John B. Forbes (born 1795?) was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. He designed the

Pittville Pump Room The Pittville Pump Room was the last and largest of the spa buildings to be built in Cheltenham. The benefits of Cheltenham's mineral waters had been recognised since 1716, but not until after the arrival of Henry Skillicorne in 1738 did serious ...

for

Joseph Pitt Joseph Pitt (1759–1842) was a British lawyer of humble origins who prospered as a property speculator, notably in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, but also in Wiltshire, and who served as a Tory MP for Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civ ...

(1825–30) and St Paul's Church (1829–31). Besides the Pump Room, on which he personally worked 1825–28, and St Paul's Church, he is credited with several other buildings in Cheltenham, including 129–131 Promenade, 1–13 Imperial Square, 3 houses in St James Square, Montpellier Villas, 29-37 Pittville Lawn, and Brandon House, Grafton Road. He had difficulty managing the finances of several concurrent speculative developments. In 1835 he was convicted of

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

, having attempted

fraud In law, fraud is intent (law), intentional deception to deprive a victim of a legal right or to gain from a victim unlawfully or unfairly. Fraud can violate Civil law (common law), civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrato ...

on a business partner: a sentence of

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

was commuted to a short prison term. His architectural career did not recover.

Personal life

He is consistently referred to as 'local' in descriptions of Cheltenham's development in the 1820s-30s, but his origins are currently obscure. He married twice, firstly in November 1821 to Elizabeth Martha Cook, second daughter of the late Charles Cook esq of Kennington Place, London and secondly on 22 July 1838 at Clerkenwell to Mary Ann Poole, eldest daughter of Thomas Poole of Cheltenham.''Cheltenham Chronicle'', 8 Aug 1838 There were four children by the first marriage, at least two of whom died young.

References

1790s births 19th-century English architects English fraudsters People from Cheltenham Year of death missing Architects from Gloucestershire {{UK-architect-stub