Hiya this is Pittencrieff House with Dunfermline Abbey in the
background. This is the birthplace of Brigadier General John Forbes
and I'm going to tell you how his story links this house, two people,
two cities, two centuries, and two countries.
I hope you're intrigued, incidentally if you're interested in people, places and
events in Scottish history then click the subscribe button in the
bottom right hand side of the screen at any time during this video in the
meantime, let me tell you a story. It's the 5th
of September, so let's begin with the man who was born
in this house on this day in Scottish history.
Now given that this is Pittencrieff House in Dunfermline
and that John Forbes was born in the 5th of September 1707,
then we've ticked at least one man, one town and one century,
and as I tell you a story, I''m going to take you for a walk through the Heritage
Quarter of Dunfermline to another house, beware of the squirrels!
What do you think? A man born in that house in 1707 must be pretty well
connected, and he must be rich, well one of those
things is certainly true, also 1707 is slap bang in the middle of
Jacobitism and the Union between Scotland and
England. Which side is he on? There may be trouble ahead!
If you're not sure about the whole Jacobite thing, then I've got lots of
videos about it and there'll be a link at the end so
don't worry. Forbes' uncle was close to William of Orange. The
family were also close to the Campbell Dukes of Argyll.
They were Hanoverians, they were unionists, they were part of the new
establishment, so well connected and definitely
not Jacobites, but as the youngest son John would inherit nothing, so rich?
No! Better get a trade eh? He went off to study medicine at
Edinburgh University, and at 22 he was appointed as the Surgeon
of the Royal Scots Greys. That's the famous cavalry regiment in
the painting of them charging headlong at Waterloo and all the white horses
know, the thing? I tell you what, I'll leave a link at the end
so that you can see the photograph that I'm talking about
okay. Anyway seven years into being a doctor
he decides that he wants to be an actual soldier
and takes a commission as a Coronet. Now, a Coronet's like a 2nd Lieutenant but
remember, back in those days you bought your commission in the British Army.
Empty-pocketed, Dr Forbes had to borrow money
to be a soldier. His career feels a bit ploddy;
solid progress but with occasional high spots,
and obviously good connections. There wasn't as much warrings an ambitious
soldier might like for a few years, and as we've seen
as a junior son he's no money to buy his way up the ladder.
When Culloden happens on his cousin's doorstep he was stuck on the continent
with a cavalry unit, but he did have those Campbell
connections and they got him promoted to the Colonel
of the 17th Foot and sent to the Americas,
Nova Scotia to be precise. See the First World War, it wasn't really
the first world war. European powers had been
warring on a global scale since the 18th Century,
earlier really. The Seven Years War was part of that.
Roughly speaking Britain, Hanover, Prussia, Portugal, and a couple of wee
principalities on one side, and France, The Habsburgs, Saxony, Russia,
Spain and Sweden on the other. Now part of this conflict
across four continents was Britain's territorial dispute with
France in North America. Our American cousins had called this the
French Indian War. Our man John Forbes was sent to make an
attempt on the French/Canadian, you get what I mean town
of Louisbourg, Louisburg, Louisburgh even.
It didn't go well, in fact it went so badly
that he got another promotion to Brigadier General
and a huge challenge that affects us down to today. Could he pull it off?
Well his predecessor had failed. In the summer of 1755,
General Edward Braddock given the job of going west from Pennsylvania through the
wilderness to attack the French Fort Duquesne
managed a pace of around two miles a day. The thing is that he had to build a road
to take the carts and cannon as they went.
Now they outnumbered the French and Indian forces at the fort
two to one, but when they came across this force
not far from the fort, Braddock insisted in fighting like
gentlemen, the European way, standing in ranks in the open.
The French and the Indians said sod this for a game of soldiers,
we're hiding behind the trees. Anyway it was a disaster. Braddock got killed
and what remained of the force was led to Pennsylvania
by a militiaman called George Washington.
Two years later, the newly promoted Brigadier General,
John Forbes was given the job of getting it right this time,
and he already had a half built road. He said no,
I'm going to build a new road. It'll be more southerly, it'll be more sneaky, with
less river crossings and more forts along the way. In future
they'll call it Forbes' Road and people will head out west on this road to build
a new life for themselves. Obviously he wasn't going to build it
himself, the soldiers would do it, and as they did it they had to carry him
on a litter because he wasn't feeling too good by
this stage. Disaster! Some of his advanced troops got
too far ahead of the rest and lost a battle
and 300 men. Was this going to be a repeat of the failure a couple years
before? He took a pause. Now fortunately
whilst the pompous Englishman, Braddock, had alienated the Indians,
Forbes befriended them, because that's what we Scottish folk are like.
So by the time the road was approaching Fort Duquesne,
the Indians had switched sides. The French
were on their own. They left the fort, burned it to the ground and Forbes
entered in triumph, "Strike up the pipes!".
Now we've now reached Dunfermline Abbey. Now
you might not have heard of John Forbes, but buried in here are Robert the Bruce
and his wife, Malcolm and St Margaret Canmore,
Duncan the Second, Edgar, Alexander the First, David the
First and Malcolm the Fourth. Seven Scottish Kings in all
are buried in here. Can I ask you a favour? See at the
end of the video, can you tell me in the comment section below of
all the people I mentioned in this video, who is the most famous? In the meantime
back to Brigadier General John Forbes. We're leaving the Abbey and Cathedral in
the background, which is what Forbes did with the fort.
He built a new fort to replace the French one that burned down,
and he named it after the British politician and statesman William Pitt.
Shortly after his triumph, the illness that had kept Forbes in his litter
killed him, but that's not the end of the story.
You see meanwhile as the 18th Century progressed,
a town built up around Fort Pitt which of course was called Pittsburgh,
that's right, of course the German immigrants to the Americans called it
Pittsburgh, but we know that that's wrong. Edinburgh, Jedburgh,
Musselburgh, a town named by a Scotsman after an Englishman called Pitt
would correctly be pronounced Pittsburgh. Anyway the confluence of rivers and
access to resources meant that during the 19th Century,
Pittsburgh became a steel town, that's why its football team is called the
Pittsburgh Steelers.Pittsburgh Steelers really innit? Their first home
was a stadium called Forbes' Field after the man
born in Pittencrieff House where we started. I should say that John Forbes's elder
brother, who inherited that house, also got into debt problems and the
house had to be sold on his death.
Anyway who was the most successful man in the Pittsburgh steel industry?
a man who grew up here not in this little cottage,
but in the half of this little cottage that his family rented.
Unlike John Forbes, he started humble but went on to be one of the richest men
ever. His name of course was Andrew Carnegie.
Modern day Pittsburgh has Forbes's Field but it also is home to the Carnegie Museums
of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Science Centre, Carnegie
Library of Pittsburgh and the Carnegie Music Hall. Here in Dunfermline we have
the Carnegie Halls, the Carnegie Library and Galleries and
of course this house the Carnegie Birthplace
Museum, or did I forget to mention Andrew Carnegie bought
Pittencrieff House and grounds and generously donated them to the City of
Dunfermline, which is why it's the public park and
museum that we walk through today. Incidentally if you want more of these
videos you can generously donate to help keep them going.
There's even a way you can support the channel without making a donation.
Click the link in the description below for details.
So, two houses, two men, two towns, two centuries and one video worth sharing
all rolled in a 10-minute walk. I believe I fulfilled
my promise to you. Tha mi an dochas bum bith lath math leibh
Tiorridh an drasda