Background
He was born in Pollok Castle, Renfrewshire, Scotland on 14 February 1819. The son of William Forlong, a merchant, Forlong was educated at Glasgow Grammar School.
He was born in Pollok Castle, Renfrewshire, Scotland on 14 February 1819. The son of William Forlong, a merchant, Forlong was educated at Glasgow Grammar School.
He went on to study at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in Law.
He was also a lawyer, businessman, and farmer. He was admitted to the Bar around 1842 and practiced as an advocate in Aberdeen. He began itinerating as a lay preacher and evangelist.
He returned to Scotland around 1859-1860 and played a prominent role in the Second Great Awakening which broke out in Scotland around that time.
Forlong moved back to London around 1863, and around 1868 he founded Talbot Tabernacle in Notting Hill, where he remained until emigrating to New Zealand in 1876. Forlong acquired a farm near Bulls in the Rangitikei district and began preaching in the Bulls Town Hall.
In 1887, he moved to nearby Whanganui. Forlong was married twice.
They had two daughters, Clara and Amy.
Laura died in 1854, and Forlong remarried, on 9 June 1857, to Elizabeth Anna Houlton, in Paddington, London. They had eleven children. Elizabeth died in Whanganui in November 1894.
Around 1905, Forlong relocated to Rongotea, where he died on 30 August 1908.
His notable descendants include Privacy Commissioner Sir Bruce Slane, journalist James Forlong (1959-2003), and James"s father film-maker Michael Forlong.
A noted member of the congregation was Lord Congleton.