Clan Forbes and the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745
- Bart Forbes
- 2 days ago
- 10 min read
The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was one of the most consequential wars fought on Scottish soil. Popular myths abound to this day – such as this was a battle for Scotland’s freedom from England and that the clash pitted lowland Scots against the Highlanders. However, the first-hand accounts of two prominent members of Clan Forbes expose these myths as pure fabrications.
Background
The root causes of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 are unsurprising: religion, politics, and economics. In 1688, the Catholic King James VII and II was overthrown and replaced by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange. This spawned the first Jacobite rebellion in 1689.
Then Scotland determined to establish its own colony in Panama called the Darien Scheme. This failed spectacularly. England offered to pay off the investors’ debts – if the Scottish Parliament agreed to merge with the English Parliament. The Acts of Union creating Great Britain were passed by both bodies in 1706 and 1707.
This sparked another Jacobite Rebellion in 1708 to place on the throne the son of James VII and II, James Francis Edward Stuart. This was also squashed.
The Jacobite Rebellion of 1715 was started by a disgruntled former federal employee. John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, was British Secretary of State under Queen Anne. When she died, her successor George I fired him. He attempted another rebellion but the conflict lasted only two months.
Key Figures
In 1745, the cause of the Jacobites found a new face in James Francis Edward Stuart’s son, Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie.” In order to divert Great Britain form their role in the War of the Austrian Succession, King Louis Fifteenth of France and his uncle, King Philip Fifth of Spain, agreed to co-operate in Stuart’s invasion of Great Britain to depose King George II and restore the Catholic Stuart monarchy.
A prominent Scot of the day was Duncan Forbes, 5th Laird of Culloden, with a large estate near the highland city of Inverness. In 1737, he was appointed the Lord President of the Court of Sessions which was the equivalent of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in the USA. He worked in Edinburgh and corresponded with many highland and island clan chiefs. He kept meticulous records which were reprinted in two publications, Culloden Papers and More Culloden Papers. Digital versions of these tomes are included in the Clan Forbes Reference Library.
Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Pitsligo, was a peer who objected the 1707 Act of Union with England. In protest, he refused to vote on the measure. He was first cousin to Earl of Mar, and joined him in the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. After the conflict, he returned to Pitsligo to resume his roles as gentlemen farmer, religious philosopher, and prolific writer. The contemporaneous details of his role the rebellion were published in Jacobite Letters to Lord Pitsligo 1745 – 1746, which are also included in the Clan Forbes Reference Library.
Invasion
On July 23, 1745, Charles Edward Stuart landed on the western island of Eriskay. One of the Lord President’s frequent correspondents was Normand MacLeod of MacLeod, chief of the Clan MacLeod. On August 3, 1745, MacLeod alerted the Lord President of Stuart’s invasion: “the Pretended Prince of Wales is come on the Coast of South Uist and Barra” and “he has about thirty Irish or French Officers with him, and one Sheridan, who is called his Governor.”
The Lord President immediately notified the British government of this invasion through his correspondence with John Hay, 4th Marquess of Tweeddale, Secretary of State for Scotland. Forbes wrote on August 8, 1745, from Edinburgh: “I have resolved to make my Journey to the North Country earlier this Season than usual; as my presence there may be of more Service to the public than it can be of here, should the Report, which I look upon as highly improbable, have any foundation in Truth.” Forbes wasted no time heading north from Edinburgh and reached his Culloden estates by August 13.
Recruitment
Sir John Cope, commander of military forces in Scotland, placed a regiment of soldiers under the Lord President’s direct command, as he ordered in his letter to the “Officers of Lord Loudoun's Regiment” on August 14, 1745: “considering the great service done to the Government in the Year 1715 by the present Lord President, wherein his Lordship show'd his military Abilities, and has at all times distinguished himself by a Zealous attachment to the present Government : I have therefore thought proper to put that part of the Earl of Loudoun's highland Regiment in the North of Scotland under his Command ; whose direction you are to receive and follow.”
On August 17, Normand MacLeod of MacLeod notified the Lord President of Stuart’s intent to raise his father's standard in order to gather more support: “He sets up his standard Monday ; and as I am pretty sure of information from thence you shall know it. The Place, Glenfinnon, which is the outlet from Moydart and Arisack to Lochaber.” In fact, Stuart did rally a large force at Glenfinnan on August 19, 1745, and led his troops eastward to Invergarry Castle.
