James Edwin Forbes was born in Dalkeith, Scotland in August 1876 and was articled to Washington Browne (1853-1939) in Edinburgh from 1892 to 1896. During that period he studied at the Edinburgh School of Applied Art. He then worked as an assistant to Robert Rowland Anderson (1844-1921) from 1897 to 1899, and to Edward William Mountford (1855-1908) from 1899 to 1901 when he commenced independent practice as an architect in Birmingham. From 1905 he was in partnership with John Duncan Tate (1880-1930) as Forbes & Tate in London. Following the death of Tate in 1930 Forbes continued to run the practice with the name unchanged until at least 1939.
Forbes was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA) in 1910 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1915.
His address was given as 38 Great James Street, Bedford Row, London in 1907; The Sheiling, Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire in 1907 and 1952; 16 Old Square, Lincoln's Inn, London in 1910 and 1914; 97, Jermyn Street, in 1923 and 1930; and 35 Bruton Street, London in 1935 and 1939. Forbes died in Brighton, Sussex on 22 April 1955
Architectural projects by Forbes during his partnership with Tate included Pollard's Wood House, Nightingale Lane, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire (1906); The Sheiling, Chalfont St Giles (1907), his own house and where he lived for 45 years; Pollards Park, Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire (1907); Pollards Wood Grange, Nightingale Road, Buckinghamshire (c.1909); enlargement to Little Pednor [now Pednor House], near Chartridge, Buckinghamshire (1910-12); Brantfell, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire (c.1911); 40 Parkway, Gidea Park, Romford, Essex (c.1911); The Pillars, Northwood, London (c.1911); Paddock House, West Common, Gerrard's Cross, Buckinghamshire (c.1913); loggia addition to Baylins Farmhouse, Penn Road, Knotty Green, Buckinghamshire (1919); Barrington Court in Somerset (1921-25).; a house in Chalfont Road, Amersham, Buckinghamshire (1928). Forbes & Tate also designed The Pollards, Brown Cottage and Widenham House in Gerrards Cross [dates not known].
Forbes collaborated with Gertrude Jekyll on a number of occasions where he designed the house and she laid out the gardens.
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For architectural projects by Forbes see also Historic England [link below]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 188, 6 May 1955 p.761