Archibald Forbes (17 April 1838 – 30 March 1900) was a Scottish war correspondent and author. He reported on the Franco-Prussian War, the Third Carlist War and the Russo-Turkish War. Being a British Army veteran; he likewise reported on various British colonial conflicts, notably the Anglo-Zulu War. Meanwhile he also wrote several biographies and historical works.
Early life and family
He was the son of Very Rev Lewis William Forbes DD (1794–1854), minister of Boharm, Banffshire, and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1852, and his second wife, Elizabeth Leslie, daughter of Archibald Young Leslie of Kininvie. He was born in Morayshire in 1838.
After studying at the University of Aberdeen from 1854 to 1857, he went to Edinburgh, and after hearing a course of lectures by (Sir) William Howard Russell, the famous correspondent, he enlisted in the 1st (Royal) Regiment of Dragoons. While still a trooper he began writing for the Morning Star, and succeeded in getting several papers on military subjects accepted by the Cornhill Magazine.
Early career
On being invalided from the army in 1867, he started and ran with very little external aid a weekly journal called the London Scotsman (1867–1871).
His chance as a war correspondent came when he was employed by the Daily News to cover the Franco-Prussian War. Joining up with the Prussian Army near Cologne, he accompanied them on their march into France, witnessing battles at Spicheren, Gravelotte and Sedan before joining the forces besieging Metz. In all the previous reports from battlefields comparatively sparing use had been made of the telegraph.
