In the early half of 1745, Charles Edward Stuart or Bonnie Prince Charlie, saw an opportunity to reclaim what he considered to be his father’s two kingdoms, Great Britain, formally united in 1707, and Ireland. George II and the British army were occupied in the War of the Austrian Succession, leaving only around 6,000 troops to defend England. Aided by the early support of Donald Cameron of Lochiel, XIX chief of Clan Cameron, he and is party of men were successful in raising a force of 2,000 Scots.

With word of this force ready to march on the Lowlands, it was up to Sir John Cope to give a response root he government. Cope was the general in command of the 4,000 government troops stationed in Scotland, but unfortunately the most of his troops were only recently raised and as a result inexperienced. Cope and his troops marched on Fort Augustus in the heart of the Highlands in an effort to awe the Highlanders into surrender and end the rebellion before it had truly begun. Upon hearing that the rebel army was looking to oppose him at Corryarrack, he instead marched to Inverness hoping to be the one to decide the battleground. Cope had underestimated the men commanding the rebel forces.

Bonnie Prince Charlie and his troops marched straight down to the Lowlands, which by now were almost undefended. A small force which held Edinburgh retreated in the face of the superior foe, leaving the city open for the taking. On 16 September, some of Prince Charles’s army captured the city with little or no fighting, though Edinburgh Castle was still defended for the government. Cope meanwhile furiously marched to Aberdeen  are he had urgently ordered ships, so he and his troops could make haste o the south. On the same day the Jacobites took Edinburgh, Cope and his men disembarked in Dunbar.

Even though Cope knew his troops were far from the best, he was determined to engage the Jacobite force. His intelligence told him that the rebels only numbered around 2,000 men, and whilst they were fit and hardy, they were ill-equipped. Cope believed this would mean his force, in two regiments of dragoons and three and a half regiments of infantry, should easily overpower them. It was even said that on their march towards Edinburgh they assured the locals that there would be no battle.

It was on the 20th of September that the two forces first met, just outside Prestonpans near Preston house. The Jacobite army had secured the high ground to the south of Cope’s position, but Cope was determined to face the rebels and made the best of his situation. He drew up his force facing south using the park walls of Preston house to provide protection for the right flank and a marshy bog to the front. Although they had secured a good position the Jacobites were dismayed by the way Cope had taken advantage of the land. A traditional Highland charge would flounder in the marshes and be decimated by musket and cannon fire. The senior Jacobite officers knew they must change their plans if they were to come away victorious but could not agree on what should be done. It was Lord George Murray who pushed for them to move their force to the East so they could assault the exposed left flank of the government forces and it was Lieutenant Anderson, a local farmers son, who knew the lay of the land and knew of a way to get the force where it needed to go. At 4am on the 21st the Jacobites began to move, 3 abreast along a narrow defile, in order to reach the east flank.

Meanwhile, Cope had noticed some movement in the opposing force juts before dark, though this move was the result of confusion in the Jacobite ranks and was abandoned. He feared that the Jacobite planned to attack both his flanks and thus redeployed in forces in a north south front, the formation that they would fight in the next day. He also ordered that 200 dragoons and 300 infantryman should take on picket duty and light fires in the front of his position in order to thwart any plans for a surprise night attack. Cope felt secure with these measures and in addition ordered 3 companies of Louden’s Highlanders to guard the baggage park in Cockenzie, as well as dismissing some 100 volunteers ordering them to report back in the morning. Cope also made a last minute attempt to gain reinforcements from Edinburgh Castle,  requesting Artilleryman to attend his position. It would be for nought though, as the battle would take place a lot earlier than Cope had expected.

