Forbes, David

David Foster was born on September 6, 1828, in Douglas, Middle, Isle of Man.

He was a geological chemist, mining engineer, and amateur geologist. Following education at Athole Academy, Douglas, he attended a boarding school at Brentwood in Essex until 1844, when he entered the University of Edinburgh to study chemistry. In 1848, Forbes became superintendent of the mining and metallurgical colony in Norway, in charge of the construction of mining and smelting works. He spent ten years in Norway, receiving royal favours for arming miners in support of the king of Sweden in the revolutionary year of 1848. For his many contributions to, and knowledge of, Norwegian geology, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 1858. In 1856, Forbes was made a partner in the firm of Evans and Askin and, in 1857, he was sent to Chile, Peru, and Bolivia in search of exploitable nickel and cobalt ores. In 1866, following further travels in Africa and Europe, Forbes settled in London as a mining consultant for overseas metallurgical enterprises. He had become an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1853 and served on its council from 1872 to 1873. On the foundation of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1869, he became its conscientious foreign secretary. During his worldwide travels, Forbes had amassed a large fund of geological information and published over sixty papers.

In 1865, he married Julia Elizabeth Camilla Koehler (1846–1876). He died on December 5, 1876, in London, England.