George Topham Forrest was born in Aberdeen, Scotland on 22 April 1872. After studying at Aberdeen University he was articled to Alexander Brown and George Watt (1865-1931) of Brown & Watt from 1890 to 1894. He also attended Gordon's College and King's College, London. He worked as an assistant to John Macvicar Anderson (1835-1915) from 1894 to 1898; in the Leeds City Engineers' Office in 1898-99; and in West Riding County County Architects' Department from 1899 to 1905.
From 1905 to 1914 he was employed as Education Architect by Northumberland County Council, and was Essex County Architect from 1914. In 1919 he was appointed Superintending Architect of Metropolitan Buildings and Architect to the London County Council.
Forrest was elected a Licentiate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (LRIBA in 1911 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1919. He lectured and wrote extensively on school, church and theatre architecture.
His address was given as The Moothall, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 4 The Grove, Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1911; The Shirehall, Chelmsford, Essex in 1914; The County Hail, Westminster Bridge, London in 1923 and 1926; New County Hall, London in 1930; and Clalder Lodge, Grainger Hill, Maidenhead, Berkshire in 1936. He died in Port Appin, Scotland on 31 March 1945.
When In Architect's Dent., West Riding C.C., assisted In design and erection of Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Storthes Hall, near Huddersfield (cost £400,000); Scalebor Park Private Asylum, near Leeds (cost £107,000); and Yorkshire Inebriates" Home, Cattal, near Harrogate. After passing of Education Act, 1902, In charge of work relating to architectural inspection of 900 elementary schools. Since appointment as County Education Architect in 1905 has carried out practically all the educational architectural work in Northumberland, including 33 schools and many alterations; also designed High School for Girls, Morpeth; Secondary School, Whitley Bay; and Tech. Inst., Wallsend-on-Tyne. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1914]
___
In the Provinces (1905-19): — Schools; sanatoria; asylums; police buildings, etc. In London (1919-25): — Tramway buildings at Charlton and Brixton; Ambulance Stations; Elementary Schools at Islington, Hackney, Roehampton, Bellingham, Streatham, Hammersmith, Wandsworth, Greenwich, Peckham, Woolwich, Bermondsey, Eltham and Downham; Secondary School at Tooting; open-air School at Streatham; Peckham Road Fire Station; Development of L.C.C. Housing Estates — Becontree, Bellingham, Roehampton, Old Oak, White Hart Lane, Downham, Norbury; tenement dwellings at Tabard and Garden, Goldsmith's Row, Collingwood, Whitmore and East Hill Estates; etc [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926].
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
Marriott, Charles. Modern English Architecture. London: Chapman & Hall, 1924
'Obituary'. The Builder vol. 168, 13 April 1945 p. 287
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: Architectural Press, 1926