Forbes (Robert Bennet) is born in Boston.

The son of Ralph Bennett and Margaret (Perkins) Forbes, Robert Bennet Forbes is raised, like his brother, by their uncle, Thomas Handasyd Perkins, goes to sea at 13, becomes a sea captain at 20, and subsequently engages in the China Trade for the Russell Company, and makes a fortune. He subsequently helps to organize the Massachusetts Coast Guard, and builds ships for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Forbes dies at his home in Milton on November 23, 1889. The building is subsequently converted into the China Trade Museum.