The Jacobites and Britain: These were not Scottish v English Conflicts

"The Earl of Angus's Regiment (The Cameronians) at the Defence of Dunkeld, 1689" by Richard Simkin. Pic from Wikipedia.

On the 274th Anniversary of the Battle of Culloden, A Force For Good is pleased to present our new series on "The Jacobites and Britain". It's written by John Provan, who has an MA (Hons) in History, and is the author of our 2015, 7-part series "Scottish Origins of British Unionism" and our 2016, 6-part series "Scottish Desire for Union 1707" both of which are available on our Legacy Site.

As with our previous series, this one dispels the popular Scottish Nationalist myths related around the subject.

For example, if you ever thought the Jacobite movement was entirely Scottish, or the battles were "Scottish v English", or "Highland v Lowland", or "Catholic v Protestant", then be prepared to think again!

Before we begin – here is a Timeline to put things in context:

Timeline of Events referred to in the Text

The term Jacobite is derived from "Jacobus", the Latin form of "James".

1689 Rising: James VII was deposed by William and Mary at the Glorious Revolution. He left for France on the night of 9/10 December 1688. Uprisings for James began in Ireland when James landed there at Kinsale on 12 March 1689. Shortly thereafter, on 11 April, John Graham (Viscount "Bonnie" Dundee) launched a Jacobite Rising in Scotland, which won the Battle of Killikrankie (27 July 1689), which also resulted in his death.

The battles in Scotland ended after Williamite victories at Dunkeld (21 August 1689, pictured above) and Cromdale (30 April-1 May 1690); and the Glencoe massacre (13 Feb 1692).

James fled Ireland for France following his defeat at the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690. Irish Jacobites surrendered under the Treaty of Limerick on 3 October 1691.

1715 Rising: His son James Francis Edward Stuart (The Old Pretender, "James VIII") landed in Peterhead on 22 December 1715, after the Jacobite's had been set back and demoralised at the Battle of Sheriffmuir (13 November 1715) and defeated at the Battle of Preston (9-14 November 1715). He returned to France on 5 February 1716.