Quick Facts
Biography
Archibald Peter Sturrock Forbes CBE, known as Archie Forbes (May 5, 1913 – January 27, 1999), was a British Colonial Officer who rose to become the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperative Development in Tanganyika (now Tanzania). He married Mary Manning (daughter of Captain Robert William Manning) on 10 June 1939; they had two children.
Forbes was born in Delwood, Saskatchewan, Canada, the son of Alexander Menzies Forbes and Elizabeth Lilian Forbes (née Campbell). His family moved to Scotland & he was educated at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh. Following this, he went Edinburgh University (Bsc), then Trinity College, Cambridge (Dip Ag) and finally the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad & Tobago (Trop Ag).
Colonial Service
He joined the Colonial Service & became an Agriculture Officer in Nyasaland in 1937. He was promoted to Senior Agriculture Officer in 1946 and was made Chief Agriculture Officer in 1953. During this time he worked on the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme. Rising further he became Deputy Director of Agriculture in 1954, Director in 1958 & finally Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperative Development in 1960. In the same year, he was appointed CBE.
When Tanganyika achieved Independence in 1963, he undertook consultancy work in Africa & Asia until 1978 ; this involved working for, amongst others:
- the World Bank,
- Food & Agricultural Organisation,
- United Nations &
- Nordic Engineering & technical firms in the natural resources field.