182 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
barony of Pitsligo, including the old mansion-house, at that time roofless and
deserted, By the death of Mr. Forbes, in 1781, Sir William succeeded as heir
to the lower barony also, and thus had his early dreams almost realised. The
property he had acquired was extensive, but, from the misfortunes of the family,
sadly out of condition. Sir William immediately set about its improvement. He
established numbers of poor cottars on the most uncultivated portions of the
estate, erected the village of New Pitsligo, and, by the utmost liberality as a land,
lord, induced settlers to come from a distance. In the course of a short space of
time he had the satisfaction of seeing a thriving population, and ‘‘ several thousand
acres smiling with cultivation, which were formerly the abode only of the moorfowl
or the curlew.” He also established a spinning-school at New Pitsligo, introduced
the linen manufacture, and erected a bleachfield; he built a school-house, a
chapel of ease connected with the Established Church, and a chapel for those of the
Episcopal persuasion. To the estate of Pitsligo Sir William soon after added,
by purchase, those of Pittoullie and Pittindrum, which were contiguous, and from
their proximity to the sea-shore afforded excellent facilities of improvement.
In 1784 Sir William became a member of the Merchant Company, and was
elected Master in 1786, a situation which he was frequently afterwards called
upon to fill. He was a warm promoter of the plan adopted by that body for
rendering annuities to widows a matter of right, instead of a gift of charity, as
formerly. But his attention was by no means confined to local matters: he
was one of the committee of merchants appointed to confer with Sir James
Montgomery, then Lord Advocate, “on the new Bankrupt Aet introduced in
1772, and many of its most valuable clauses were suggested by his experience;”
again, in 1783, on the expiry of the new Act, he was Convener of the Mercantile
Committee in Edinburgh, when further improvements were effected in the
Bankrupt laws.
As we have already mentioned, Sir William was by descent attached to the.
Episcopal communion. Under his fostering management the Cowgate chapel
was built, “afterwards known as the most popular place of worship in Edinburgh
;” and, in 1800, he was chiefly instrumental in bringing the Rev. Mr.
Alison to that chapel, then settled in a remote rectory in Shropshire.‘
Sir William was a gentleman of the most polished and dignified manners ;
and although much of his time must necessarily have been occupied in the
prosecution of those manifold pursuits which conferred ao much benefit on his
native city and the country in general, he still found leisure to indulge in a
taste for literature, and to make himself acquainted with the progress of science.
1 Under the influence of that eloquent divine the congregation rapidly increased, both in nunibem
and respectability, and was at length enabled, in 1818, through the indefatigable exertions of Lord
Medwyn, Sir William’s second son, and hy their own efforts, aided by the liberality of their friends,
to erect the present beautiful structure called St. Paul’s Chapel, in York Place ; at the same time
the late Sir Willizm Forbw, eldest son of the subject of this memoir, effected, by similar exertions,
the completion of St. John’s Chapel, in Princes Street ; and thus, chiefly by the efforts of a singlq
family, in less than half a century, waa the Episcopal communion of Edinburgh raised from its humble
sites in Blackfriars’ Wynd, and Carrubber’s Close, to occupy two beautiful edifices, on which upwards
of E30,OOO had been expeuded.
