James Grant Forbes

James Grant Forbes (Shanghai, October 22, 1879 – Paris, April 24, 1955) was an American businessman, a member of the Forbes family. He was the son of Francis Blackwell Forbes, the brother of William Hathaway Forbes and the husband of Isabel Clark. James Grant Forbes was born in Shanghai, China, He amassed a fortune from banking and Pacific shipping. He went to school in Ireland and graduated from Harvard University. He married at 10 Walnut St., Boston, Massachusetts on November 28, 1906 Margaret Tyndal Winthrop (Massachusetts, February 23, 1880 – Saint-Briac-sur-Mer, Brittany, July 7, 1970), who came from a family with deep roots in New England with history going back to John Winthrop, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. She was the daughter of Robert Charles Winthrop, Jr. (Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1834 – Boston, Massachusetts, June 5, 1905) and wife (m. June 1, 1869) Elizabeth Mason (Massachusetts, October 1, 1844 – Boston, Massachusetts, April 22, 1924) and paternal granddaughter of Robert Charles Winthrop and wife Elizabeth Cabot Blanchard. The couple lived in the United States for the early years of their marriage, but after the birth of their third child they moved to Europe and made Paris, France their home. During World War I, and after having had several more children, they moved to England, where they rented Barrow Green Court. Margaret had two English governesses to help bring up her 11 children.

Forbes and wife had:

• James Forbes
• Jock Forbes
• Angela Forbes
• Griselda Forbes
• Rosemary Forbes, married to Richard J. Kerry, parents of the 2004 US Democratic Presidential and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry
• Eileen Forbes
• Monica Forbes
• Alastair Cameron Forbes (1918-2005), a journalist
• Ian Forbes
• Iris Forbes, married to Terence Armstrong (1920-1996)
• Fiona Forbes, married to Alain-Gauthier Lévy Lalonde, parents of the 1981 French Presidential candidate Green and onetime Minister of the Environment Brice Lalonde