Henry Ogg Forbes

Henry Ogg Forbes (30 January 1851 – 27 October 1932) was a Scottish explorer, ornithologist, and botanist. He also described a new species of spider, Thomisus decipiens.

Biography Forbes was the son of Rev Alexander Forbes M.A. (1821–1897), and his wife Mary née Ogg (1820–1862), and was born at Drumblade, Huntly, Aberdeenshire. An eye injury forced him to abandon his studies and he did not graduate. From 1875 he began collecting scientific samples: firstly in Portugal and from 1878 to 1884 he made extensive collections in the Dutch East Indies.

Forbes was active primarily in the Moluccas, Sumatra and New Guinea. His unusual tasks there also included tracking down the murderers of Captain J. C. Craig on Joannet Island in his temporary capacity as a government agent. In 1887 he was appointed meteorological observer at Port Moresby in New Guinea and used this opportunity to attempt further exploration of the island interior. The map he made from these explorations was deemed "unreliable" and he was not paid for his efforts. Disgruntled he decided to return to Britain. However he made a major stay in New Zealand before achieving this.

Forbes coordinated and led the Liverpool and British Museums joint expedition to Socotra and Abd al Kuri in 1898–1899.

Henry Ogg Forbes dedicated his book A Naturalist's Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago to the zoologist William Alexander Forbes, who died on an expedition to West Africa in 1883. They had been friends and classmate at the University of Edinburgh. Forbes is mentioned in A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

He died in Selsey in Sussex on 27 October 1932.

Family His older brother George Stuart Forbes (1849–1940) came to fame in the Indian Civil Service and was knighted for these services.

Legacy Henry Ogg Forbes is commemorated in the scientific names of three species of reptiles: Hemidactylus forbesii, Oligodon forbesi, and Sphenomorphus forbesi. Botanical specimens collected by Forbes are cared for at multiple herbaria, including the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

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