occasion he was nearly drowned in a Parisian fountain as a German spy by an enthusiastic French mob. He managed to arrive first in England with his account of the Prussian entry. Two months later he returned to Paris and witnessed the horrors of the commune with the sang froid for which he became celebrated.[1]
