Sir Hector Munro - Who's Who in Scottish Military History

We’ve mentioned Sir Hector Munro before in the Who’s Who about Lord Macleod. They were contemporaries of each other but while Macleod was a Jacobite, Munro was a staunch supporter of the Hanoverians. When MacLeod was an exile in Europe, Munro was rising through the ranks in the British Army.

In his long career Munro served in many parts of the world but it was in India he had his biggest success, and biggest failure.

It’s not clear exactly when he was born but his father moved from Novar to Clayside at Dunrobin Mains, near Golspie when he was a baby, so he was probably born in 1725-1726.

He was first commissioned into Loudon’s 64th Highlanders in 1747 but biographies mention previous service against the Jacobites. He may well have served in one of the Independent Companies raised by the Northern clans in 1745-46 and under Loudon’s command which were beaten at Inverness and Dornoch. If he was captured, as has been rumoured, then he was unlikely to have taken part in Cromartie’s defeat at Golspie.

After being commissioned in the 64th Highlanders he went with them to the Low Countries, where they were serving in the War of Austrian Succession. His regiment was in action at Bergen-op-Zoom near Antwerp but saw little service apart from that. It was disbanded in June 1748 at the end of hostilities.

Munro was after an army life so transferred into the 48th Foot as an ensign, and then in the days of purchasing commissions he bought himself a lieutenancy in the 31st Foot in Ireland, and a few years later he was a Captain and company commander of the 2nd battalion 31st Foot (which became the 70th Foot in 1758).

Another regiment soon followed in 1759 when Munro got his majority in the newly raised 89th Highlanders. This was during the Seven Years War and Imperial commitments saw the 89th being sent to India.

With Munro in charge the 89th arrived outside French held Pondicherry in Madras in September 1760. They were there until early 1761 when they were sent to Bombay after the French capitulated.

When the 89th sailed for home in 1763 Munro elected to stay in India. In 1764 he was sent to his third East Indian Company Presidency in India, Bengal, with some other European troops to help quell a mutiny amongst EIC sepoys.

No believer in taking a soft line Munro decided that the only way to deal with the sepoys, whether their grievances were justified or not, was to execute the ringleaders in typical EIC fashion - by tying them to the wheels of a cannon and blowing them apart. He also disbanded the most rebellious native regiment.
With the mutiny suppressed Munro was given charge of the Bengal Presidency Army and took it north from Calcutta to head off an invasion force of Mughals on the Bihar – Oudh border.

On 22nd September 1764 Munro’s army met the Mughals at Buxar, under the command of Nawab Wazir Shuja ud-Daula.

On paper it looked like there would be no contest. The Indians had a force of 40,000 and Munro had only 7,000 men. However since taking command Munro had drilled his men hard to prepare for battle and it would be no walkover.

In a shocking display of underestimating your opponent Shuja ud-Daula left his prepared defences and advanced over open ground to meet Munro’s force.
Wave after wave of Mughal cavalry attacked the Bengal Presidency Army but Munro’s training had paid off and the disciplined firepower of the redcoats held off the horsemen.

Munro then showed his tactical prowess by throwing forward his sepoys at the point of the bayonet onto his opponent’s left flank. The Indians were unprepared for this assault and fell back. Retreat soon turned to rout as the whole Indian front line collapsed.

Whilst Plassey in 1757 may have been the decisive battle to decide which European power influenced Indian affairs, it was the overwhelming victory at Buxar which led to the East India Company becoming the de facto rulers of India’s richest provinces and it tuned British traders into rulers.

It was the high point of Munro’s career and with a very large haul of prize money he resigned his commission and returned to Scotland in early 1765. His uncle had left him the Munro estate at Novar in Cromarty near Evanton, and his money bought him a seat in Westminster as MP for Inverness Burghs. For the next few years he led the life of a country laird spending his Indian fortune on improving his house and estate.

Investment mistakes and loss of money in the 1770s probably led to his decision to rejoin the army. India was where he had made his name and his fortune over ten years before; so with his EIC and parliamentary connections, and his reputation preceding him, he was appointed in 1777 as commander-in-chief at Madras. Now he also had a local royal commission as an EIC major-general and a seat on the Madras council.

Things were complicated in India when Munro arrived. Struggles for control of the East India Company were taking place in London and in Madras the local rulers were not as compliant as the ones in Bengal. It was a recipe for future disaster.

Munro had to deal with weak allies, a strong and antagonistic neighbour, and the involvement of the French and Dutch. Both had enclaves in India and the American War of Independence saw them become allies of the Unites States and enemies of Britain. When the news of the French taking the American’s side reached Munro in 1778 he immediately marched south to take their base at Pondicherry. He had last been there nearly twenty years before with the 89th Highlanders and once again the French capitulated.

Eager to capitalise on his success he captured the other French settlements on the Coromandel Coast / Malabar Coast. Unfortunately this eagerness to defeat the French antagonised Hyder Ali, the powerful ruler of Mysore at Seringapatam.

Ali had no love for the British and had beaten them in a war in 1768. He also considered the French possessions to have been under his protection. Munro’s attacks on Pondicherry was too much for Hyder Ali and he made preparations to march across the Eastern Ghats and onto the Carnatic Plain.

Time and again we’ve seen in our who’s who and on this day articles that pride comes before a fall; and once again a Scot in a position of power chose to ignore the advice of others and carry on regardless.

Hyder Ali and his son Tipoo Sultan amassed 90,000 men. It took time to assemble an army of that size and throughout 1779 and early 1780 it was obvious to everyone except Munro that he would be marching East in strength. Munro chose to ignore the signs. Even when reinforcements were sent to him, including the newly raised Lord Macleod’s Highlanders, they were sent to outlying posts.

In June 1780 Ali moved. Munro finally responded. Instead of ordering his outnumbered troops back to the protection of Madras to regroup he decided to push his force forward and consolidate his army in the field.

The man who lead the Bengal Army to victory against impossible odds at Buxar must have thought he could outfight Ali’s native host. Munro was sadly misjudging his opponent. Ali’s army was well trained by French advisors, and equipped with the latest guns. As Munro advanced on Arcot he expected his other troops to meet him at Conjeeveram.

Unfortunately for Munro his supply train was not as good as he had hoped and his advance bogged down. Ali advanced to meet him before he could congregate all his forces, and Colonel Baillie’s column containing Macleod’s Highlanders was attacked and soundly beaten at the Battle of Pollilur by Tipoo Sultan’s force. 2,800 men, including the future general, David Baird, were killed or captured.
Munro knew his position was untenable and finally retreated to Madras leaving Hyder Ali in control of most of the Carnatic Plain.

Munro’s handling of the affair nearly wrecked his career. He was criticised by Macleod on his tactics and his failure to support Baillie’s men once battle commenced. Certainly no other East India Company in the Carnatic had been beaten so badly. Rather than being sacked Munro was effectively demoted when Eyre Coote was sent to take command of the Madras Army. Munro continued to serve under Coote and attempted to rebuild his reputation as Coote took the fight back to Ali.

