Archibald Forbes (1838 - 1900)

Archibald Forbes (17 April 1838 – 30 March 1900) was a British war correspondent, the son of a Presbyterian minister in Morayshire, Scotland; educated at the University of Aberdeen. Entering the Royal Dragoons as a private, he gained, while in the service, considerable practical experience of military life and affairs. Being invalided from his regiment, he settled in London, and became a journalist. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870, Forbes was sent to the front as war correspondent, and in this capacity he gained valuable information as to the plans of the Parisians for withstanding a siege. Transferring his services to the Daily News, his brilliant feats in the transmission of intelligence drew worldwide attention to his dispatches. He was with the German army from the beginning of the campaign, and he afterwards witnessed the rise and fall of the Paris Commune.