George Forbes, 7th Earl of Granard

George Arthur Hastings Forbes, 7th Earl of Granard (5 August 1833 – 25 August 1889), styled Viscount Forbes from 1836 to 1837, was an Irish peer and militia officer.

Background and education He was the son of Major-General George Forbes, Viscount Forbes, and his wife, the Viscountess Forbes (née Frances Mary Territt); he succeeded his grandfather, George Forbes, 6th Earl of Granard, as the 7th Earl of Granard in 1837. From his mother's second marriage to Thomas Nugent Vaughan, he had a younger half-sister, Angela Frances Mary Vaughan, who married Sir Frederick FitzWygram, 4th Baronet. He was educated at Eton.

He owned 21,000 acres in Longford, Leitrim and Wexford.

Military career Granard was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel commandant of the Westmeath Rifle Militia on 26 December 1855. He was granted the honorary rank of Colonel on 29 May 1878. The regiment became the 9th (Westmeath Militia) Battalion, Rifle Brigade, in 1881. He was made a Knight of St Patrick in 1857.

Granard was President of the British Association of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 1875 until his death, and was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Papal Order of St. Gregory the Great. He was also a member of the Senate of the Royal University of Ireland. Lord and Lady Granard converted to Roman Catholicism in 1869.

Family By his first marriage to Jane Colclough Grogan Morgan on 2 June 1858, Granard had two daughters: Lady Sophia Maria Elizabeth Forbes (21 Jan 1862 – 7 November 1942), married Sir Henry Grattan-Bellew, 3rd Baronet.

By his second marriage to the Honourable Frances Mary Petre, daughter of William Petre, 12th Baron Petre, on 4 September 1873, he had eight children: Col. Hon. Donald Alexander Forbes (3 September 1880 – 2 August 1938), married Mary Doreen Lawson and had issue Lt.-Col. Hon. Bertram Aloysius Forbes (26 May 1882 – 5 August 1960) Capt. Hon. Fergus George Arthur Forbes (26 May 1882 – 23 August 1914), killed in World War I

Coat of arms