George Forbes , 3rd Earl of Granard George Forbes , 3rd Earl of Granard PC ( 21 October 1685 – 1765 ) was an Anglo - Irish naval commander and diplomat . He was at the Capture of Gibraltar . He took a very valuable prize ship and was briefly a Governor of the Leeward Islands . He took a role in politics , helping to end Robert Walpole ' s career , but eventually retired . Life . Forbes was the son of Arthur Forbes , 2nd Earl of Granard and Mary , daughter of Sir George Rawdon , 1st Baronet , of Moira , County Down , was born in Ireland on 21 October 1685 . He was for a time at the grammar school at Drogheda . His grandfather , Arthur Forbes , first earl , died when young Forbes was about twelve years of age . Coming to London with his grandmother in 1702 , he introduced himself to Admiral George Churchill , then first of the council to the lord high admiral , Prince George of Denmark , and sought to enter the navy . Churchill appointed him to the " Royal Anne " at Portsmouth , and made him a lieutent in the marines . Forbes was midshipman on HMS " St George " in 1704 , and was with George Rooke at the Capture of Gibraltar , where he was on shore as aide - de - camp to the Prince of Hesse - Darmstadt and in the Battle of Málaga the same year . Forbes became heir to the earldom on the death of his elder brother , a captain in the Scots royals , from wounds received at the Battle of Blenheim . In 1705 , Forbes was second lieutenant of the frigate " Triton " , one of the most active cruisers in the navy . The Triton captured twenty - three French privateers in the Channel in fifteen months . He was in her at the siege of Ostend in 1706 , where he was on shore , and first met , the Duke of Argyll , who commanded in the trenches . Forbes found his commission as captain of the " Lynn " frigate , in which he served as convoy to the Baltic Sea trade . The " Lynn " being ordered to the West Indies , Forbes was transferred to the " Gosport " , and on 3 January 1707 to the " Leopard " of 50 guns . On 6 March 1707 , he was appointed brigadier in the 4th troop of horse - guards , of which the Duke of Argyll was captain and colonel . The brigadier s of the horse - guards — styled in their commissions ‘ corporals , ’ and in society ‘ captains ’ — were commissioned officers ranking with lieutenants of horse ( CANNON , Hist . Rec . Life Guards , p . 169 ) . Forbes did duty with his troop until appointed to command the " Sunderland " of 60 guns , part of the western squadron under Lord Dursley , afterwards third Earl Berkeley . In 1708 , Forbes became exempt of his troop and a brother of the Trinity House . In May 1709 , he left his ship to do duty with his troop at Windsor , where " ‘ his sprightliness of genius and politeness of manner recommended him to Queen Anne ’ " ( Memoirs of the Earls of Granard , p . 86 ) , at whose desire he was appointed to the " Grafton " of 70 guns . Forbes , who in the meantime had married , sailed for the Mediterranean with Sir John Norris in 1710 . Charles III of Spain ( afterwards the emperor Charles VI ) then had his court at Barcelona , and Norris stationed some ships off the coast of Catalonia , the command of which was assigned to Forbes , who was directed to co - operate as much as possible with the Spanish court , and was permitted to reside on shore . Two Genoese ships of war , of 50 and 70 guns respectively , were at Cadiz taking in specie , alleged to be for the use of the French faction in Italy . The Spanish king proposed that Forbes should put out to sea and seize the vessels on their return voyage . Forbes explained that England was at peace with the Genoese republic ; but being pressed by the king , and the queen offering him her sign - manual for his indemnification , he started with his own ship , the " Grafton " of 70 guns , and the " Chatham " of 50 guns , Captain Nicholas Haddock , took the Genoese ships into Port Mahon , discharged the officers and crews to shore , landed the specie , amounting to 1 , 600 , 000 dollars , and returned with the ships to Barcelona . Charles III , greatly pleased , made Forbes a grant of the duty payable at the mint for coinage of the amount , and urged him to go back to Minorca and fetch the specie . Forbes , doubting the legality of the capture , excused himself until he should receive instructions from home , or from General Stanhope , the British ambassador and commander - in - chief in Spain , and , to avoid any appearance of backwardness , set out to confer with Stanhope . He joined the part of the allied army under Marshal