Lieut.-General Lord George Forbes

Appointed Colonel of the Regiment on 16th January 1761.

Born in England on the 15th March 1710, son of George Forbes and Mary Stewart.

Was on the 6th October 1726 commissioned into the R. Handasyd’s Regiment (22nd Foot) as Ensign.

Promoted to Captain in Henry Disney's (29th Foot) on the 25th April 1729, Major on the 17th February 1741.

On 11th October 1746 was promoted Lieut.-Colonel of Thos. Fowke’s Regt. (2nd Foot), Brevet Colonel 31st December 1755; served as Q.M.G. (Quartermaster-General) to the army in Ireland.

He was lieutenant-colonel in the Tangier Regiment in 1756 and later that year on the 22nd November 1756 was appointed Colonel of the 61st Foot, which subsequently was numbered the 76th Foot.

He was promoted to Major-General on the 25th June 1759, and on the 16th January 1761 was transferred to the Colonelcy of the 29 Foot.

Promoted to Lieut.-General in 1765. Succeeded to the Earldom of Granard in 1765, as 4th Earl of Granard. He died in Ireland on the 24th October 1769.

George Forbes, 4th Earl of Granard was an Irish soldier and politician. He was the eldest son of George Forbes, 3rd Earl of Granard by his wife Mary, daughter of William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy; while heir-apparent to the earldom he was styled Viscount Forbes.

 

Besides his military career, Forbes sat in the Irish House of Commons for Mullingar from 1749 until he succeeded to his father's seat in the Irish House of Lords in 1765. He was a Governor of County Longford from 1756 and Custos Rotulorum of Longford from 1765 until his death.

On 16th July 1736 Forbes was married to his cousin Letitia, daughter of Arthur Davys of Hampstead by his wife Catherine, daughter of the 1st Viscount Mountjoy. They had one son, George, who succeeded to the earldom. Lady Granard died on 19 May 1778.