At the crack of dawn on the 21st September, Cope’s Dragoons beheld a spectacle that would send a shiver down any sane mans spine. Out of the early morning mist, making “wild Highland war cries and with the bloodcurdling skirl of the pipes” came 1,400 Highlanders charging straight towards Cope and his men. Cope’s inexperienced army wheeled to meet a foe they were not expecting to come from the east, and Cope even managed to scramble some artillery into position. Undaunted by the light and inaccurate fire the Highlanders continued their charge. The centre of this charge became bogged down in an are of marshland, which meant the straight line of the charge became a v formation. The wings on either side met with the dragoons on either side of the British force, which caused them to immediately flee.

This meant that Cope was left with only the centre of his force, which also happened to be the experienced Royal Infantry. Unfortunately for hem the unplanned flanking manoeuvre by the Jacobites, which happened when the wings of the v wrapped around the side of the Royal Infantry and the centre met them head on, meant the were effectively surrounded by Highlanders and they suffered for it. After sustaining heavy casualties they eventually gave way.

Around 10 minutes after the battle had begun, it was over. Hundreds of government troops were dead or injured, and thousands were taken prisoner whom Bonnie Prince Charlie himself ordered should be treated with the greatest of care. The Jacobite’s on the other hand had only suffered around 100 casualties. Cope still in charge of around 200 men, pulled them away to reorganise and rally them in an adjacent field, but they refused to engage the enemy further. Cope had no choice but to retreat and make the long journey south to the relative safety of Berwick-upon-tweed.

Cope’s baggage train in Cockenzie was seized giving the Jacobites around £5000, many muskets and plenty of ammunition but this was not all the victory gave to the cause. It signalled the true beginning of the rebellion, greatly boosting the morale of the Stuart supporters, and causing a surge in recruitment to the Jacobites in Scotland. The battle cemented the seriousness of this new Jacobite rebellion and it’s effectiveness to claim victory in the battles to come.

A cairn was erected in 1953 to commemorate the memory of all those that fell in the battle. A coal bing was also erected, atop which flies Prince Charlie’s battle flag, using the remains of the area’s coal shale shaped into an obelisk to provide a vantage point for today’s visitors.

In 2006 the Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust was established with the goal to ensure much better presentation and interpretation of the battle. Plans include a visitor Centre in the grounds of Prestongrange Industrial Heritage Museum, ‘Living History’ battle re-enactments, battle-related storytelling and new novels, and a new ‘Flowering of the Arts’ including embroidery.

In 2008 the Trust commissioned Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division to undertake a comprehensive survey, followed by selective excavation, of the battlefield. Although it was thought that the location of the battlefield was known for years the team actually discovered that the true site was located some 500 yards away. Based on concentrations of musket balls and other evidence, this new site is where it is believed the Highlanders charge actually took place.

Details of all the Trust’s activities can be found at its website - www.battleofprestonpans1745.org

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The reason I wrote this was to put together a newbies guide to what this period of history was all about, what started it and most importantly to dispel the misinformation that this was some Scotland V England struggle. Ive tried to keep it as light and simple as possible, I tested it on my 12 year old daughter last night and it made sense to her so fingers crossed here goes….

Charlie Tour T Shirt

It all started with King James the VII as we called him in Scotland or James II as he was known in England. He was the second surviving son of Charles I

First, A bit of Background…

Charles I had a pretty difficult relationship with parliament and this led to the English Civil War, which, actually started in Scotland not England when Charles managed to also get on the wrong side of the Church as well and started the bishop’s war. Incredibly the Bishops war was started by Charles attempting to introduce a new prayer book so two sides who couldn’t agree on how to give praise to the same god started a fight which spilled over into Ireland and then into England like some sort of viral cowboy bar brawl and ended up creating the biggest armed conflict on British soil. Say what you like about the Scots we are damned good at starting a fight.

Charles lost the war and his head in 1649 which in turn led to Oliver Cromwell, the Protectorate and a ban on Christmas, singing and anything else regarded as mildly fun. When Cromwell died of a mixture of malaria and kidney stones he was succeeded by his son who couldn’t get the hang of ‘protecting’ at all and the Monarchy was restored, Charles II became King with much rejoicing and Cromwell was executed, yes I know he was already dead but they hung him again anyway just to make sure.