Staremberg , and was slightly wounded while charging with Brigadier Lepell ' s regiment at the battle of Villaviciosa , 10 December 1710 . Stanhope had surrendered at Brihuega the day previous . Forbes returned to Barcelona , and found orders from home forbidding the disposal of the Genoese treasure , which sorely disconcerted the Spanish court . Forbes came to England bearing an autograph letter from Charles III to Queen Anne . Eventually , the British government decided to retain the capture and indemnify the Genoese republic . In the end Forbes accepted 6 , 000 £ in lieu of what had promised to prove a large fortune . Full details of the transaction are given in " Memoirs of the Earls of Granard , " pp . 87 – 93 . In January 1711 , the Duke of Argyll was appointed to the command in Spain . He set out leaving Forbes , who was to serve with him , in London to solicit supplies for the army , which was short of money . Forbes obtained an order for eight hundred thousand dollars of the Genoese treasure , and set off , riding through the Netherlands , Germany , the Tyrol , and Italy to Genoa , where he took ship , with such despatch that he reached Barcelona in twenty - one days from England . He served with the army in Spain during that year , at the head of three hundred cavalrymen drafted from home , whom Argyll purposed to form into a new regiment of horse under Forbes ' s command . The regiment was never completed , as peace negotiations were too far advanced . A return of the army in Spain , dated 19 February 1712 , is in " Treasury Papers , " cxliv . 23 , and is the only paper of any interest entered under Forbes ' s name in the " Calendars of State Papers " for the period . In 1712 , Forbes was appointed to the " Greenwich " of 50 guns , and became cornet and major in his troop of horse - guards . After the peace of Utrecht he commanded a small squadron of vessels in the Mediterranean , and took up his residence with his wife and child in Minorca , whence he returned home in 1716 . The year after he was appointed lieutenant - governor of the castle of St . Phillipa , Minorca , and acted as governor of the island during the brief hostilities with Spain in 1718 . He introduced better order in the island , and abolished the trials for witchcraft , which had been a source of much misery . On his return home in 1719 , Forbes , at the desire of George I , proceeded to Vienna , to carry into effect a long - cherished project of the emperor Charles VI , of forming a naval power either in Naples and Sicily or on the Adriatic , for which purpose Forbes received the rank of vice - admiral in the imperial service with a salary of twelve thousand florins a year , and unlimited powers of organisation . But the imperialist ministers looked coldly on the scheme , and adopted a policy of tacit obstruction , which at the end of two years led Forbes to resign his appointment in private audience with the emperor , who presented him with a valuable diamond ring in recognition of his services . Forbes joined the king at Hanover , and afterwards returned home . In 1724 he was appointed to command the " Canterbury " of 60 guns on the Mediterranean station , and was employed on shore at the defence of Gibraltar against the Spaniards in 1726 – 7 . In September 1727 Forbes , who had previously sat in the English House of Commons for the borough of Queenborough , was called to the Irish house of peers under the title of Baron Forbes . In 1729 , he was appointed governor and captain - general of the Leeward Islands , a post he resigned at the end of a year . In 1730 , he proposed to the government to lead a colony to Lake Erie , where it would form a barrier against French encroachments from Canada . He was to be fettered by " ‘ no restrictions beyond the ten commandments , ’ " and was to have an annual grant of 12 , 000 £ for the use of the colony for seven years . If the government at the end of that time was satisfied to take over the settlement , Forbes was to be created an English peer , with a perpetual pension of 1 , 000 £ a year out of the revenues of the post office . If the government were not satisfied to take over the colony , a grant of the sum was to be made to Forbes and his heirs , with a palatinate jurisdiction , similar to that of Lord Baltimore in Maryland , in which case Forbes was to repay the 84 , 000 £ advanced , and pledged his family estates as security for the amount . Sir Robert Walpole , who disliked Forbes as being " ‘ too busy and curious , ’ " admitted the fairness of the terms , but the project