| Administrative History | Sir William Forbes [1739-1806] Banker, longstanding friend and later biographer of Beattie. From an Episcopalian family, and related to Lord Forbes of Pistligo, whose estates were confiscated for his part in the 1745 rebellion. He was apprenticed to Coutt's bank, becoming a partner in Forbes, Hunter and Co in 1773. He was well-known in literary circles in Edinburgh and London. Beattie met him in Edinburgh in 1765, introduced by Robert Arbuthnot. Forbes was Beattie's banker, adviser on literary matters, and general confidant
George Glennie married James Beattie's niece, Margaret Valentine. He succeeded Beattie in 1796 as professor of Moral Philosophy at Aberdeen University. |
| Description | Correspondence from Sir William Forbes to Professor George Glennie, July 1803 - December 1804. The earlier letters concern the winding-up of Beattie's estate, of which Forbes, James Farquhar Gordon, Robert Arbuthnot, and James Mercer are the executors. Beginning in the auuimn of 1803, the correspondence increasingly relates to the collection of letters and other materials for Forbes's projected biography of Beattie and the new edition of his works. Many of the letters refer to enclosures for James Mercer, and one of these is included at MS 30/38/36. Severel have notes by Glennie, and all are docketed with the date of the letter and the date of Glennie's reply. Glennie's copies of his replies, mainly for the 1803 letters, are in MS 30/37. |