Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Pitsligo, actively supported the efforts of the deposed James VII and II and his son Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British monarchy. Both these “Jacobite” (named after the Latin for of James) rebellions of 1715 and 1745 failed.
As a result, Pitsligo’s title of Lord of Parliament was attainted and his estate of Pitsligo (along with the castle) were seized by the British government.
His son John, Master of Forbes, died without issue in 1781 and for generations, branches of the House of Forbes laid claim as his heir.
Shelia Joss and Colin Whatford provide a detailed description of the Pitsligo heirs in their 1995 publication "Forbes of Pitsligo – Guided by Grace," reprinted here.
The Forbes Family Today From the Past to the Present
On the 16th October 1781, two months after the death of John, Master of Pitsligo, a desposition was registered in the sheriff court books of Aberdeen. This document dated 29th January, 1776, named “Sir William Forbes of Monymusk, now Pitsligo, baronet” as heir male to the master of Pitsligo in the event of his death and that of his wife, Rebecca Ogilvy of Auchiries, without issue. Rebecca Forbes renounced her life rent of Pitsligo to Sir William on 31st December 1782 for an annuity of £200/10s/4d.
Sir William was an obvious choice, not only was he the nearest heir male of line being the grandson of Mary, daughter of Alexander third Lord of Pitsligo, he was also an important Edinburgh banker having become a co-partner in the bank of Messrs John Coates & Co., as early as 1761. The "romance of Jacobitism" had given way to the "romance of trade.” Sir William had the wealth and status required to restore the honor and respect associated with the name of Pitsligo. Furthermore, Sir William had also shown his abilities with the improvements he had initiated on the part of the upper barony that he had acquired by purchase. His enthusiasm in restoring the estates of his ancestors may have been the reason why Rebecca Forbes gave him entry to his inheritance before nature intended. In 1787, Sir William completed his ownership of Pitsligo through the purchase of Pittullie, Pittendrum, the castle of Pitsligo, and several acres adjoining it.
The Forbes family of Monymusk of which Sir William was the sixth baronet, was founded by Duncan of Corsindae, second son of the 2nd Lord Forbes and great nephew of Sir William of Kenaldy, ancestor of the house of Pitsligo, the family of Monymusk had been created baronets of Nova Scotia in 1626. In 1713, Sir William, 4th baronet of Monymusk, sold the Monymusk estate to Sir Francis Grant, Lord Cullen, though the title was retained. The eldest son of the 4th baronet, Sir John Forbes, married Mary, daughter of 3rd third Lord Pitsligo. Sir John predeceased his father, leaving his widow, the lady Mary Forbes free to marry James 16th Lord Forbes. The 4th baronet of Monymusk was succeeded by his eldest grandson, Sir William Forbes (the 5th), who in turn married Christian, daughter of John Forbes of Boyndlie. The family of Boyndlie was a collateral branch of the Pitsligo family. It was William, son of the 5th baronet, who restored the name of Pitsligo, who became one of the most prominent men in his generation, sometimes acting as financial adviser to William Pitt, and in 1783 being granted licensed to print money. This Sir William succeeded to the title of Monymusk at the tender age of five years. His mother had moved to Aberdeen to have her two sons educated. They returned to Edinburgh in 1753 when William began his apprenticeship with the bank in which he was later to become the dominant partner. In 1781, the title of Monymusk was overshadowed and extinguished when Sir William inherited the title of “Pitsligo.”
In 1770 Sir William had married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Sir James Hay of Hayston. They had three sons and five daughters. The eldest son, William, succeeded to his father's estate and title as the 7th baronet in 1806. The second son became Lord Medwin in 1825 and became a Lord of the Judiciary in 1830. He edited a new edition of the 4th Lord Pitsligo’s volume, Thoughts Concerning Man's Condition and Duties in this Life, and His Hopes in the World to Come, which included the life of the author, his great-great-uncle. This volume had a fourth edition printed in 1854. Among his children was Alexander Penrose, Bishop of Brechin.
Sir William Forbes, 7th baronet, married Williamina Wishart in 1797, only child of Sir John Wishart Belches Stuart of Fettercairn. The estate of Fettercairn had been purchased by Sir John's mother in 1777 and had been settled on him on the condition that he took her grandfather's name “Stuart.” Sir John Stuart was an MP from 1801 to 1807. He became a baron of the exchequer until his death in 1821. The estate of Fettercairn passed to Sir William on his marriage to Williamina. They had four sons and two daughters, the eldest of whom John Stuart Forbes succeeded as his father as 8th baronet.
On the on the death of Mr. Alexander Hepburn Murray Belches of Invermay, Perthshire, in 1863, Sir John Stuart Forbes 8th baronet adopted the extra name of Hepburn as heir of entail to the barony of Invermay, and as heir at law to the estate of Balmano, also in Perthshire. Sir John married Lady Harriet Kerr, the third daughter of the 6th Marquess of Lothian in 1834. Her eldest sister, Lady Elizabeth Georgina Kerr married Charles Rodolph in 1831, who in the following year succeeded his brother, Robert Cotton St. John, as the 19th Baron Clinton. Their son, Charles Henry Rolle Trefusis, who succeeded as the 20th lord Clinton in 1866, married Harriet Williamina, only daughter and heir of Sir John Stuart Forbes 8th baronet in 1859. They were first cousins. Lord Clinton assumed by Royal License on 4th September, 1867, the surnames of Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes, in addition to that of Trefusis and the arms of Stuart and Forbes added to those of Trefusis.