Eventually after a spell in his sick bed in Madras he was given independent command again. This time it was to capture the Dutch port of Negapatam in November 1791. Munro’s old skill returned and this attack was a success.

Munro’s second spell in India was now coming to an end. With the campaigning over he resigned his appointment and returned to London. Mixed fortunes awaited him at home. He was granted a knighthood for capturing Pondicherry and then sacked by the East India Company for losing Baillie’s column. He must have cried all the way to the bank because he was awarded yet more prize money and was made a major general in the British army.

He remained a soldier on paper an eventually becoming a full general on 1st January 1798 and he was also Colonel of the 42nd Highlanders (the Black Watch).

His main activity between his return to the UK in 1782 and his death in 1805 seems to have been interesting himself on improving his estate in the then current fashion of replacing tenants with sheep. The man who restored order in Bengal by blowing mutineers from his cannon had no problems bringing the army in to restore order when his improvements provoked protests in the summer of 1792.

However he also showed a slightly more benevolent side when he built a folly on his land to provide jobs during a period of unemployment. Fyrish Monument is said to represent the gates of Negapatam, the city he had captured in 1781 and which had saved his reputation. It doesn’t, but it certainly has an Asian feel to it, and given he renamed many of the parks on his estate after places in India then it’s likely Fyrish was built to remind him of his many years in the sub-continent.

Finally was it civic duty as the local MP, or right-wing tendencies, which led him to provide a substantial sum of money to the building of the new court house and jail in Inverness? The building is gone but Munro’s steeple and clock still survive to mark his contribution to his constituency’s policing.

It was at Novar where Munro died. Uncertainty over his date of birth was matched by the uncertainty of his date of death. Sources quote late December 1805 or early January 1806. His headstone says 27th December 1805.

Munro is a little known figure in his own land. I come from East Sutherland and had never heard of him until recently, but he was an important figure in the history of the British in India. His reforms in the Bengal and Madras EIC armies and his victory at Buxar had laid solid foundations for British supremacy in India and the establishment of the Raj.

The Battlefield of Culloden

I missed the 265th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden by a week, but I took some photographs whilst there, and have posted them on our facebook page. Since there are so many photographs about the battlefield I thought it would be worth putting down some of my impressions of Culloden. There is no need for me to go into details here about the battle, or the history behind the Jacobite and Government armies. This post is about the battlefield and visitor centre which is just a few miles east of Inverness.

You can easily find it just beside the B9006 from Inverness to Croy and there are plenty of brown tourist signs on the A9 and A96 directing you to the site, so I won't give directions. You can check the NTS website here to find it.

Part of the battlefield is in the care of the National Trust for Scotland. The B9006 bisects it and the northern part of the site is in private hands but there is more than enough of the site looked after by the NTS to justify a visit. It is sometimes called Drumossie Moor. Drumossie Moor extends over a lot of the high ground above the River Nairn but the battle was fought on the Culloden House Estate and this part of ground was known as Culloden Moor. It's not wrong to call it Drumossie Moor, it is just more correct to call it Culloden Moor.

I was last there about thirty years ago and it was a cold early spring morning when we turned up on a school trip. I don't remember the visit with much pleasure and it certainly didn't fire up any enthusiasm for studying the Jacobite Rebellions further. Luckily for visitors today there is a swanky new visitor centre. The field of battle itself is open 24x7 and there is no entrance fee, but for a first visit I would highly recommend paying to go into the visitor centre. I have to say it isn't cheap but we took advantage of a deal on a membership to the National Trust for Scotland to lessen the blow.

The visitor centre does a great job of covering the battle but it also goes into a lot of detail about the whole of the '45 Rebellion and also goes into the background of the Jacobites and Hanoverian succession from 1688.

There is a chronological path of Jacobite history for about 100 years from the flight of James II through to the death of Bonnie Prince Charlie. They have done it is a very interesting way. The corridor you follow is split into two. On the left hand side is the Jacobite viewpoint and on the right hand side is the government viewpoint. It is very clearly laid out and there are plenty of artefacts to look at and first-hand accounts from the time to read.

The one criticism I would have is that there is very little for children in the displays. I'm sure on a school trip they are well catered for but as a family it may be interesting for the adults but there is very little to interest the kids until you get to the last room. Actually I have two criticisms, you have to pay for parking too which is a bit much considering how much you are paying to get in. (NTS members get free parking)

The last room in the visitor centre has displays of the weapons used on the day. There are muskets and pistols which you can handle and also reconstructions of the artillery pieces. They also have plenty of broadswords, muskets and bayonets. It is a very sobering experience by this stage (and rightly so)

There are two excellent audio visual displays in the centre. There is the immersion theatre where four connected films are screened onto the four walls of the room. It places you slap bang in the middle of a reconstruction of the battle. I have not seen anything like it before and it really is very effective.

The other audio visual display is a large 'wargames table' screen which follows the battle from start to finish from a birds-eye view. It is very effective in showing the dispositions of all the troops on the field throughout the battle. It really helps when you then go out to the battlefield itself.

If you have paid to go to the visitor centre you can pick up an audio guide to use when going round the battlefield. This is very useful because not surprisingly the battlefield is a pretty flat field, and for a lot of it you are seeing the same thing.

When you leave the back door of the centre you can climb onto the roof of it to get a panoramic view of the battlefield. Like I said it is a field so I don't know how much you would get out of it. Much better to get onto the field itself to see the conditions the men fought in.

Fairly recent excavations by Glasgow University saw a redrawing of the battle lines and NTS have put in paths allowing you to walk along what would have been the Jacobite and Government Front lines. They have placed small pedestals along the lines at the place each regiment started the battle and the number of men in that regiment.

They also highlight the front lines by flying red flags along the Government lines and blue flags along the Jacobite lines.

The NTS is trying to return the field over to the condition it was on the day. It is a long task made difficult by all the changes that have taken place on the field over the years. The B9006 used to run right through the battlefield and a large portion of it was forestry up until recently. They have done a very good job returning part of it as fields, and part of it as heather-clad marsh. It was so marshy in some places in April 1746 that men on both sides commented on standing up to their knees in water whilst waiting for the battle to start.

The flags mark the starting positions of the armies but the best place to stand to work out where the highland charge started is at the corner of the Leanach enclosure. This was the point where right wing of the Jacobite Army launched their attack on the left wing of the Government Army, where the heaviest fighting took place and where there was the largest number of casualties on both sides.

By standing at the enclosure and looking at the red flags you can see how near the armies were but just by walking to the Government front line you can tell just how far the Highlanders had to charge under devastating close range redcoat musket and artillery fire.

Of all the places on the field and centre, my walk along the route of the Highlanders charge brought home to me what they faced on that April day over 265 years ago.

