Scotch College

In the footsteps of Forbes

On a recent trip to Scotland on a golfing holiday Ian Rehfisch took the opportunity to do some follow up work on the origins of the Reverend James Forbes, who founded Scotch College in 1851.

On his return to Melbourne he reported as follows:

'According to our information, James Forbes was the eldest son of Peter and Margaret Forbes of New Braes, in the parish of Leochel Cushnie in Aberdeenshire.

My initial problem was that none of the maps available has sufficient detail to identify where in Aberdeenshire was the parish of Leochel Cushnie.

We (David King an Old Melburnian and I) started our investigations with a visit to the Scottish National Library in Edinburgh. After some research, we finally located a full and detailed description and location for the parish of Leochel Cushnie in the Scottish National Gazetteer.

However, we were unable to make any copies of the material and we were then directed to the Edinburgh Library and obtained an extract. Whilst there, we also went through the detailed ordnance maps and located and copied maps of the parish, which to our surprise contained detailed references to New Braes from whence James came.

Armed with this information we then headed for the Reading Room of the Church of Scotland located close to Edinburgh Castle. In discussions with the Minister in charge we were then able to obtain the name of the current Minister and a contact telephone number.

Several weeks later, when in the area again, I made contact with the Reverend Allan Stirling and agreed to meet him at his manse nearby to Leochel Cushnie.

Allan is a delightful fellow, nearing retirement and somewhat bemused as to why we were going to so much trouble to locate the birthplace of James Forbes. However, as I had come with a copy of the James Forbes Academy brochure and some detailed notes on James Forbes, he quickly understood the purpose and gave me directions.

Fortunately, we were able to do an exchange of information, as he had in his possession a copy of the history of the Leochel Cushnie church, which had been carried out several years before for their Bicentenary celebrations.

Unfortunately, Allan is due to retire this year and no replacement has been found and there has been some talk about amalgamating parishes which is causing real concern in the parish as we were trying try to set something up for the torch relay starting from James Forbes' birthplace and/or from his local church. Notwithstanding, we headed off to find New Braes, armed with ordnance maps and by this stage my eldest Tomas (on holidays from London with us) and my wife Virginia had also joined the intrepid pair.

By now we had come to understand that New Braes was not a village or cluster of houses, but the specific name for a house and sheds for the property, now owned by a Mr Stewart whose family acquired the house from the Forbes family several generations ago. However, it was the original house and we managed to take some video and photos with the current owner and his neighbour. Mr Stewart, who appeared to be in his sixties, runs the property with his wife.

From New Braes one can actually see the Leochel Cushnie Church, a relatively short distance away.

We visited the church and walked around inspecting the gravestones for evidence of any Forbes relatives. The church itself was closed and the search was difficult, as we had no Forbes family tree with which to refer.

Still unsure at this stage that the Leochel Cushnie Church was indeed the Forbes family church we visited the ruins of St Brides Church some miles away, just in case. We did not wish to have come so far and find that we had visited the wrong church although this seemed unlikely!

St Brides was in fact hardly recognisable and a complete ruin, but we had made the pilgrimage.

We left on our journey feeling quite elated that our research and visits had proven so fruitful.'

Ian Rehfisch