Vlll 
Proceedings of Royal Society of Edinhurgh. 
William Forbes Skene, LL.D., D.C.L., Historiographer-Eoyal 
for Scotland, &c., &c. By Professor Mackinnon. 
(Read January 15, 1894.) 
Among the notable Scotsmen of the nineteenth century, William 
Forbes Skene will have a foremost place. The author of Celtic 
Scotland was born at Inverie, in Kincardineshire, on the 9th of 
June 1809, and died in Edinburgh on the 29th of August 1893. 
His father was Janies Skene of Eubislaw, a member of an old 
Aberdeenshire family. His mother was Jane, daughter of Sir 
William Forbes, Baronet of Pitsligo. The family connections 
were numerous, and the future historian had, from earliest boy- 
hood, unusually favourable opportunities of coming in contact 
with the men and women who in his day bore a worthy part in 
the life and literature of Scotland. His father was an intimate 
friend of Sir Walter Scott, and the son was more than once a 
welcome guest at Abbotsford. 
Mr Skene was educated at the High School of this city, and 
afterwards attended the Universities of St Andrews and Edin- 
burgh. Destined for the legal profession, he was apprenticed to 
a relative. Sir Henry Jardine, W.S. He became a member of 
the Society of Writers to the Signet in 1831, and was, for the 
long period of sixty-one years, a well known and honoured citizen 
of Edinburgh. He held an appointment in the Court of Session 
for many years, becoming latterly Depute-Clerk of the Court. 
In the meantime he had become the head of a prominent legal 
firm, a position which he retained till his death. In the public 
life of the city, whether political or municipal, Mr Skene took 
little part. A capable man of business, who had devoted attention 
to financial matters, he acted as Director of the Commercial 
Bank for over a quarter of a century. His philanthropic spirit 
and intimate acquaintance with the country and people, made 
him a most valuable Secretary to the Committee which administered 
the funds collected to relieve destitution in the Highlands and 
Islands after the failure of the potato crops in 1846 and subsequent 