In August, British Field Marshal John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair, proposed that the Lord President recruit additional Highlanders into the army through blank Officer Commissions. On September 4th, Secretary of State, the Marquess of Tweeddale, informed the Lord President of his new authority.
David Wemyss, Lord Elcho, was a Scottish peer and Jacobite. He later declared that these commissions prevented more Scots from joining the Jacobite cause: “The President Duncan Forbes receiving a present of Twenty Companies of 100 men each to distribute amongst the Highland chiefs as he pleased, intirely putt a Stop to most of these Gentlemens balancing, as a Great many that the Prince Counted upon accepted of them.”
Meanwhile, Stuart also began recruiting leaders for his invasions. He had pushed on to Edinburgh, which he entered on September 17. While Edinburgh Castle remained in government hands, Stuart set up his “court” in Holyrood house. Not only did he recruit his soldiers from clan chiefs but he also turned to lords that had supported his father in 1715. This included Alexander Forbes, 4th Lord Pitsligo.
John Murray of Broughton, the Secretary to Stuart, wrote to Alexander Forbes, Lord Pitsligo, on September 29, 1745: “I now beg leave to give your Lordship the trouble of this letter to inform you that His Royal Highness has sent orders to all his friends to join furthwith, being determined to march Into England as soon as possible and to beg you may use all the Diligence possible, especially as our horse are not numerous. I dare say it is needless for me to beg yr Lordship will make no delay…”
Pitsligo left on October 9, 1745, with a troop of horse and 100 men on foot. The newspaper Caledonian Mercury wrote on that day: “the Right Hon. the Lord Pitsligo came into the camp from Linlithgow, at the head of a squadron of Horsemen, consisting of 132 Knights, Freeholders, and landed Gentlemen, besides their servants, all extremely well mounted and accoutred.” The report added “There came in at the same time 6 companies of Foot raised in the shire of Aberdeen by the said Noble Lord Pitsligo.”
October 18, Pitsligo received his Commission as Colonel of his own Troop of Horse: “Charles Prince of Wales and Regent of Scotland, England, France and Ireland and other Dominions thereto belonging, to our Right Trusty and well beloved Lord Pitsligo, Greeting. We reposing especiall trust and confidence in your courage, Loyalty and good conduct do hereby constitute and appoint you to be a Collonell of his majesty’s forces and to take your rank in the army as such from the date hereof.”
Kidnapping Attempt
Stuart realized what a danger the Lord President was to his efforts and devised a plot to get him out of the way. On September 23, 1745, he commanded James Fraser of Foyers: “We now judge it necessary hereby to empower you to seize upon the person of the above-named Duncan Forbes, and when you have so seized and apprehended him, to carry him prisoner to us at Edinburgh, or where we shall happen to be for the time, for the doing of which this shall be your warrant.”
On the night of October 15, James Fraser and about 200 Frasers attacked Culloden House. However, their plan for capturing Forbes failed, “owing to the spirited reception which this body of men met with from the artillery and small arms of the garrison which defended the castle under Mr. Forbes's own direction.”
Failure and Retreat
On October 31, Stuart launched his invasion of England, the true purpose of his French backers. David Wemyss, Lord Elcho, later wrote that he marched out of Edinburgh “at ye head of his Guards and Lord Pitsligo‘s horse, and lay that night at Pinckie house.” With Lord George Murray as commander, his army “consisted of Lochyells, Glengarys, Clanronalds, Keppochs, and Ardshiels regiments of foot, and Elcho‘s and Pitsligo‘s horse.”
The army entered England unopposed on November 8 and he anticipated French reinforcements landing in Southern England. He reached Derby on December 4 but the reinforcement never arrived.
Despite a minor victory, Stuart spent the rest of the month in a hasty retreat to Glasgow, which they reached on December 26, 1745. With more Royalist troops advancing toward him, on February 1, 1746, and led his main force north towards Inverness.
Meanwhile, the Lord President and John Campbell, Earl of Loudoun, found themselves with only 2,000 raw recruits in the path of the Jacobite army of about 4,000. They retreated to the Isle of Skye and left Inverness to the rebels.
Murray informed Pitsligo, still at Banff on February 19, of the latest Jacobite success: “His Royal Highness’ Army took possession of the Town of Inverness yesterday, the troops that were in the Town haveing ferryed over to Rosshire.”
