Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

14/08/1914

Date of Discharge

02/03/1920

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

19/05/1892

Place of Birth

St Kilda, Victoria

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

School(s) Attended

Grammar School (Melbourne)

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

A.S. Forbes, Chudleigh, Devonshire, England

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

5 Division Headquarters AIF

Military Cross (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.103, 29 June 1917)
Mentioned in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette No.61, 23 May 1919)

Forbes was the second cadet to enter the Royal Military College at Duntroon in the first intake on 22 June 1911. He was a member of the guard of honour at the Canberra commencement ceremony on 12 March 1913 and became the first Battalion Sergeant Major of the Corps of Staff Cadets in 1914. He was also awarded the Sword of Honour for his conduct and performance of duties. Forbes graduated early from RMC, along with his classmates, on 14 August 1914 and was appointed as a lieutenant with the 6th Battery, 2nd Field Artillery Brigade. He served on Gallipoli from early on in the campaign until being evacuated in July 1915 suffering from dysentery.

In Egypt he was promoted to the rank of captain and transferred to command the 102nd Battery of the 21st Howitzer Brigade. His devotion to duty during the period from March 1916 to September 1916 earned him the Military Cross, particularly his work while holding the line near Sailly from 20 April to 2 July 1916 and during operations at Pozières from 20 July 23 August 1916. Forbes was promoted to Major in January 1917 and spent the rest of the war in Staff roles with the 1st Division Headquarters and the 5th Division Headquarters.

Forbes returned to Duntroon after the war and was Adjutant at RMC from 1921 to 1922. In 1938 Forbes organised the ceremony for the unveiling of the Australian War Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux in France. He also served in World War 2 with the artillery, ending the war as a Brigadier with the Sydney Coast Artillery and retiring from the military on 1 December 1946. He died in Adelaide, South Australia on 20 January 1961. That year, the 50th anniversary of the opening of RMC, the Sword of Honour which he received in 1914 was presented to the Corps of Staff Cadets by his son. This sword has since been carried by the Battalion Sergeant Major on ceremonial occasions at RMC. The AWM image shows Forbes with other officers in the artillery (including several RMC classmates) in front of the pyramids at Giza in early 1915. A building on the north side of the RMC Parade Ground was named in his honour in 1990.

Description - height 5 feet 8½ inches, weight 142 pounds, chest 34-38 inches.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
The Duntroon Society, 'The A.M. Forbes Block', Newsletter 2/1990

The Duntroon Society, 'The First Class', Newsletter 2/2011
AWM Honours & Awards
AWM Collections Record : P03954.001, ART24462
WWII Nominal Roll http://www.ww2roll.gov.au
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
Stories from the ACT Memorial, 'The Honour Guard at the Canberra Commencement Ceremony', ACT Heritage Library www.library.act.gov.au/find/history/stories_from_the_act_memorial
Sydney Morning Herald - 21 January 1961