author
James Forbes
1773–1861
A skilled gardener and botanist at Woburn Abbey, he turned practical work with plants into a string of books that helped document important collections of willows, pines, and other cultivated species. His writing opens a window onto the energetic world of nineteenth-century horticulture.
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About the author
Born in Bridgend, Perthshire, in May 1773, James Forbes became a leading gardener and botanist in Britain. He worked for the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey, where he built a reputation through hands-on horticultural knowledge as well as careful botanical observation.
Forbes is best remembered for books including Salictum Woburnense (1829), Hortus Woburnensis (1833), Journal of a Horticultural Tour through Germany, Belgium and Part of France in 1835 (1837), and Pinetum Woburnense (1839). These works reflect both the richness of the Woburn collections and the wider exchange of plants and gardening ideas taking place across Europe during his lifetime.
He became a member of the Linnean Society of London in 1832 and remained associated with Woburn Abbey until his death there on July 6, 1861. Although not a household name today, his books preserve the practical curiosity and patient record-keeping that shaped botanical and garden history in the nineteenth century.