John Forbes

Admiral of the Fleet John Forbes (17 July 1714 – 10 March 1796), styled The Honourable from 1734, was a Royal Navy officer. After taking part in an expedition to Lisbon to support the Portuguese in the face of a Spanish threat, he saw action as captain of the third-rate HMS Norfolk at the Battle of Toulon during the War of the Austrian Succession. He was one of the few captains who really bore down on the enemy. Forbes went on to serve as a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty under successive governments. In that role, he was convinced of the illegality of the sentence of death on Vice-Admiral John Byng and refused to sign Byng's death warrant. He also served as Member of Parliament for St Johnstown and then as Member of Parliament for Mullingar in the Parliament of Ireland. Early career Born the second son of George Forbes, 3rd Earl of Granard and Mary (the eldest daughter of William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy), Forbes joined the Royal Navy in the 70-gun third-rate HMS Burford on 31 May 1726. He served as a volunteer under the command of his maternal uncle, the Honourable Charles Stewart. He served with HMS Burford in the Mediterranean, before moving with his uncle to the third-rate HMS Lion, and the two sailed together to the West Indies in 1729. Stewart promoted Forbes to lieutenant, while serving there, on 16 March 1731. Forbes became third lieutenant in the 60-gun fourth-rate HMS Kingston on 13 January 1733. He became fourth lieutenant on the larger 70-gun third-rate HMS Edinburgh early in 1734 and then joined the 100-gun first rate HMS Britannia as sixth lieutenant on 21 July, rising to third lieutenant by May 1735. The Britannia was at this time the flagship of Admiral Sir John Norris, and Forbes sailed with him on an expedition to Lisbon to support the Portuguese in the face of a Spanish threat.