On the death of Sir John Hepburn Stuart Forbes, 8th baronet, in 1806, the baronetcy of Pitsligo, which could not go to or through a woman, passed to his nephew, Sir William Stuart Forbes, son of Charles Hay Forbes, but the estates of Pitsligo, Fettercairn, and Invermay passed to his daughter, Lady Clinton. Though the estate had passed out of Forbes hand into those of an English aristocratic family, the succeeding baronets, that is the heirs of the 9th baronet, have called themselves “of Pitsligo”, and the arms they bear are those of Forbes of Monymusk (1st and 4th quarters); Forbes of Pitsligo (2nd quarter); and Stuart (3rd quarter) for the heiress who married the 8th baronet, grandfather of Lord Clinton (21st) and uncle to the 9th baronet of Pitsligo. The present (13th) Baronet of Pitsligo, Sir William Daniel Stuart-Forbes, was born in 1935 and married Jeanette MacDonald in 1956. They have three sons and two daughters. Sir William resides in Omaka Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand.
The right of Lady Clinton to inherit the Fettercairn, Pitsligo, and Invermay estates was contested by her cousin, Sir William Stuart-Forbes, who claimed that on a strict interpretation of the original entail made by Sir John Stewart in 1811, he, Sir William, was the direct male heir a lawsuit known as the “Fettercairn Succession Case” was raised in the Court of Session and brought to the House of Lords. The point involved was an obscure and technical one that led to a great diversity of opinion. On the 17th of June, 1873, the House of Lords gave judgment in favor of Lady Harriet. She had died in 1869, therefore, by this time the legal judgment was made, the right to Pitsligo, Fettercairn, and Invermay had passed to her son, Charles John Robert Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, who succeeded as the 21st Baron Clinton following the death of his father in 1904.
The 21st Baron Clinton married lady Jane Gray MacDonnell, daughter of the 5th Earl of Antrim in 1886. They had two daughters: Harriet (b. 1887) and Fenella (b. 1889). The elder daughter Harriet married major Henry Neville Fane in 1910. The eldest son from her first marriage, Charles Neville, a captain in the Coldstream guards, was killed in action in Belgium on 21st May 1940. Charles had married Gladys Mabel, daughter of the Rt. Hon. Sir Gerald Lowther, 1st and last Baronet in 1933. It was their eldest son, Gerard Neville Mark Thane Trefusis (this last surname of Trefusis being assumed by Deed Poll in 1959), great-grandson of the 21st Lord Clinton, who as senior co-heir became the 22nd Lord Clinton in 1965 when the baronetcy, which had fallen into abeyance in 1957 following the death of the 21st Lord Clinton, was determined in his favor.
Lord Clinton, heir of line to the 4th Lord Pitsligo, married Nicola Harriette, eldest daughter of late major Charles Robert Purdon Coote of Ballyclough Castle, and Bearforest, Co. Cork, in 1958. Lord Clinton resides on his family's estate in Devon. His son and future heir Charles Patrick Rolle, was born in 1962.
Additional Notes: When Sir John Stuart Forbes of Pitsligo and Fettercairn, 8th Baronet, died in 1866 and the baronetcy passed to his nephew, William, eldest son of Charles Hay Forbes (1806 – 1859). Sir William Stuart Forbes, 9th Bart., married Marion, daughter of J. Watts of Bridgend, Nelson, New Zealand. His eldest son was Charles Hay Hepburn Stuart-Forbes of Pitsligo and Monymusk, 10th Baronet (1871 – 1927). He married Ellen, daughter of Captain Huntley of Marlborough, New Zealand. They had eleven children, among them, Hugh Stuart-Forbes, Charles Edward Stuart-Forbes, and William Kenneth Stuart Forbes. The eldest son Sir Hugh Stuart-Forbes of Pitsligo and Monymusk, 11th Baronet (1896-1937) inherited the title when his father died in 1927. He married Ann Wallace Scott and died in 1937 at the age of 40, without issue.
Therefore, the baronetcy was inherited by his brother, Sir Charles Edward Stuart-Forbes of Pitsligo, 12th Baronet. He married Ijah Leah MacCabe on 10 January 1966 and died in 1985 without issue. The baronetcy was inherited by his nephew, Sir William Daniel Stuart-Forbes of Pitsligo and Monymusk, 13th Baronet, (1935 – 2024) who was the son of William Kenneth Stuart Forbes. Sir William married Jannette Carny Huia MacDonald, daughter of Hori Toki George MacDonald. Their eldest son was Sir Kenneth Charles Stuart-Forbes of Pitsligo, who was born in 1956.
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