Charles II was known as the ‘Merry Monarch’ and his reign began with one massive party although it wasn’t all fun since his reign also included the great plague and the great fire of London. Charles II had one last laugh on his people though when he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed.

Now it would take more time than I have here and more pages than I’d like to fill to explain why the Monarchy and parliament had a bit of an issue with Catholicism so trust me, from around the time of the Tudors they most definitely did, it goes without saying that the Church of England were not huge fans, after all they were the competition in the business of eternal life and The Catholic church had some pretty good moves like ‘give us lots of money and we will fast track you through purgatory’ etc.

Charles’ late entry into the world of Catholicism before his exit from the world of the living was inconvenient to say the least but with no heir the next in line was his brother James and what wasn’t so well known was that James had been a practicing Catholic for some time. Like it or not Britain was about to get a Catholic monarch.

James VII takes charge (briefly)…

This led to a number of problems for James. For starters two rebellions kicked off, one led by Duke of Monmouth and another by Campbell of Argyll in Scotland, Argyll’s rebellion came to nowt as they say and his head was soon gracing the space formerly occupied by Royalist hero and shampoo model the Marquis of Montrose. Monmouth was a tougher nut to crack and James also had another issue to deal with, literally as he had quite inexplicably allowed his daughter to marry his protestant Dutch nephew William of Orange, a bit of an own goal as this handed the protestant supporters a ready made replacement..

The protestant nobles called on William and over he came in 1688 to take the throne, James legged it and in the process chucked the Great Seal of the Realm into the River Thames. He was captured before he could leave England but William, not keen to create a Stuart martyr sort of turned his back, whistled a bit and left the cell door slightly open and allowed James to escape. After a great deal of parliamentary debate it was decided that James throwing the Great Seal in the Thames like Dirty Harry throwing away his cop badge was really an act of abdication so that was good enough for them (don’t let anyone ever tell you there aren’t any seals in the Thames). They also quickly shored up the legislation to make sure there could NEVER be another Catholic monarch, a statute that has stood to this day, albeit recently amended.

So that was it. The Stuart dynasty that had ruled Scotland for nearly 300 years and latterly the whole of the newly United Kingdom was over, or was it?

James was determined for a rematch and his campaign began and pretty much ended in Ireland with defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, an event that has been celebrated by the Orange Order to this day, mostly by people in bowler hats parading with flute bands round small towns in Northern Ireland and Lanarkshire.

If anyone wants to discover what is essentially wrong with Scotland then you have to look no further than the petty sectarian nonsense that has plagued this country since then. Where we have become a country divided by tribal lines mostly based on which Glasgow based football team you support, insular, inward looking and regressive.

But enough about that back to the Jacobites…

The Old Pretender…

James may have been done with the throne of Britain but his progeny were not. His second daughter, Anne became queen in 1702. Queen Anne gave us many things including the Act of Union and bow legged furniture (considering she had 17 pregnancies during here reign you can see where they got the idea from).

When Anne died in 1714 succession fell in a rather oblique way to George of Hannover, a German and grandson of James VI(and I) as the nearest non Catholic everyone could agree on. (there were 50 more eligible Catholics in the way which the Act of Settlement conveniently ignored).

A year later in 1715 the Whig party won a majority to become the new government defeating the Tory party. Many rebels in the Tory party were Jacobites (from ‘Jacobus’ the Latin for ‘James’) and supported the return of the Stuart Dynasty. James VII was long dead but his son James Francis Edward Stuart was very much alive and in exile in France. Although the support for his claim sprouted in the Tory rebellion in London it really took root in Scotland. There was still a strong Catholic contingent in Scotland and James was able to get support from them. He arrived in Scotland in 1715 to start his campaign to regain the throne but it didn’t go at all well. James (the Old Pretender) was timid, didn’t like crowds and couldn’t handle cold weather, not ideal traits for fighting battles in Scotland!