From the scene of the costliest charge it is only a short walk to the large cairn which marks the burial ground of the Jacobites. Around it lie their graves. They were buried beside the old road by the victors and you can still see the mounds of earth which mark the mass graves. In the late Victorian period the local landowner places rustic headstones on the Jacobite graves but no-one is convinced that the Clan gravestones mark actual clan graves. There is no doubt that the Jacobite dead lie there under those mounds but any body belonging to any clan regiment would have been dumped in the nearest grave in an effort to clear the dead off the field as quickly as possible.

There is no marker for the government dead. It has been mooted recently that they should be commemorated. These are the dead who fought and died facing a full blooded highland charge, and not the men who acted so brutally in the glens after Culloden so personally I don't see why they shouldn't be granted the same dignity in death as the highlanders they fought. It is a contentious subject though so I don't know if they will ever get a grave marker.

I'll end the tour on a lighter note. The visitor centre has a well-stocked shop and a cracking selection of books on Scottish military history. There is also a good café by the looks of it. I was staying just along the road so didn't use it so can't comment on taste / quality. What I can say is that the nearby Culloden Moor Inn is very good and we had an excellent meal in its nice restaurant with very friendly staff. Don't let the run down appearance from the B9006 fool you. This is a good place to eat and was very busy with locals on a Wednesday evening.

In my opinion Culloden Battlefield Visitor Centre is well worth a visit, and if you have the time to visit nearby Fort George you can get 20% off in a linked ticket offer. (The same applies if you visit Fort George first - 20% off entry to the Culloden centre).

Muskets at Fort George

From today's BBC News.

Word that OTC students are to be armed with replica Brown Bess muskets for live firing experiments at the rifle ranges at Fort George.

The last Jacobite town falls - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1746

On 15th April 1746 the Jacobite forces in the Far North under the Earl of Cromartie were routed at Golspie. On 16th April The Duke of Cumberland decisively beat the Jacobites on Drumossie Moor at the Battle of Culloden. On 18th April the Highland Army disbanded at Ruthven Barracks and Fort Augustus, and Bonnie Prince Charlie went on the run.

It was all over for the Jacobites in the British Isles. Except for one isolated spot. In Kirkwall in Orkney the Jacobites were still in control.

The British Government and Royal Navy were busy in late April and early May stamping out the Jacobites on the mainland but by late May it was time to remove them from Orkney.

On this day two hundred and sixty five years ago, and six weeks after Culloden, the last Jacobite occupied territory was retaken. A party of Royal Marines under local man Benjamin Moodie of Melsetter was landed by Royal Navy ships and without much of a fight retook the islands in the name of King George.

Rule Britannia.

Major General William Roy - Who's Who in Scottish Military history

When William Roy became a Major General in 1781 it wasn’t because of his exploits in battle, it was because of his work with paper and ink.

Unlike most of the men we have covered in the who’s who series he wasn’t really a warrior (although he did see action during the Seven Years War), he was chiefly a surveyor, but Roy’s legacy to his country was probably greater than most of his soldier contemporaries.

Calling him a surveyor was actually unfair because he was also a renowned engineer and antiquarian, and his achievements in either of these fields would have made him a great Scot on their own; but it as a surveyor that he is most well known. His greatest work was his Military Survey of Scotland which he worked on between 1747 and 1755 and is known today as Roy’s Map.

Roy was born at Miltonhead near Carluke in Lanarkshire in 1726, the son of an estate factor. Little is known of his youth but the indications are that he was a bright pupil and attended Lanark Grammar School.

No records survive of any further education but by 1747 he was a competent and experienced surveyor and map maker

There is no knowledge of his whereabouts during the Jacobite Rebellion and if he was at his home in Carluke it may have passed him by, however it would have an impact on him the year after the end of the Rebellion.

In 1747 the government were determined there would be no more Jacobite rebellions. The clans would be pacified, and the government would garrison the Highlands from the line of forts across the Great Glen. The government also decided it would conduct a full survey of the country recording roads, settlements, bridges, forests and fields. In short everything an army on the march would need if it was chasing an enemy. It was something they lacked in 1745-46 as they were repeatedly wrong-footed by the Prince’s Highland Army.

Nothing had been done in Britain on this scale before. Lieutenant-Colonel David Watson, the Deputy Quartermaster-General of North Britain, the man who suggested it, was given the job.

It was a big task so Watson took on three assistant surveyors to do the work for him. William Roy, Paul Sandby, and John Manson. Roy worked on the survey between 1747 and 1755 and because of the amount of work he put into it, it is his name, not Watson’s which we use today to refer to the map. In 1755 it was known simply as the Great Map.

It was a Labour of love for Roy who was also an antiquarian and wherever possible he would add little notes of Roman encampments. He also chose to mark certain events from recent history too. In the far north he notes the spot in the Kyle of Tongue where ‘Le prince Charles Edward’ ran aground in 1746.

The surveyors would go out each summer to do their measurements and they would return to Edinburgh each winter to work on the map which was on a scale of 1000 yards to an inch.

After he completed his work the War Office were so impressed they commissioned Roy as a Practitioner-Engineer with the rank of Lieutenant. He continued to work on mapping but was now also a fighting soldier, and he was present at many battles of the Seven Years War including Minden.

His impressive work on the Great Map was also said to have influenced military surveys of Canada, North America, Bengal and Ireland. All areas of concern for the British Army in the late eighteenth century.

Roy rose steadily through the ranks of the British Army becoming a Deputy Quartermaster-General then Surveyor-General of Coasts and then Engineer-Director of military surveys in Great Britain, each position gained him a promotion and by 1781 he was one of Britains most senior engineers and a Major General in the army.

In the mean time he had spent mapping what was left of the Antonine Wall. In fact Roy mapped Scotland in the period when it moved from a mainly agricultural society to the beginnings of the industrial revolution; a time when the central belt of Scotland was transformed by heavy industry. Sites of interest from antiquity which were swept away in nineteenth century industrialisation had been recorded for posterity by Roy.

In his later career Roy concentrated on making land surveying more accurate. He surveyed parts of Southern England but he was determined a full national survey of the whole of the UK at one inch to a mile should be carried out by the army. Unfortunately the cost of that was too prohibitive for the governments of the day and Roy spent many years pleading his case to no avail.

Roy was also convinced triangulation was the way ahead for mapping and in 1787 he commissioned Jesse Ramsden, the foremost scientific instrument maker of his day, to design a theodolite and chain which would hopefully allow his dream of a fully mapped Britain to become a reality.

He was not to see it happen. Roy died in 1790 and was buried in London. In Carluke they erected a monument near where he was born.

