the Jacobite context

This is a brief description of how the Scottish Highland culture was systematically destroyed:

1. King James II came to be ruler of England & Scotland, and he was a Catholic.

2. Fears among the English that King James somehow would cause collapse of the Church of England, returning the Pope & the Roman Catholic Church; A.K.A. England's enemies France & Spain.

3. The English fears of Catholic suppression led to a plot to remove King James.
   All of this was likely unfounded.

4. The Glorious Revolution was the removal of King James, who was exiled.
   In his place, James’s daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange (Dutch) were brought in to rule in his place.

5. The Jacobite uprisings begin to return James to the throne; although nothing major happens until many years later.

6. William & Mary produce no heir to take the throne upon their demise.

7. Mary's sister Anne (Queen Anne) took over in continuing the Stuart Monarchy as ruler of England & Scotland.

8. During Queen Anne's reign, the Act of Union took place in 1707. ie: the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland were, in the words of the Treaty, "United into One Kingdom by the Name of Great Britain".

   1. Why?

   2. The leaders in Scotland decided they needed to have colonies.

   3. What came to be known as the Darian Scheme, was the idea to create a colony in what is today the nation of Panama, and some nearby Caribbean Islands.

   4. But the English & Dutch wouldn't trade with the colony.

   5. Most of the settlers died of tropical diseases.

   6. To finish things off, they were invaded by the Spanish April 1700. 

   7. As the Darien Company was backed by nearly half the money circulating in Scotland, its failure left the country completely ruined.

   8. In 1707, after several years of Scotland stewing in economic collapse, the English came in, offering financial relief for the investors of the failed colony.

   9. Scotland had to dissolve its Parliament and unite with England to form a union.

   10. In 1707, the Act of Union passed, which was the nail in the coffin for the Highlanders.
       
       The Highland Chiefs would not have supported the Act of Union if their traditional powers were surrendered. As in modern day negotiations, there are compromises.
       
       What England had been unable to accomplish through wars, arranged marriages and a Union of the Crowns (1603), they finally did by paying off the debts of Scotland’s political elite. The Scottish saying goes “We were bought and sold for English Gold.”

9. Queen Anne dies, leaving no heir.

10. 1714, the Hanovarian line is brought in to replace the Stuart Monarchy,
    with the German speaking King George 1st.

11. Major outrage over bringing in the German sweeps the British Isles.

12. The beginning of the end… “who can raise armies?”: the Highland Chiefs can.
    The swan song of how all of these other outraged English, Welsh, and Irish will fall in behind the Highlanders, and Stuarts if the Highlanders just lead the way.

13. The uprising of 1715 fails, known in history as "The 15".

14. In 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Louis John Casimir Sylvester Severino Maria Stuart of Italy) returns to Scotland in a repeat of how all the disenfranchised in Great Britain were going to fall in behind Highlanders who supported the return of the Stuart Monarchy. Many Clan Chiefs didn't support the uprising, and some played both sides in providing support.

15. The Lowlanders did not support of the Highlanders. Read more about the difference between them

16. This culminated in the Battle of Culloden, also known as “the 45”

17. The British were determined to break the back of the Highland system in what is known as the "Clearances". The passing of laws such as the Acts of Proscription, following the failed uprising of the 45 is an example of the crackdown

Ultimately for the average Highlander, you could be anywhere except in the Highlands. As a result of the Clearances, a lot of the Highland culture may have been lost in a deliberate attempt to erase all knowledge of it.

1. Historical information indicates anywhere up to 400k people lived in the Highlands of Scotland prior to the Clearances. Which is more than live there today.

2. If you were a Protestant, maybe you were sent to the Plantations of Ulster, to be placed just above the Irish Catholics; for which conflict still exists today.

3. Others were sent to anywhere in the British Empire.

Read more about Scotish dislocation here

The Passenger Vessels Act 1803, is seen as an attempt to prevent Highlanders from leaving the Scottish Highlands, so British military regiments continue to rely on great warriors to fill their ranks. But the damage was done!