He abandoned the whole idea in 1716 and headed back to France where he was welcomed with… folded arms. And sent off to Italy to bother someone else.

In 1719 he married Maria Clementina Sobieska a Polish princess and they had two sons, the eldest being Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart (I’d hate to have been the one icing his birthday cakes), fortunately he was more commonly referred to as Charles Edward Stuart or ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Charlie was a very different man to his father. Born in Italy he was determined to restore the Stuarts to the throne so his father named him regent in 1743 and his adventures began…

Bonnie Prince Charlie and the ’45…

Charlie managed to get some support in kind from France and was given a pair of well fitted out ships. His hopes of getting some well fitted out men too were less successful but nevertheless he set off for the West of Scotland, preferring his fathers recruiting ground to the North. The Jacobites still had much support from the Northern Clans mostly, but not exclusively Catholic, he also had Jacobite support from Ireland and places like Carlisle and Manchester in the North of England.

Resistance to the Jacobites came not just from England (who made up the bulk of the UK population and still do) but also from Scotland and Ireland.

As everyone probably knows by now the second Jacobite rebellion made it as far south as Derby before turning back when they picked up far less support along the way than they were expected, the additional French troops didn’t turn up and the Scots army were frustrated at the lack of square sausage and irn bru.

They headed back for Scotland, managing a last hurrah at Falkirk before the whole thing came to a sticky end on Culloden Moor in 1746. Bonny Prince Charlie fled the field and pursued by redcoats managed to hide in every cave in Scotland if tourist brochures are to be believed, disguised himself as a woman and high tailed it back to France, where after numerous affairs, not the least of which was with the bottle, he died in Italy.

The reason I was inspired to write this really is because all too often I see Culloden mentioned as some sort of romantic defeat where the dastardly English dashed Scotland’s hopes. This is sentimental rubbish. If you really want to understand Culloden and the Jacobite rising all you need to do is memorize this Sentence:

“Culloden was a battle between an army of Scots, English and Irish led by an Italian against an army of Scots, English and Irish led by an Englishmen with a German dad representing a German king over the throne of the United Kingdom.”

Simples…

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The Stewarts rose from relative obscurity to a place of importance in the Scottish Court through the 13^th century, and during the Wars of Independence they sided with the Bruce faction; and Walter Stewart married Robert the Bruce’s daughter Marjorie. Eventually, in 1371 after a half-century wait for his uncle to die Robert Stewart became king ofScotland. It was the beginning of a dynastic rule that would last 343 years until the death of Queen Anne in 1714. Throughout that time, the family – which employed mafia tactics – extended their control over Scotland, and finally reached the giddy heights of the throne of England.

As British kings their successes were less evident – one was executed and another deposed; and their increasing disengagement with the political momentum and religious intolerance of the times would see the great House permanently exiled. From James VII to his grandson Charles Edward the exiled Stuarts (French spelling) would set up counter-courts in France and Italy; where they’d be hocked from palace to palace maintaining a veneer of royalty and influence. It was back to this fantasy world that the L’Heureux would bring the young Pretender following the disaster of the ’45: but in reality it was to an alcohol fuelled life of obscurity.

Charles’ stay in France was short-lived, for within a couple of years of the rising the British and the French signed the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle’ effectively ending the War of the Austrian Succession, which the Jacobite rebellion was essentially part of; and with the deal the Pretender was expelled. He returned to Italy, where his father still held a degree of social influence. Shattered by the failure of the Cause, and haunted by ghosts of Culloden Charles began a string of affairs and sought solace in the bottom of a bottle. His principal mistress was the Scottish socialite, Clementina Walkinshaw, who in 1753 bore him a daughter, Charlotte.