Just before he died he had completed a survey of a stretch of Hounslow Heath with Ramsden’s instruments. This short stretch of accurate mapping became the baseline of the Trigonometrical Survey of Great Britain launched in 1791. As before with his Military Survey of Scotland the new survey was to ensure the British Army had accurate maps of their own country. This time in case of a French invasion. As a military mapping exercise the task of the Trigonometrical Survey was given to an army department, the Board of Ordnance.

The Ordnance Survey was eventually published in 1801 when the threat of invasion by Napoleon was at its peak. Luckily the Board of Ordnance’s maps were not needed to repel invasion. Even luckier was that Roy's vision, the Ordnance Survey, continues to be updated and is still with us today.

Old Scottish War Graves

When we think of war graves we think of white stones in massed ranks in beautifully tended war cemeteries around the world. The dignity shown to the dead of the First World War is far removed from the lot of the dead from previous wars. Up until the late nineteenth century dead bodies on a battlefield were quickly stripped of any valuables and then put in a mass grave to be covered over as soon as possible to stop the smell and the spread of disease.

The last pitched battle on British soil was Culloden in April 1746. It was a massacre for the Jacobites and it was up to the victors to dispose of the bodies. Clansmen were taken to pits dug beside the road through the battlefield for burial.

Over two hundred and fifty years the widening of the road and the planting of trees did not eradicated the mounds where the Jacobites were buried and the National Trust for Scotland has worked hard over recent years to return the field back to the state it was in 265 years ago.

In the late nineteenth century the local landowner placed simple headstones over the mass graves but it is unlikely the Redcoats detailed to dispose of the dead would have taken the time to separate the piles of tartan clad dead. As far as they were concerned the only good rebel was a dead one, and they would have been only too happy to tip the corpse into the nearest pit whatever regiment or clan he had served in.

That is really quite irrelevant though because the fact is the Jacobite dead ARE commemorated, which can't be said for the dead of most of the battlefields of Britain. The mounds in the middle of the battlefield are war graves, a place of pilgrimage as solemn and personal for some as the Menin Gate in Belgium or The Somme in France are for others.

In a twist of fate which the victorious British soldiers would not have imagined all those years ago; the men they considered traitors and brigands are commemorated, and the men who won the day lie in unmarked graves.

They are not forgotten at the new visitor centre though, where a handful of names of those known to have died on both sides are listed in one of the rooms. They are also commemorated on one of the walls of the centre where prominent stones represent deaths from both armies.

I have only used a few photographs of the Culloden graves here. To see them all please visit the Scottish War Graves Project or the Scottish Military Research Group's Facebook Photo Album.

Elcho of the ‘45 - a book review

Karen Nichols, a Dundee historian, has provided today's guest blog post. It was originally posted on Karen's own book Blog in March but with our recent series of Jacobite posts it is worth publishing on here too.

Elcho of the ‘45

With an insatiable appetite for Jacobitism I eagerly clutched the chance to delve deep into one man’s experience of being a follower to Prince Charles Edward Stuart literally on to the battlefield at Culloden.

Two hand-written manuscripts, one in fluent French, by David, Lord Elcho, are the basis of this book. The Fife based family of Wemyss have a lineage dating back to the 12th century when their service to kings began. With Presbyterian allegiances since the Reformation Elcho and his brother went against family tradition. They found themselves as accidental Jacobites due to a father’s leanings and a tutor who may have been a Jacobite agent. After the obligatory Grand Tour and training at a military college in Angers, France, Elcho rose through the ranks as a competent officer in the royal army.

Despite examples around him of men who joined the Bonnie Prince then became disillusioned Elcho continued to serve the man he believed was rightful king of the newly integrated Great Britain. His life before defeat at Culloden was socialising with a Who’s Who of the aristocracy. Once exiled in Europe and inextricably linked to both the Prince and Catholicism Elcho was in turns treated as an outcast or favoured guest.

Unfortunately, their relationship fell apart over the non-repayment of a loan that Elcho maintained he gave the Prince to fund the Rising. In defeat, these funds were sorely needed by Elcho to rebuild a life in exile but his request was stubbornly ignored by his Prince. This rift meant isolation from the company that he had known since birth. To add to the anguish, Elcho remained an exile whilst other Jacobite activists were pardoned by the English government. He was destined never to receive that pardon nor return to his homeland.

There is no doubt that Elcho was sorely used by his Prince and paid the price for his loyalty for the rest of his life. The Prince Charles that is hinted at in Elcho’s Journal is not the romantic ideal of nostalgic history but a headstrong, ill-educated, vain-glorious self-seeker. For this reason alone I would recommend reading this book. Despite severe provocation Elcho maintained the mindset of his period and did not write derogatory remarks about his master. However, what also comes across is that Elcho was a dry, factual writer with no hints at emotion. His contemporaries considered him irritable and slightly eccentric. Although I think his judgment of the Prince is accurate how much did Elcho contribute to his own loneliness?

Throughout the book there are several references to the fact that these narratives were not intended, by Elcho, for publication. With the double negatives and convoluted grammar I often found myself wishing that the editors had abided by that decision. This book is for scholars of the subject and for those well acquainted with Jacobitism.

Elcho of the ’45, Alice Wemyss. Ed: John Sibbald Gibbon, 2003, Saltire Society

John Mackenzie, Count of Cromarty - Who’s Who in Scottish Military History.

Today’s Who’s Who is about one of several Scots who fought for the Jacobites during the ’45 Rebellion and ended their military career in the British Army.

John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod was the eldest son of the 3rd Earl of Cromartie. He was born in the family seat of Castle Leod near Strathpeffer in 1727. At the age of four he was first styled Lord Macleod and that was how he was best known for the rest of his life.

For the next fourteen years he had an uneventful life; then in 1745 his life changed forever. In December 1745 his father came out for the Jacobite cause and raised a Clan Regiment for Prince Charles’s army.

By the time they mustered the Jacobites had turned back at Derby and were now marching north. Cromartie and his son took their men south to meet and join the army.

Cromartie’s regiment joined the Jacobite host outside Stirling and it was near there at the Battle of Falkirk where Lord Macleod fought in his first battle. After the Jacobite’s reached Inverness Cromartie and his men were included in the Duke of Perth’s force which routed Loudon from Sutherland March 1746. Cromartie moved into Dunrobin Castle and sent his son further north in his first independent command.

He was only eighteen but Lord Macleod was given 300 men to go to Caithness and Orkney to find Jacobite recruits and plunder Hanoverian sympathisers’ lands for supplies and arms.

After three weeks without much success he returned to Dunrobin and was captured there on the day before the battle of Culloden by Highlanders loyal to the government.

He was taken to London with other Jacobite officers to be tried before the Commissioners. He pleaded guilty to high treason, but his youth and the limited part he played in the Rebellion may have counted in his favour. He was spared, death or slavery and pardoned. A condition of his pardon was the forfeiture of his title and he was sent into exile, but at least by 1748 he was alive and free.