was not carried out . In 1731 Forbes was appointed to the " Cornwall " of 80 guns , and commanded that ship in the Mediterranean under Sir Charles Wager . This was the last time he served afloat . In 1733 Forbes was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the Empress Anna of Russia . He negotiated and concluded a treaty — the first entered into by the court of St . Petersburg with any European state — for the better regulation of the customs , and for favouring the introduction of British woollen goods . After his return to England in 1734 the czarina , with whom he was a favourite , offered him supreme command of the imperial Russian navy , which he declined . He obtained his flag rank and succeeded to the title of Earl of Granard on the death of his father the same year . In 1737 , Granard , who was a member of the Irish Linen Company , and took much interest in political economy , was instrumental in introducing improvements in the Irish currency . The details will be found in " Memoirs of the Earls of Granard , " pp . 145 – 51 . When the popular outcry against Spain arose in 1739 , he was offered the command of " ‘ a stout squadron ’ " for the West Indies , but declined , believing the ministry not to be in earnest ; nevertheless when his senior , Admiral Edward Vernon , who had been laid aside , was brought back over his head and sent out , Granard considered himself superseded , and refused to serve again . His name was retained on the flag list , and half - pay was issued for him for some time , but on 31 December 1742 his resignation was finally accepted . The statement of some biographers that he continued in the service , and was senior admiral at his death , arose from confusing Granard — who was better known in the naval service as Lord Forbes — with his son , Admiral of the Fleet the Hon . John Forbes . Granard had retired from the army more than twenty years before he left the sister service . He had been in treaty with Lord Dundonald for the command of the 4th troop of horse - guards , for which he was to give 10 , 000 £ , but broke off the negotiations at the wish of the Duke of Argyll , who desired to see him rise to the head of the navy . By Argyll ' s interest Granard was returned to the House of Commons for the Scottish burghs of Ayr , Irvine , etc . , in 1741 , and took a very active part in the stormy discussions which drove Sir Robert Walpole from office on 3 February 1742 , in consequence of which he was appointed one of the committee of inquiry into the conduct of the ex - minister . But he subsequently separated from his colleagues in disgust , and retired from public life . He was made a privy councillor of Ireland , and held the governments of Westmeath and Longford . He died in Ireland in 1765 . There is some uncertainty as to the day of his death , two different dates being given in " Memoirs of the Earls of Granard , " and other dates , all within the year , being given in other publications ( see Notes and Queries , 6th ser . x . 312 ; also Ann . Reg . , Gent . Mag . , and Scots Mag . 1765 ) . In person Granard was of middle height and spare figure , with a dark complexion , and strongly marked features . In his habits he was very active and extremely abstemious , eating little and drinking nothing but water , customs to which he attributed his good health . He was a great reader , with a very retentive memory , and a quick , intelligent observer . The family manuscripts contain several treatises by him on subjects connected with political economy , geography , and the naval resources of different countries ( Hist . MSS . Comm . 2nd Rep . 212 ) . Granard ( then Lord Forbes ) married in 1709 Mary , eldest daughter of Sir William Stewart , first earl of Mountjoy , and widow of Phineas Preston of Ardsallagh , co . Meath , by whom she had had two children ( see Mervyn Archdall , " Peerage of Ireland " , vi . 153 ) . By this lady , who died 4 Oct . 1755 , he had three children : George , fourth earl of Granard , who saw a good deal of army service in the Mediterranean in his earlier years , raised the old 76th foot , which was disbanded in 1763 , and died a major - general and colonel 29th foot in 1769 ; John ( 1714 – 1796 ) ; and a daughter . Legacy . Forbes ' Battery , a series of artillery batteries on Gibraltar , were named for Forbes and Forbes ' Quarry is named after the battery . Gibraltar 1 was found in the quarry . After William Green became Gibraltar ' s Senior Engineer in 1761 , he had the refortified Advance Guard Room renamed Forbes ' s Barrier .