Old Photograph Colinton House Edinburgh Scotland

Old photograph of Colinton House located South West of the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. This house was owned by Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet of Monymusk and Pitsligo, born 5 April 1739, died 12 November 1806, who was a Scottish banker. He was known also as an improving landlord, philanthropist and writer. He was born in Edinburgh. His father Willam Forbes, heir to a Nova Scotia baronetcy, was an advocate. A friend of the family, Sir Francis Farquharson of Haughton, arranged with Messrs. Coutts, a prominent firm of bankers in Edinburgh, to admit Forbes as an apprentice, and he entered their service in 1754. It was run by the sons of John Coutts. The apprenticeship lasted four years, and then he was clerk in the counting house for two years more, at the end of which he was given a small share in the business as a partner. Forbes had become an authority on finance, and in 1783 he took part in preparing the revised Bankruptcy Act. William Pitt used to consult him, and adopted in 1790 some of his suggestions on the stamps on bills of exchange. In 1799 Pitt offered him an Irish peerage, which he declined.





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