Henry Stuart, Charles’ younger brother took a different route after 1746, perhaps armed with more realism, and entered the Catholic Church. His father was on good terms with the Pope, who still recognised him as the rightful king, and Henry made a meteoric rise through the ranks of the episcopacy, becoming Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati in 1761. While his brother became a Prince of the Church; Charles, drunk half the time, still entertained dreams of fantasy thrones.

In 1759, at the height of the Seven Years War, a conflict that for the first time took on a global perspective, the French drew up plans for a full-scale invasion of England. As part of the project he wanted to enlist the support of the still-loyal Jacobites; and Charles was summoned to Paris. Boorish and unrealistic, the French government were soon repelled by him, and sent him packing: he’d play no part in the operation. However, significant British victories overseas essentially put paid to the expedition and it was permanently shelved. This was Charles’ last true, albeit slim, chance to be king. His drinking worsened, his life increasingly nomadic and his treatment of Clementina increasingly abusive. In 1760 she left him, and took Charlotte with her. There is a strong suspicion that Prince James helped out, and gave her an allowance.

Prince Charles Edward Stuart in later life

As she grew up, Charlotte was bounced from convent to convent as her father refused to provide for her or her mother; and with James dead in 1766 that avenue dried up as well. James Francis Stuart, born in 1688 to James VII was the last prince of the House of Stewart to be born in Britain and to the reigning dynasty. As such the Pope and kings across Europe still either recognised his claim, or treated him on an equal footing. The world by 1766 had moved on, and neither the Papacy nor the crowned heads would give the increasingly distant, melancholic and unpopular Charles the same recognition. His downward spiral continued.

In 1772 he married Princess Louise of Stolberg-Geden; but, due to the nature of the man, now a broken alcoholic, it was doomed to failure: she left him eight years later. Now an old man in ill-health he reached out again to his family, and was reconciled with his daughter; who also engaged her uncle, the Cardinal Henry, to bring the once-Bonnie Prince back to Rome, where she would care for him until he died of a stroke in 1788. Chronically ill herself, she died three years later.

Charles Edward Stuart had lit up Scotland like a firework during the 1745 rebellion; but the rest of his life had been an unfulfilled damp-squib; and on his death the Jacobite claim fell to his brother: Cardinal Henry Stuart. As a successful and powerful clergyman (Henry was raised to the Dean of the College of Cardinals in 1803) he did not press his case. He died in 1807: last of the Royal Stewarts. Both he and Charles were buried within the Basilica of St Peter’s in the Vatican. He may have been the last of the dynasty; but not last of the bloodline.

In the years before she returned to her father, Charlotte Stuart had a long term affair with Ferdinand de Rohan, Archbishop of Bordeaux, which considering his position was a risky enterprise. She had three children by him: Marie Victoire, Charlotte and a boy, Charles Edward. Little is known about the two girls, or whether they married and had children – it is believed that Marie Victoire ended up in Poland (Charles’ mother was Polish) and that Charlotte was absorbed into polite society in England. Either way, they and any possible descendants vanished into anonymity.

The son, Charles became a distinguished soldier and something of a globetrotter; and while he never pressed his Jacobite claim, he did maintain links with leading Scots. Indeed, it was while returning from a meeting with the Duke of Atholl in 1854 he was killed in a coaching accident; and is buried in the grounds of Dunkeld Cathedral in Perthshire. With him, the last of the true direct bloodline ended. Meanwhile, fanatical Jacobites searched around for an heir to Henry Stuart; and with his death the ‘claim’ passed to King Charles Emmanuel IV of Sardinia; the senior living descendant of Charles I Stuart through his daughter Henrietta. In a parallel universe the line has passed down to Franz von Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria; although he declines ever to talk about his Stewart ancestry.

The bitter wars of the 17^th and 18^th centuries shaped the modern Britain that emerged, the nature of the monarchy, and indeed the dynastic future itself. The Royal Stewarts had their time; their crown slipped, fell and it was eventually buried in the setting sun amid the hallowed walls of Dunkeld. And few were there to mourn it.

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