Culloden
Stuart then commandeered the Lord President’s Culloden House as his headquarters. However, he provided specific instructions to his troops: “requiring you to protect and defend the house of Colloden and furniture from any insults or violence that may be done by any person or persons, except such Orders as are issued by us. Given at Inverness, 28th Feb. 1746.”
On February 27, the command of the British army was handed to the 24-year-old Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, who was the third and youngest son of King George II. Now in command, Cumberland moved his troops toward the Jacobite army stationed at Culloden.
Lord Pitsligo advised John Murray of Broughton, that “It is the humble oppinion of all here that his Royall Highness call in all his troops from Fort Augustus, Fort William, or wherever they are since it’s probable Cumberland, now at Aberdeen, will advance and his Hessians will give him the more encouragement.”
As expected, the British Army under the command of the Duke of Cumberland engaged Stuart’s Jacobite Army in the moor near Culloden House on April 16, 1746. The British Army advanced first in three lines of about 6,000 infantry soldiers in nine battalions. The Jacobite front line originally comprised some thirteen battalions of about 3,630 men.
A British horse division circled right of the Jacobite infantry and formed in the rear of it. The Jacobites fired first, almost certainly in response to the threat that had suddenly developed in their rear. By that time, the Jacobite command structure had broken down largely because the officers were all out in front and dropping fast. One of his commanders told Stuart that “all is going to pot” and Stuart fled the battlefield. In all, the battle lasted no more than twenty-five minutes.
British military records indicated that their casualties were fifty dead and 250 wounded. Eye-witness accounts estimated that the number of Jacobite casualties ranged from 1,500 to 2,000. Although some accounts set the number as high as 4,000.
Aftermath
The Lord President learned of the fate of Stuart through another of his correspondents, Sir Alexander Macdonald, 9th Baronet of Sleat. On July 29, 1746, he wrote: “When the young Pretender made his unhappy visit to Skye, from South Uist, in a small boat, he landed near my house, in woman's clothes, by way of being maid-servant to one Florence Macdonald, a Girl of Clanranald's family, now a prisoner with General Campbell.” He went on to explain that his wife Lady Margaret went to Hugh MacDonald of Kingsburgh (or Kingsborrow) and they agreed to “hurry him off the Country as fast as possible.”
Alexander Forbes, Lord Pitsligo, also Escaped the battle. As recounted in the book The Vanishing Laird (also in the Clan Forbes Reference library): “Lady Pitsligo and her maid sewed together a beggar’s disguise for him and he sat near·them as they worked. Years later this maid marvelled at his cheerfulness and composure knowing full well the imminent danger his life and property was in.” From 1746 until 1749, Lord Pitsligo hid on his estate, mostly at Rosehearty. His estates were seized and his titles were attainted. Pitsligo Castle is now a ruin. However, he is immortalized in a large painting that now hangs in the Lobby of the Palace of Holyrood.
Duncan Forbes, Lord President of the Court of Sessions, was showered with praise from King George II. A letter notes that the Duke of Cumberland “has upon all occasions done ample Justice to the active and unwearied Zeal your Lordship has shewn for promoting His Majesty's Service; & for defeating & disappointing the views and designs of the Rebels.” He was told that “his Royal Highness His Majesty's entire satisfaction in your Lordship's Conduct.”
However, that “satisfaction” did not extend to financially compensating the Lord President for paying and equipping troops, nor for the damage to his Culloden estate caused by the Jacobite army. He died on 10 December 1747 deep in debt. The Lord President was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. A statue of the Lord President was erected in the Parliament House, Edinburgh by the Faculty of Advocates in 1752.
In 1881, Duncan Forbes, 10th Lord Culloden, erected the Culloden memorial cairn and placed stones around the estate to signify the clans involved with the battle.
Conclusion
Rather than a bid for Scottish independence, the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 was a foreign invasion with Spanish, French, and Irish support, headed by the Italian-born Charles Edward Stuart. This later became a civil war, pitting British citizens against each other.
Likewise, highland support for the Stuart usurpation was not universal. Highlander Duncan Forbes of Culloden aggressively supported the British monarchy and was successful in recruiting officers from among the highland clans. On the other hand, lowlander Alexander Forbes, Lord Pitsligo, lead the cavalry on behalf of “Bonnie Prince Charlie” and enlisted many lowlanders from his estate and elsewhere to overturn King George II.
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