The following article was published by Eddie McRorie on 11th May 2025 on the Johnstone History Facebook page and is reproduced here with his kind permission.

Sir Archibald Finlayson Forbes (1903-1989) - Industrialist and Banker

Archibald Forbes was born in Johnstone the son of that towns Chief Constable Charles Forbes. Archibald attended school at Paisley Grammar School and later Glasgow University. He trained as a Chartered Accountant before working for the Ministry of Agriculture between 1932 and 1939 on various committees and commissions.

Second World War service
In 1940 - 1943 he became Director of Finance at the Air Ministry and Deputy Director of the Ministry of Aircraft production. Over the period 1942-1945 Archibald was a member of the Aircraft Council, along with being appointed by the Board of Trade the new chairman of the Pottery Working Party, later becoming Chairman of The First Iron and Steel Board from 1946-1949.

Post War Years
In 1950 Sir Archibald F Forbes the chairman addressed the 55th AGM of The Central Mining & Investment Corporation Limited and by 1951 he was also president of the Association of Scottish Chartered Accountants. In 1953 he took up the position of Chairman at Iron and Steel Board till 1959. During this time he was also a member of the board of directors at The English Electric Co.Ltd. and Spillers Ltd.
Not one to be idle Archibald Forbes then served as President of the British Bankers' Association from 1970-1972 and later President of the Midland Bank Ltd in the period 1975-83 (previously having served as Director, 1959, Deputy Chairman, 1962-64, and Chairman, 1964-75). He was knighted in 1943 and appointed CBE in 1957.

In 1943 Archibald had married Angela Gertrude Ely in London where they lived at 26 Orchard Court, Portman Square, as well as their cottage in Mattingley, Hampshire.
They had a son Alasdair Forbes. Sadly his wife Angela died in 1969.

Alasdair Forbes (son)
They had a son Alasdair born in London who went to Winchester College the famous, independent boarding school in Hampshire and graduated with honours from McGill University in Montreal before completing an MA in the history of Art. at the Courtauld Institute in London. He worked in Paris and Vancouver, and lived for short periods in India and Italy. Before moving to Devon in 1992 he lived and taught in London.

For the last thirty years he has been preoccupied with creating and looking after his Devon garden Plaz Metaxu (1) the thirty-two acre garden which has been internationally acclaimed both as an unusually ambitious contemporary example of the making of place and for its poetic and psychological insights.
 
The Plaz Metaxu Garden at Coombe House has been included on the Devon Local Register of Historic Parks and Gardens because the gardens are a particularly fine example of modern landscape design. The garden has been described as 'one of the most original gardens made in Britain in recent times and 'Devon's most exciting garden'. The design and planting are considered by many, including The Royal Horticultural Society, to be of national significance.
Click on the link to see for yourself the most wondrous gardens of every type.
About Plaz Metaxu — PLAZ METAXU
(1)Plaz Metaxu - Greek- "the place that is in-between" and is a reference to both the garden's valley setting, and metaphorically to the otherworldliness imparted to it by Alasdair.

Eddie

Sir Archibald Finlayson Forbes (1903-1989)

He marries Angela Ely in 1943

Born 1903 in Rhinstock, a house in Overton Road

Rhinstock in Overton Road

Their London Home

Plaz Metaxu in Devon

Forbes held a number of senior positions at the Midland Bank