Duncan Forbes 3rd of Culloden (1644–1704) was a politician and member of the Parliament of Scotland between 1678 and 1704. He was a strong supporter of Whiggism, a political philosophy developed during the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which advocated the supremacy of Parliament over the monarch and opposed Catholicism.
Two of his sons, John (1673–1734), and Duncan (1685–1747), played prominent roles in dealing with the Jacobite rising of 1715 and its aftermath; Duncan also played a similar role in respect of the rising of 1745.
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Life
Duncan Forbes was born in 1644 during the 1638 to 1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, eldest son of John Forbes (1609–1687), 2nd of Culloden near Inverness, and his wife Anna Dunbar (died after 1716). He had six siblings, David (b. 1644), Jonathan (b. 1656), John (1658–1707), Jean (1659 – after 1693), Naomi (b. 1662) and Alexander (d. 1769).
In 1668, he married Mary Innes, daughter of Sir Robert, 2nd Baron Innes (1619–89), who built Innes House, near Elgin. They had nine children, including John, Jean (b. c. 1678), Margaret and Duncan; little is known of the other five.
Career
In 1656, Forbes enrolled at Marischal College, Aberdeen, before moving to the University of Bourges in France a year later; he also spent time in Paris. In this period, lack of suitable legal training at home meant Scots seeking to practice law often studied at Bourges, Paris or Orléans.