William Forbes

Sir William Forbes of Callendar (1743–1815) was a prosperous coppersmith and landowner who lived in Callendar House in Falkirk, Scotland. Biography Forbes was a self-made man. The son of an Aberdeen merchant, he began work as a coppersmith and won a government contract to sheath ships' hulls in copper. With the fortune he made (equivalent to over $1 billion in today's terms), he purchased the estates of Callendar and Linlithgow near Falkirk, which had been forfeited by the Jacobite Earl of Linlithgow after the 1715 Jacobite rising. He bought the estates at auction and is said to have astounded bystanders by producing a banknote for £100,000, specially printed for the occasion, at the age of just 40. At the time he was the greatest landowner in the county, with some of the largest collected lands in Scotland.He was not popular with local people, but nevertheless his family retained great influence over the area for two centuries. As a successful coppersmith from Aberdeen, among other products, he manufactured sugar boiling pans and rum stills for export to Jamaica. Connecting him and his business to the profits of slavery in the Caribbean. Wishing to set himself up as a 'landed gentleman', William purchased further vast estates in Ayrshire, Earlstoun, Kirkcudbrightshire and Dumfriesshire. He spent ten years making improvements to Callendar House, dividing his time between the house and London. He gave orders for the complete renovation and refurnishing of the entire house, adding a new wing and ripping out old rooms. He added the various turrets and exterior decoration which give the house its chateau-like appearance today. Although William preferred the newest fashion (and purchased the best furniture and household goods from makers in London and Edinburgh) he did not spend money recklessly, ordering the new servants' wing to be furnished 'in the cheapest way'.