Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Forbes, James Staats
FORBES, JAMES STAATS (1823–1904), railway manager and connoisseur, born at Aberdeen on 7 March 1823, was eldest of the six children of James Staats Forbes, a member of a Scottish family long settled in England, by his wife Ann Walker. A brother, William, became manager of the Midland Great Western railway of Ireland, and was father of William, who is general manager of the London, Brighton and South Coast railway, and of Stanhope Alexander Forbes, R.A. Educated at Woolwich, James was brought up in London as an engineer, and showing skill as a draughtsman, he entered in 1840 the office of Isambard Kingdom Brunel [q. v.], who was then constructing the Great Western line. Joining the Great Western Company's service, he reached by successive steps the post of chief goods manager at Paddington. He next secured an appointment on the staff of the Dutch-Rhenish railway, then under English management, and soon rose to the highest post, bringing the line, then on the verge of bankruptcy, into a state of comparative success. On his retirement the directors retained his partial services as their permanent adviser. In 1861 the directors of the London, Chatham and Dover railway (which, formed by amalgamation in 1859, was then in the hands of a receiver) made him their general manager. He had previously been offered, and had twice refused, the post of general manager of the Great Western railway at a salary of 10,000l.
Debt, confusion, pressing creditors, and lack of money menaced the Chatham and Dover company, which was fighting for its very existence against two powerful neighbours, the South Eastern and the London and Brighton Unes. Under Forbes's skilful and daring leadership the line held its own, and in 1871 he joined the board of directors, succeeding in 1873 to the post of chairman, which he held jointly with that of general manager until 1 Jan. 1899. On the amalgamation, at that date, of the Chatham line with the South Eastern, Forbes declined the chairmanship of the joint boards, but acted as their adviser. In his management of the finances of his own company, his tact in presiding at meetings of shareholders, and the exceptionally good terms which he secured for the Chatham railway in the amalgamation, Forbes proved himself a skilled diplomatist of great ability.
He also restored the fortunes of another bankrupt concern, the Metropolitan District railway; joined its board on 6 Oct. 1870, was chairman from 28 Nov. 1872 to 5 Sept. 1901, and from that date to 17 Feb. 1903 advisory director. For twenty-five years (1870-96) the rivalry between Forbes of the Chatham and the District and Sir Edward Watkin [q. v. Suppl. II] of the South Eastern and the Metropolitan was a source of anxiety to the shareholders and of much profit to lawyers. Forbes was at a great disadvantage, his opponent having control over two concerns which were solvent and successful and being himself a railway strategist of a high order. But for the suavity of temper and charm of manner of his rival, Watkin would probably have succeeded in crushing the two younger and poorer companies.
Forbes was connected with several other railways, most of them needing help to bring them out of difficulties. He was director and at one time deputy-chairman of the Hull and Barnsley fine, and financial adviser to a still more unfortunate line, the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton; he was chairman of the Whitechapel and Bow railway, and of the Regent's Canal City and Docks railway. This last line was incorporated in 1882 for the construction of a line along the Regent's Canal from Paddington to the dock, but no progress has yet been made to carry out the scheme. His financial ability was widely in request. He was chairman of three important electric light companies, a director of the Lion Fire Insurance Company, and president of the National Telephone Company; from many of these boards he retired towards the end of his life.
Though a rigid economist, Forbes was always ready to introduce improvements when convinced that they were worth their cost. He adopted the block system, automatic brakes, and hydraulic stop blocks. To him were due the trials of the twin-ship system as represented by the Calais-Douvres, and he was largely responsible for the fine boats for the cross-Channel service belonging to the railway companies. Forbes excelled as an administrator on broad lines and in boldly taking an initiative, but had no taste for details. He was a frequent witness before Parliamentary Committees, and was a first-rate after-dinner speaker (cf. Railway News, 9 April 1904).
In September 1873, at a bye-election, he unsuccessfully contested Dover in the liberal interest, but did not again seek Parliamentary honours.
Forbes was much interested in art and, though his judgment was sometimes at fault, enjoyed a considerable reputation as a collector. His large collection of works of nineteenth-century artists included many examples of the Barbizon and modern Dutch schools. A selection (about one-twelfth) was exhibited at the Grafton Gallery in May 1905 (Athenæum, 27 May 1905, p. 664). A smaller exhibition, of which a printed catalogue appeared, was held in July 1908 at the Brighton Library and Art Gallery.
Forbes died on 5 April 1904 at his residence, Garden Corner, Chelsea Embankment, and was buried in the churchyard of West Wickham, Kent, the village where he formerly lived.
He married in 1851 Ann (d. 1901), daughter of John Bennett, by whom he had as surviving issue a son, Duncan, in the service of the Great Indian Peninsula railway, and two daughters, of whom Ann Bennett, the elder, married in 1897, as his second wife, Major-gen. Sir Charles Taylor Du Plat, K.C.B. (d. 1900).
There is a portrait of Forbes, executed in 1881, by Sir Hubert von Herkomer, and a marble bust (circ. 1893) by Trentenoir of Florence, both in the possession of his executors. A caricature by 'Spy' appeared in 'Vanity Fair' in 1900 (vol. xxxii. pl. 775). [Authority above cited; Engineer, 8 April 1904; The Times, April 1904; F. H. McCalmont, Parl. Poll Book, 7th edit. 1910, pt. 1, 87; Debrett; private information.]