In September 1745, Lord George Murray wrote to, among other lairds, to the Stewart of Glenbuckie and the MacGregors of Glencrairnaig to raise their tenants in support of Charles Edward’s landing on the 23rd of July that year.

Further east near Dunkeld, it was reported to Lord George that there was great trouble in raising men, there was, “not one spark of loyalty in them” “not one of them will stir without force.” From those who were forced to go there were many who deserted.

In Perthshire there was more enthusiasm, Callander* was in fact a centre of disloyalty to his Hanoverian Majesty. A company of Maclarens went from Balquhidder of whom 13 died at Culloden in the Appin Regiment many more were wounded in battle. The MacGregors took Inversnaid Fort, and a party of 40 under the Laird of Glengyle marched through Callander to meet the Pretenders at Dunblane. The Duke of Perths Regiment contained two MacGregor companies 300 strong they fought at Prestonpans, marched to Derby, fought again at Falkirk but detached on other duties while Culloden was being fought.

The factor of the Perth estates, a Drummond, “was very active in seducing gentlemen from their Duty and Loyalty to his Majesty,” while the Laird of Leny, Francis Buchanan, was mysteriously executed on no clear charge.

Callander Heritage Society

*Callander is the town closest to Clan Buchanan current seat of Cambusmore; and the Francis Buchanan, of Arnprior’s residence: Leny House

A company of Maclarens went from Balquhidder of whom 13 died at Culloden in the Appin Regiment many more were wounded in battle. The MacGregors took Inversnaid Fort, and a party of 40 under the Laird of Glengyle marched through Callander to meet the Pretenders at Dunblane. The Duke of Perths Regiment contained two MacGregor companies 300 strong they fought at Prestonpans, marched to Derby, fought again at Falkirk but detached on other duties while Culloden was being fought. The factor of the Perth estates, a Drummond, “was very active in seducing gentlemen from their Duty and Loyalty to his Majesty,” while the Laird of Leny, Francis Buchanan, was mysteriously executed on no clear charge. 

Here we have an official list of prisoners after the Rebellion drawn up in 1746, prisoners from Callander and and the surrounding district are listed as follows: 

1. Francis Buchanan, of Arnprior, Leny House, Callander. Arrested before the battle of Culloden for stockpiling weapons. Writing to Philip Webb on 9 Sep 1746, Lord Milton, the Lord Justice Clerk, said of Francis Buchanan that it would be of "more consequence to His Majesty’s Service … “to get rid of such a person than to convict 99 of the lowest rank." 

   Buchanan of Arnprior was taken to Carlisle Castle where he was put in irons. This treatment is believed to have been justified due to a suspicious death that he was connected with (he had had an argument with Alexander Stewart of Glenbuckie concerning the post of Major in the Duke of Perth’s Jacobite regiment. Stewart of Glenbuckie returned to Leny House with Buchanan for the evening, but in the morning was found dead in his bed with a pistol in his hand. Buchanan argued that he had no part in the death, but it is believed that this incident affected how he was treated during his trial.)

   Buchanan of Arnprior was found guilty and was sentenced to be executed for “High Treason”, a sentence which was carried out on 19 October 1746.

2. The Lairds brother Patrick Buchanan, a brewer, at Kilmahog, joined the Jacobites in the Duke of Perth's Regiment and went with them to Crieff. He was tried at Carlisle and acquitted on account of his youth in September 1746. 

3. John Buchanan, a brewer from Kilmahog, Callander, joined the Jacobites and went with them to Crieff was captured and was later released.

4. Thomas Buchanan, also a brother of Francis Buchanan of Arnprior, was tried and acquitted on account of his youth.

5. Alexander Buchanan, born 1728, son of the Laird of Auchleishie Callander, was a Jacobite Captain in the Duke of Perth's Regiment, he was held prisoner at Perth, then transported on the 22 Apr 1747 to the Colony of Maryland (North America) on the ship "Johnson.”

