Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Forbes, John (1799-1823)
FORBES, JOHN, M.D. (1799–1823), botanist, was born in 1799, and became a pupil of Shepherd of the Liverpool botanic garden. The Horticultural Society despatched him to the east coast of tropical Africa, and for this he left London in February 1822, in the expedition commanded by Captain William Owen. He sent home some considerable collections from Madeira, Rio, the Cape, and Madagascar, after which he determined to march up the Zambesi to the Portuguese station Zumbo, three hundred leagues from the mouth of the river, and thence southwards to the Cape, but he succumbed to fatigue and privation at Senna, in August 1823, before accomplishing half the distance. The genus Forbesia, Eckl., commemorates the unfortunate collector.
[Revue Encyc. xii. 574; Nouvelle Biographie Générale, xviii. 146; Lasègue's Musée Bot. Deless. p. 376.]