Scotland’s Jacobite History

The Stewart claim to the throne was not about to go away and thus began a period of ‘Jacobite’ rebellions. The first attempt in 1715 to restore James Edward ended swiftly in defeat and was followed shortly afterwards by the ‘little rising’ of 1719.
New attempts were made to control the unruly North as roads were built new regiments raised, however by 1745 unrest was growing again and Charles Edward Stuart ‘Bonny Prince Charlie’ arrived to carry on his father’s work.
Despite victories at Prestonpans and Falkirk and despite reaching as far south as Derby the ’45 ended a year later at disastrous Culloden. In the atmosphere of oppression following this defeat emerged two great literary characters; Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott, heralding in a new age…

 

1715 First Jacobite Rebellion

Thanks to the treatment of Scotland before and after the 1707 Union, there was always strong underground support for the reinstatement of the exiled Stewarts to the throne.
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1715 – Battle of Sherrifmuir

On the 6 September 1715, the 6th Earl of Mar, John Erskine, declared himself for James Francis Edward Stewart, the Old Pretender, and left Braemar carrying the Stewart standard to head south to the Jacobites in England. By the end of the month he had taken over Inverness with twelve thousand men behind him.
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1719 – Battle of Glen Shiel

The first Rising had failed by 1716, though skirmishes would continue. 1719 saw what was known as the “little Rising”. The only battle of this Rising occurred between a government army led by General Wightman and Jacobites under the 10th Earl Marischal at Glen Shiel.
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1724 – General Wade Appointed

The man credited in the National Anthem with the ability to frustrate and crush rebellious Scots is also the man who brought the first proper roads to the Highlands.
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1729 – Black Watch Raised

One of the world’s most famous militia was first raised in 1725 and became a Regiment under the Earl of Crawford as Colonel in 1739. Known then as the 43rd then 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, its Gaelic motto translated into ‘The Black Watch of Battles, First to Come and Last to Go’.
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1745 – Raising of the Standard at Glenfinnan

In 1745 news was received of a powerful new Jacobite force to arrive from the Continent, headed by the grandson of James VII, returning from exile in Italy.
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1745 – Battle of Prestonpans

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s landing on Scottish soil ignited a firestorm of incredible stories and willing recruits so that the myths encouraged the masses, who encouraged the myths in a cycle. While the stories were drawing volunteers they were worrying the established powers.
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1746 – Battle of Falkirk

The Jacobites had fought all the way from the Highlands to Derby in England. Outside of the Highlands it was becoming clear that Prince Charles and his claim was of no interest to Lowlanders or the Northern English, where very few supporters were coming forward.
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1746 – Battle Of Culloden

Culloden Moor, known then as Drummossie Muir, was the site of the last pitched battle on the British mainland on 16 April 1746.
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1746 – Highland Dress Proscription Act

Following the Jacobite defeat at Culloden, the last pitched battle on British soil, Prince Charles fled to South Uist then eventually across to France.
» Continue to read about the Highland Dress Proscription Act

 

 

 

1759 – Robert Burns Born

Robert Burns was born in Alloway, Ayrshire on 25 January 1759.
His father was a gardener and tenant farmer, and the life he was brought up in made him acutely aware of society’s unfairness as he laboured hard yet lived in poverty. the Estadio Nacionale in Lisbon.
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1769 – James Watt Patents the Steam Engine

James Watt, the son of a merchant, was born on January 19, 1736, in Greenock. He worked as a mathematical-instrument maker as a teenager and soon became interested in steam engines, which were used at the time to pump water from mines.
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1771 – Sir Walter Scott Born

Novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott was born in 1771 in Edinburgh, one of six surviving infants from twelve.
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1782 – Highland Dress Proscription Repealed

The Highland Dress Proscription Act of 1746, designed to punish the clans and destroy their identities and economic stuctures, was repealed in 1782 after thirty six years in law.
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