He ended up under the wing of one of many Scots serving in European armies. Field Marshal James Keith. In 1750 Keith arranged MacLeod’s commission into the Swedish Army through the wife of the Swedish King – who also happened to be the sister of the Prussian King who was a friend of Keith.

Pomerania is in North Germany and Poland, opposite Sweden, and in the 1750s part of it was Swedish territory. Sweden coveted the parts of Pomerania they had ceded to Prussia in 1720 and the spread of the Seven Years War across Europe gave Sweden an excuse to attack Prussia in 1757. For the next five years Sweden and Prussia were at war over Pomerania and Macleod was involved in the fighting.

In 1762 Sweden ended the war after it had recovered no territory for the cost of 40,000 lives and vast sums of money it couldn’t afford to spend. Improbably Macleod then joined the army of his former enemy, Prussia, and fought alongside them against Russia.

Prussia and Russia ended their war in 1763 and Macleod returned to Swedish service. For the next few years he gave loyal service to Sweden; becoming an ADC to King Adolf Frederick and a earning a promotion to Lieutenant Colonel. Amongst his honours he was given the Order of the Sword of Sweden and was made a Swedish count. The title he took was Count of Cromarty.

In 1777 he returned to Scotland. The War against the American States was draining the resources of the army and at the same time trouble was brewing in India. New regiments were needed for both theatres of war. Many former Jacobites or their families saw this as a way to help pave the way for the restoration of their lands and titles if they raised or served as soldiers in the British Army. In all eleven regular battalions were raised in Scotland in 1777 and 1778.

Macleod set to work immediately. In the 1770s there was no set recruiting areas in Scotland and any new regiment could send out recruiting parties across the country. The reputation of Lord MacLeod preceded him and he had no difficulty finding recruits. 840 men from the Highlands and 236 from the Lowlands. He had so much success at recruiting that a second battalion of the 73rd was authorised and that started recruiting as well shortly after the first had reached its establishment. The 2nd Bn 73rd was commanded by the Honourable George Mackenzie, Lord Macleod’s brother.

In late 1777 the 1/73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot (MacLeod's Highlanders) first mustered at Elgin under their colonel, John Mackenzie, Lord Macleod. A year later George II recognised Macleod’s Swedish title and the Count of Cromarty led his regiment to embark for India a month later in January 1779. (In the peerage a count and an earl are the same rank so in effect, though not in name and lands, he was the fourth Earl of Cromartie).

The regiment stopped off in West Africa for a short time and didn’t arrive in India until a year after it had left the UK. It landed in Madras in January 1780.

In September 1780 several companies were despatched to join a British force under the Scot Major General Sir Hector Munro, which was fighting the Indian army of Hyder Ali. The Companies were soon lost in an action against the Mysore Army at the Battle of Pollilur and the captured troops imprisoned at Seringapatam. They included a young officer called David Baird who would later lead a British force back to Seringapatam nearly twenty years later to take revenge on his former captors.

By this time McLeod had been promoted to Major General. He soon made it clear to Munro he was unhappy with the way his detached troops from the 73rd had been used. They were the same rank and about the same age but Munro had been in the British Army for many years and had served in India for most of that time and there may have been a clash of personalities.

By this time Macleod was over fifty and after many years service in Scandinavia he may not have taken to the tropical heat of Southern India. Whatever the reasons: age, temperature or arguments with his superiors; the old soldier left his regiment to return home before he had a chance to lead them into action.

He retired from army life on half pay and in 1782 he was promoted to Major General. In the mean time he decided on a political path and entered parliament as the MP for Ross-shire.

A final act of rehabilitation took place in 1784 when he purchased his family estate for £19,000 on the back of an Act of Parliament. The Count of Cromarty gave up his constituency and became a laird (His replacement at Westminster would later raise the 78th Highlanders).

He moved into a home at Tarbet on the Black Isle and stayed there for the next five years, spending his time rebuilding and improving his estate.

He was in Edinburgh in 1789 when he died; and probably fitting for a man who was in exile for so many years, he was buried in the kirkyard in the Canongate rather than his family lands in Ross-shire.

Macleod had returned from India in 1780 but remained the Colonel of his regiment until his death. Before he died he saw his regiment survive a reduction of the army and its renumbering as the 71st (Highland) Regiment of Foot (MacLeod's Highlanders). As the 71st it would later achieve more fame as the Highland Light Infantry.

Highland Army disbands - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1746

On 16th April 1746 the Jacobite army was soundly defeated on Drumossie Moor by the Duke of Cumberland's Army. Hundreds of Jacobites retreated south through Daviot and headed towards the safety of a small Jacobite force at Ruthven Barracks near Kingussie. By 18th April there were nearly fifteen hundred Jacobite soldiers gathered there

Hundreds more streamed back through Inverness as the British dragoons chased them off the battlefield. They knew that they couldn't stay in Inverness so a large number headed down the Great Glen to regroup at Fort Augustus.

Prince Charles also followed that route but went further west; down to Invergarry.

Between the two forces at Fort Augustus and Ruthven there were many clansman like the Master of Lovat's battalion which had missed Culloden and were still ready for battle; but it was unrealistic to think that this shadow of the Highland Army which had taken the field just two days before could fight another pitched battle against the huge numbers of government troops which Cumberland now had at his disposal.

Some of the clan chiefs argued that they should take to the hills and continue to fight on in small groups. The summer was coming and France could send more men, arms and gold to help their allies. Cumberland could not stay in Scotland for ever; Britain was struggling against France on the continent and the majority of his men would need to go south in the near future.

Many other Jacobites had grave doubts about continuing the fight. There were clans loyal to King George in the Far North and Argyll. The Royal Navy controlled the seas and Fort William was a government outpost deep inside Jacobite clan territory . The route south was blocked by the Hessians, and Cumberland controlled the North-East. Where could they go to escape the government soldiers?

The outcome of the discussions between the Jacobite commanders was never really in doubt. On this day two hundred and sixty five years ago they were given orders by their fleeing commander to disperse and they were happy to obey them. The Highland Army which had marched to Derby, and sent London into a panic, disbanded itself.

The Battle of Culloden on the 16th April had effectively finished the Stuart cause; but it was on 18th April 1746 when the Jacobite Army ceased to exist.

After eight months of incredible high and lows Prince Charles was now on the run, and The Duke of Cumberland was about to take revenge on the rebels who dared to try and take his father's throne.

The Battle of Culloden - on this day in Scottish Military History - 1746

Over the past few weeks I have been covering the smaller and less well known incidents in the Jacobite Rebellion.

Well today's 'On this Day' is about the most well known day of the lot so there isn't really much I can say that hasn't be said a thousand times before.

Instead I'll list some recent and fairly books that will give you the full picture of the Battle of Culloden. Most also give you some background to the campaign that preceded it. Most of them have been written or co-written by Stuart Reid who seems to have cornered the market in books about the Jacobites.

