Manuscript Collection MS COLL 00048 2B Annex - James Forbes Papers

James Forbes was a nonconformist minister in Gloucester between 1654 and 1712. A Scot by birth, Forbes took his M.A. at Aberdeen before proceeding to Oxford where in 1654 he was called to be lecturer and weekly preacher in Gloucester Cathedral. At the Restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, he was turned out of his position. His refusal to conform led to his imprisonment. Upon release from jail the second time, he left for London where he survived both the plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of the following year. Returning to Gloucester in 1672, he continued to suffer harassment, fines, as well as threats of excommunication and death. He died in 1712.