- Archibald Forbes
Archibald Forbes (
17 April 1838 –30 March 1900 ) was a Britishwar correspondent , the son of aPresbyterian minister inMorayshire ; educated at theUniversity of Aberdeen . Entering theRoyal Dragoons as a private, he gained, while in the service, considerable practical experience ofmilitary life and affairs. Being invalided from his regiment, he settled inLondon , and became ajournalist . When theFranco-German War broke out in 1870, Forbes was sent to the front as war correspondent, and in this capacity he gained valuable information as to the plans of theParisian s for withstanding asiege . Transferring his services to the "Daily News", his brilliant feats in the transmission of intelligence drew worldwide attention to his despatches. He was with the German army from the beginning of the campaign, and he afterwards witnessed the rise and fall of theParis Commune .Forbes afterwards proceeded to
Spain , where he chronicled the outbreak of the secondCarlist War ; but his work here was interrupted by a visit toIndia , where he spent eight months upon a mission of investigation into theBengal famine of 1874 . Then he returned to Spain, and followed at various times the Carlist, the Republican and theAlfonsist forces. As representative of the "Daily News", he accompanied thePrince of Wales in his tour through India in 1875-1876. Forbes went through theSerbia n campaign of 1876, and was present at all the important engagements.In the Russo-Turkish campaign of 1877 he achieved striking journalistic successes at great personal risk. Attached to the Russian army, he witnessed most of the principal operations, and remained continuously in the field until attacked by fever. His letters, together with those of his colleagues, MacGahan and Millet, were republished by the "Daily News". On recovering from his fever, Forbes proceeded to
Cyprus , in order to witness the British occupation. The same year (1878) he went to India, and in the winter accompanied theKhyber Pass force toJalalabad . He was present at the taking ofAbu Musjid , and marched with several expeditions against the hill tribes.Burma was Forbes's next field of adventure, and atMandalay , the capital, he had several interviews withKing Thibaw . He left Burma hurriedly forSouth Africa , where, in consequence of the disaster of lsandlwana, a British force was collecting for the invasion ofZululand . He was present at the victory ofUlundi . Forbes subsequently delivered many lectures on his war experiences to large audiences. His closing years were spent in literary work. He had some years before published a military novel entitled "Drawn from Life", and a volume on his experiences of the war between France and Germany. These were now followed by numerous publications, including "Glimpses through the Cannon Smoke" (1880); "Souvenirs of some Continents" (1885); "William I. of Germany: a Biography" (1888); "Havelock", in the "English Men of Action Series" (1890); "Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles" (1891); "The Afghan Wars" (1892); "Czar and Sultan" (1895); "Memories and Studies of War and Peace" (1895), in many respects autobiographic; and "Cohn Campbell, Lord Clyde" (1896).References
*1911
External links
*gutenberg author|id=Archibald_Forbes|name=Archibald Forbes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.