Expert though he is he is not above making mistakes and in a couple of his books has placed the Battle of Littlferry aka Golspie south of Loch Fleet at Embo.

Culloden: The History and Archaeology of the Last Clan Battle
Edited by Tony Pollard
Published: 2009
ISBN: 1848840209

Culloden Tales: Stories from Scotland's Most Famous Battlefield
Author: Hugh G. Allison
Published: 2007
ISBN: 9781845962395

Culloden and the '45 (Battles & Campaigns)
Author: Jeremy Black
Published: 2010
ISBN: 978-0752456362

1745: A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising
Author: Stuart Reid
Published: 2000
ISBN: 978-1862271302

Cumberland's Army: The British Army at Culloden
Author: Stuart Reid
Published:2006
ISBN: 978-1858185293

Culloden Moor 1746: The death of the Jacobite cause (Osprey Campaign 106)
Author: Stuart Reid
Illustrator: Gerry Embleton
Published: August 2002
ISBN: 9781841764122

Stuart Reid has also written the following illustrated books which shows the dress, arms and equipment of the Jacobites and loyal highlanders.

King George's Army 1740–93 (2) (Osprey Men-at-Arms 289)
Author: Stuart Reid
Illustrator: Paul Chappell
Published: November 1995
ISBN: 9781855325647

The Scottish Jacobite Army 1745–46 (Osprey Elite 149)
Author: Stuart Reid
Illustrator: Gary Zaboly
Published: October 2006
ISBN: 9781846030734

Highland Clansman 1689–1746 (Osprey Warrior 21)
Author: Stuart Reid
Illustrator: Angus McBride
Published: September 1997
ISBN: 9781855326606

Highlander: Fearless Celtic Warrior (Military Illustrated Classic Soldiers)
Author: Stuart Reid
Illustrator: Angus McBride
Published: 1990
ISBN: 1903040035

Another illustrated book on all the Jacobite rebellions is this Osprey book:

The Jacobite Rebellions 1689–1745 (Men-at-Arms 118)
Author: Michael Barthorp
Illustrator: Gerry Embleton
Published: January 1982
ISBN: 9780850454321

The Second Last Battle on British Soil - On this day in Scottish Military History – 1746

Culloden is widely recognised as the last pitched battle on British soil. On this day 265 years ago the penultimate battle took place.

It was during the Jacobite Rebellion but didn’t involve Prince Charles’s main army. It was fought between local troops of the Earl of Sutherland, who were loyal to the Government, against the Jacobite troops of George Mackenzie, Earl of Cromartie. This wasn’t highlander vs. lowlander, or English vs. Scot. This was a battle between clansmen; a chance to settle some scores.

On 15th April 1746 word reached Cromartie that he and his men were now needed back in Inverness to rejoin the main army as Cumberland approached. They would leave Dunrobin, cross Loch Fleet at the narrows at Littleferry and head for Inverness.

Thinking that there were no government troops in the area Cromartie did not arrange a proper order of march and let his force split into two; the main body of his troops headed off first whilst Cromartie and his officers were entertained by a local Jacobite sympathiser - the Countess of Sutherland in Dunrobin.

They seriously underestimated their opponents. Sutherland men, supported by Mackays, were watching the Jacobites from the small hills above Golspie. Eager to take revenge on the Jacobites who had been pillaging their homes for weeks, the locals saw their chance when the main Jacobite Force passed along the narrow strip of land between the hills above Golspie and the sea.

The Sutherland men charged into the flank of the column. The leaderless Jacobite clansmen unprepared for battle took to their heels and streamed towards the ferry crossing to try and escape. A few escaped on the boats that were there, but most were rounded up by the Sutherland men



A company under Ensign Mackay quickly followed this victory by capturing Cromartie and his officers who had locked themselves in Dunrobin Castle.

Over two hundred Jacobite prisoners were taken and the rest of Cromartie’s force melted away into the hills to go home. 150 of those prisoners were transported as slaves to the West Indian and American plantations. They would have had plenty of time on the long voyage across the Atlantic to rue the day when they marched through Golspie without any pickets to guard their column, and deprived Prince Charles’s army of 500 valuable men.

Scottish Re-enactors

A couple of posts I've typed up for the blog recently have brought to my attention some military re-enactors based in Scotland.

I have found a few on the internet which I'll list below but if anyone knows of others please let us know. The flip side of that is if any of these organisations no longer exist please let us know too.

For example there seems to be a Napoleonic 95th Rifles unit in Scotland but I can't find anything about them. There also used to be a Napoleonic Royal Scots unit based in Edinburgh but I don't know if that has disbanded. Also I've found references to a medieval group called 'Gaddgedlar' but can't find any details of them.

Quite a few cover the same period so I don't know if there is friendly rivalry or snobbery within re-enactment?

Anyway we'd be happy to publicise any forthcoming Scottish re-enactment events either here or on our facebook page so if you belong to any of these groups please get in touch

There is a Second World War German re-enactment group based in Scotland but don't bother contacting us about them. They rightly deny they are a non-political group but I still don't like the idea of promoting a group which re-enacts units of Nazi Germany.

The words used below are from the re-enactors own web pages and I have no involvement with any of them so can't comment on their authenticity or aims.

The Antonine Guard

We are a Scottish based Living History Re-enactment Society and have adopted the Legio VI Victrix Pia Fidelis as our parent legion,this being one of the legions which built the Antonine Wall and Hadrians Wall.

The Glasgow Vikings

Bringing history to life for over 25 years.

The Glasgow Vikings are one of Scotland's oldest re-enactment groups. We pride ourselves on our skills both on and off the battlefield. We regularly train in a variety of weapons, from dagger to dane axe, spear to seax and most in between.

We also have a fully certified school visiting team.

Marr agus Fibh

"Marr agus Fibh" is a local group of Regia Anglorum, the UK's premier re-enactment society for the Anglo-Saxon and Viking age.

It is the aim of Marr agus Fibh to recreate, as accurately as possible, life throughout the period roughly between 950AD - 1070AD. This period of history is an incredibly exciting and complex time, with people from Northern Europe, partcularly Scandinavia, entering Britain and spreading their culture, religion and other influences across the lands of the native people. The main "eras" which we recreate are that of the Scots, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, each having their own fascinating history and culture. Battles between kings and powerful lords in this period are commonplace and we try to recreate these combats using authentic weapons and fighting techniques. Everyday life is also an important area which we try to recreate, as the majority of the people would not be involved in such warfare and lived simple, peaceful lives. We use two main resources to help us recreate these periods, the Living History Exhibition and battle reenactment.

Carrick 800 Battle Re-enactment Society

Founded in 1986 the Carrick 800 Battle Re-enactment Society re-enact Mediaeval Scots, Viking and Mary Queen of Scots period living history camps and battle scenes throughout Scotland.