6. John Buchanan, servant to Alexander Buchanan, Jacobite in the Duke of Perth's Regiment, was held a prisoner at, Stirling, and Carlisle; transported 24 Feb 1747 on the ship "Gildart" to the Colony of Maryland. 

7. Robert Buchanan, Jacobite Captain in the Duke of Perth's Regiment, son of Baillie Buchanan in Bohastle, Callander was killed at Culloden.

8. John Buchanan, in the Stuart of Appin's Regiment, died in prison.

9. Robert Cadell, one of a long line of brilliant gunsmiths of Doune, who was imprisoned at Stirling till the year 1747 and later released. 

10. Agnes Cathel from Menteith, captured at Carlisle, “with child of three” but mercifully released. 

11. Donald Dougal, imprisoned at Perth but released on bail to go home to Callander.

12. Captain John Drummond, of Glengyles company, released and at home in Balquhidder. 

13. Peter (or Patrick) Ferguson, a prisoner at Stirling on suspicion, but sent home to Callander. 

14. John McGregor, shot in the chest at Prestonpans, taken to prison and then to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he later died. 

15. Captain Donald McLaren of Invernentie, a cattle drover. He was captured behind Leny House, on his way south to trial, he made his escape and made his way back to Balquhidder where he hid in disguise till the general pardon in 1747. 

16. Duncan McLaren, brewer, of Invernentie, later released.

17. Robert Menzies, arrested on suspicion, but allowed home to Callander. 

18. Henry Oat (or Oak), a slater of Doune who was imprisoned at Leith but set free on payment of £50 bail.

19. David Stewart, Laird of Ballachallan, caught with others behind Leny House, in the subsequent scrimmage he was badly wounded and died at Stirling. 

20. John Buchanan, servant to David Stewart of Ballachallan, his sentence is unrecorded. 

21. John Stewart of Balquhidder, a “common man” who was freed. 

 The “List of Persons Concerned in the Rebellion” were drawn up by the Commissioners of Excise during the summer of 1746 and are incomplete.  

After Culloden, government forces under the Duke of Cumberland (the “Butcher Cumberland”) spent several weeks searching for rebels, killing all who they thought were Jacobites – men, women and children, confiscating cattle and burning churches and meeting houses. 3,500 captured Jacobites were indicted for treason. Of these, 120 were executed, primarily deserters. Some 650 died awaiting trial, 900 were pardoned and the rest transported. The Jacobite leaders were beheaded, like the Laird of Leny. Many were forced to join up, this at first sounds like an attempt to save one’s own neck however when one reads Lord George Murray’s correspondence and his angry insistence that tenants must be forced to go, on the penalty of having their homes destroyed, one wonders of the threat imposed under such circumstances. 

Lieutenant William Murdoch, a Callander wool merchant, was thrice “forced out” (made to join the rebel army) and as often deserted or of Alexander Roy McGrigor who fought at Culloden and claims that he was “forced to join up.” Of John McFarlane a servant from Glenfinglas, who escaped Culloden and was reported as “lurking” in the district, dependant on others for help, near home yet unable to go there and in constant danger of being outed. Of Donald MacNab, a farmer at Braeleny whose whereabouts after the long march south and north again were unknown. Tragedies like Allan Dow a labourer of Glenfinglas and Captain Robert Buchanan, son of Baillie-Buchanan who died. Why did John McHurnish, a pedlar from Brig o Turk, go off to war, or Archibald McLaren a farmer at Kerinoch near the Stank at the south of Loch Lubnaig who assisted the rebels with money being forced to send a man. Or the 3 McGreigors from Milton who escaped and hid till they were pardoned and could return safely home to their families. 

It is of them we should think of when we remember the days of the 45.