Schiltron

Aberdeen and North-east Scotland's premier group of mediaeval re-enactors, primarily portrays Scottish life during the late fifteenth century. We also re-enact the period of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce (1297-1329) and that of the Jacobite era of 1745-1746.

We depict historical events and stage banquets, focusing on the art and culture of the time. Group members make and wear costumes appropriate for the domestic, commercial and military sides of mediaeval life. Schiltron has performed throughout Scotland at castles, fairs and other locations, indoors and outdoors; including Traquair House, Castle Fraser, Drum Castle, Fyvie Castle and Aberdeen city; and also at mediaeval events at Dinan in France and Tewkesbury in England.

The Company of Saint Margaret

The Company of Saint Margaret is historical re-enactment group operating mostly from Edinburgh, Scotland. Our current focus is on the time periods around the year 1300 and the later end of the 1400's.

At present we try to represent a travelling Medieval household. This includes a lord and his lady, their family, retainers, household servants and craftsmen.

We provide a living history encampment with displays of medieval life, crafts and combat. We also take part in medieval battles, foot combat tourneys and archery competitions.

The Borderers

"The Borderers" is a small group of enthusiasts, from all over Britain (as well as some members who travel across from the Netherlands) who have come together in order to pursue and research the way of life of the Border Reivers - "The Steill Bonnets" -and is carried out through a programme of "Living History".

The group is based at Old Buittle Tower in Dumfries and Galloway Region in the South West of Scotland, not too far from the ancient haunts of the Reivers. The Tower is home to Jeffrey and Janet Burn who provide the facilities used by the society, which include horses, stables, a forge, a dyeing facility and a recreated Period Kitchen and Medieval Hall. The work of the Society can be seen by the public at weekend shows. The Easter and August Bank Holidays events are open to the general public. Other events are held approximately every six weks apart from Easter to December (see “Diary” page).

Earl of Loudoun's Regiment of Foote

As part of the English Civil War Society the Earl of Loudoun's Regiment of Foote, which belongs to the Armie of the Covenant, participates in the accurate re-enactment of 17th century life and warfare.

We are a Lowland Scots infantry regiment based on the actual recorded regiment which was raised in Glasgow and which saw extensive military service on the smokey battlefields of the 1640s. We meet at "musters" which can vary in size from small "living histories" and small drill displays up to full blown "majors" or battles. All arms of military life are employed in the society; regiments of infantry armed with pike and musket, squadrons of horse (cavalry) and batteries of ordnance (cannon). The regiment prides itself on its skill at arms on the battlefield, its historic realism both in combat and lifestyle, its individual members knowledge of the period and above all its friendly family atmosphere.

The regiment also gets involved in re-enacting periods beyond the life term of the actual regiment, in fact anything between 1638 and 1746. Preston 1648, Worcester 1651, Killiecrankie 1689 and Prestonpans 1745 are battles which have been re-enacted by the regiment, obviously in a different guise from Loudoun's. We have alter egos in the form of Pirates and Jacobite Highlanders.

Col Hugh Fraser's Dragoones

Fraser's Dragoones today are the most northerly regiment of the Sealed Knot society and were formed in the 1970's by a group of friends at Aberdeen University. Today the majority of our membership still lives in the North East of Scotland but we have active members from all walks of life living all over Britain.

As well as travelling throughout the UK to take part in the Sealed Knot's "major muster" battle re­enactments Fraser's Dragoones also organise other events at historic properties throughout Scotland, visit schools and museums to give educational presentations and have an active social scene.

On the Sealed Knot battlefield we portray a veteran musket unit as part of the Scots Brigade and as such can be deployed, depending on circumstances, as either Parliament or Royalist.

We are proud of our authenticity and attention to historical detail and our aim is to recreate 17th Century military camp life and display the use of musket, pike and artillery in an educational way which is exciting for visitors and participants alike. Our extensive "Living History" camp is a full immersion experience and as well as soldiers we portray the armourers, barber surgeons, cooks, beggars, washer women and other camp followers who would have lived under the colours of the regiment. There is a place in Col Fraser's for everyone.

With the opportunity to participate with friends and comrades in events at such prestigious castles as Edinburgh, Stirling, Urquhart, Edzell, Drum, Blackness, Dumbarton and Duart as well as other locations throughout Scotland, what better way to spend a weekend!

Manus O'Cahans Regiment of Foot

Manus O’Cahans Regiment of Foot are a group of reenactors, and form part of the Sealed Knot, Europes premier Reenactment Society

Manus O’Cahans has active combatants both male and female, of all ages and occupations, based in Central Scotland and with membership throughout Britain and Ireland

Manus O’Cahans takes part in, and organises, events all over the British Isles and Europe, from battles and skirmishes to living history displays and talks. During the winter months we have training events and banquets, and many of the members meet socially on a regular basis all year round. We also have a regular regimental newsletter, and The Sealed Knot has a full colour bi-monthly magazine.

The Gordon Highlanders 1914-1918

The Gordon Highlanders 1914-18 exist to re-create as accurately as possible the life of the soldiers of the Gordon Highlanders during the Great War 1914-18.

We believe we are currently the only living history group in the United Kingdom devoted full-time to portraying the Highland Soldier in the Great War.

Commando D Living History Group

We revive and teach the original training methods of the WWII Commandos and Allied forces. Specialising in the close-quarters system of Fairbairn and Sykes in the hand to hand, knife fighting and pistol shooting, plus we also raise money for veterans with sponsored speed marches

The Scottish Military Re-Enactment Society

The Scottish Military Re-enactment Society was raised in 1993. The intention was then, and is now, to ensure that the memory of those men and women who fought for the allied cause during World War II, shall never be forgotten. The Society is a non profit making organisation although it has taken part in fundraising events for various charities, including the annual collection for the Scottish Poppy Appeal.

The Society participates in many events during the year. A typical weekend can include the static display of equipment, uniforms, weapons and vehicles. We also have a large tent which houses our audio-visual presentation as well as a "hands on" equipment display.

Training weekends can be arranged for Field-Craft, Map Reading, Weapons Handling and, if you are really keen, Drill! (Photos opposite show a Small Scale Raiding Force in operation).

Units within SMRS include: a Combined Operations Section in particular the Small Scale Raiding Force, the Special Operations Executive, Airborne (British and American), Infantry, Royal Navy, Home Guard and the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

The G.I. Guys

The GI Guys have a passionate interest in the WW2 period.

We seek to ENGAGE, INFORM and REMEMBER

We are located in West and Central Scotland and combine to provide living history displays at WW2 /1940’s themed events, parties, school and club talks.

We class ourselves as Amateur Historians, with a good knowledge and understanding of several aspects of WW2, including the British Home Front, US Airborne Forces, the US Airforce, the US Navy, the French Resistance, Arctic Warfare and the SOE/OSS (Clandestine Warfare).

We feel that by doing this, we are playing our part in keeping the spirit of the 40's alive......a time of great sacrifice but also a time where nations united for the common good, where community spirit and helping a neighbour was the order of the day, a time when people survived on very little and the make do and mend mentality ruled supreme.

Although this is a hobby, all displays are presented in a proper, respectful and safe manner. We are affiliated to the All Forces Reenactment Association

Liberte SOE

We are a small group of like minded individuals with a long standing interest in the WW2 Period. We are located in central and West Scotland and have been involved in the Military Vehicle/Living History scene for a few years now.

We can mount small to medium displays and have access to a Wartime Jeep, original Wartime equipment, including our very own Air Raid Siren!

We also attend Primary schools to engage the children and assist in their studies of Britain and WW2. We do this by offering sessions on the lead up to WW2, The Blitz, Evacuation, rationing, local history relating to WW2 (tailored to each school) and finish with Wartime James Bond.



These groups covers several periods.

Fire and Sword

Fire and sword was started in 1998 by Hugh Robertson. He was soon joined by like minded folk, they started doing shows at local museums and private events.

Within the year they had progressed to the pinacle of Historic Scotland properties.

With time came a well rounded show of arms, displaying the use of the norman sheild wall, the famouse scottish schiltron, the dreaded war bow and amazing combats from quarterstaff though to axe and shield to the sword fight.

Now, with new members bringing other skills and ideas and with other members studying the original fighting manuals, Fire and Sword has

expanded it's ideas and now can do displays from the early 1200's all the way to the 1700's including everything from padded armour to plate, from plaid to red coat,

The Historic Saltire Society

The Historic Saltire Society is an organisation dedicated to two things. The first is living history and the second is Fun!

From humble beginnings in Inverness, the group now has members from all over the country, and travel the length and breadth of Scotland to various venues to perform for our audiences.

The society has many members, ranging from noble knights, their squires who help put on their armour, their enlisted peasants who end up doing most of the fighting, ladies of the court in fine dresses who, when not too busy with their embroidery, look on anxiously, to the craftsment and tradespeople who just get on with their jobs, from candlemaking to pole lathing.

The Society was started many years ago when our wise and venerable (not to mention old) leader, Alan, picked a fight with a baldy man called Alistair. The two have never looked back, and have seen the group grow over the years to its current large size.

Northern Alliance

Recreating the Wars of Independence, the 15th Century and the Jacobite Risings in the North of Scotland

Northern Alliance is a historical live interpretation group based in the Highlands of Scotland. Although the group’s core is based around the Inverness area, we have members from all over Scotland, and even some from England. The group organises, and takes part in battle recreations, and living history presentations portraying elements of three distinct periods of Scotland’s history: The Wars of Independence; the fifteenth century; and the Jacobite Risings of the early/mid eighteenth century.

Live interpretation is a very powerful communication tool, and as such should be used responsibly. However, it does provide an immediate, tactile and accessible interpretation of the past which is popular with historic sites around Scotland. Presentations can re-enforce mistakes and myths or they can be used to correct misconceptions and educate in an entertaining manner. Our history is often more exciting and enthralling than legends and modern films portray.

Northern Alliance thoroughly researches all elements of their presentations and displays, in order to educate through entertainment, and undertakes valuable experimental archaeology; for if the events and lives portrayed are not historically accurate, not only in material detail but more importantly in attitudes and social consciousness, increasingly our present lives will be based on a fictitious past. The ethos and driving force behind the group is to represent, as accurately as possible, the lives of ordinary people from our history, who often lived through extraordinary times.

Although Northern Alliance takes the accuracy of their displays seriously, enjoyment can be had from mixing with a group of likeminded people, sharing their interests and their passion for history. Members get the opportunity to learn and experiment with historical skills and discover how our ancestors lived their daily lives. Throughout an event, all food is cooked in a period manner, and everyone lives in a historical camp with period clothing and authentic accommodation. This level of commitment to accuracy and detail is continued when participating in battle recreations where the armour, equipment and skills have been thoroughly researched to present faithful recreation of Scottish soldiers on military campaign.

Why do members do it? There are various reasons, but these frequently include getting away from the hustle & bustle of the everyday life, taking a step back into the past, learning traditional skills, and making friends with people who share their love of our history, these friends often become friends for life. Members get the opportunity to meet and learn from people with different experiences and expertise, pooling ideas to enhance the overall experience and discover new things about our past or learn skills in danger of being forgotten.

Lothene

Lothene is a historical re-enactment group specialising in aspects of Scottish history, in particular the 16th Century and the Viking era.
We recreate both combat and the civilian life of the era.

We have also taken part in recreations of Saxon era life, the 18th Century and the Wars of Independence in the 13th and 14th Centuries.

Swords of Dalriada

We are the Swords of Dalriada (pronounced 'Dal-ree-adda'), a Scottish historical re-enactment group based in Ayrshire, who perform all over Scotland (and occasionally outwith). Our group focuses on bringing the conflicts that shaped Scotland to life. The time periods we cover include; the Scottish Wars of Independence, the Viking invasions, Iron Age Caledonia and the Jacobite rebellion. We do both living history and battle re-enactment. This means that not only do we recreate battles, we also demonstrate what life was like throughout Scotlands history.

Our work covers a large range of shows and displays. From working by ourselves to working with other groups. From taking part in large scale shows to putting on small displays for gala days and fetes.

Bonnie Dundee's standard raising re-enacted on Dundee Law

From the Dundee Courier

One of the most significant events in Scotland's history was commemorated on Dundee Law.

By Marjory Inglis
Published in the Courier : 11.04.11



Members of several Jacobite re-enactment societies in period costume, and local author Andrew Murray Scott, marched from Dudhope Castle to the top of the Law.

They recreated the raising of the royal standard of King James VII and II on 13th April, 1689.

Mr Scott said that event triggered the first Jacobite rebellion, putting Dundee at the centre of UK politics when the rival claims of King James and the invader William of Orange were in dispute in Scotland — with England having already accepted the new monarch.

He said Dundee was the starting place for the Jacobite movement and John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, or Bonnie Dundee as he was known, was the first Jacobite leader.

Mr Scott, who wrote a biography of Bonnie Dundee and also collected and edited Claverhouse's letters for the Scottish History Society, spoke on the Law of the political and historical context of 1689 and the background to the event.

He said, "A number of suggestions have been raised by historians as to why Bonnie Dundee 'stuck his neck out' on behalf of King James when most of the leading nobles were waiting to see which way the wind was blowing.

"It has been said that he was ‘an unthinking servant of the Stuarts', or a reckless gambler intent on bravado, or that he had calculated greater rewards would come if he could restore James.

"When you consider all of these potential motives you have to conclude that it was a difficult decision to make.

"But Claverhouse took it — at some risk to his family and himself — and stuck with it, doing his utmost over the final three months of his life to achieve his aims, before his untimely and almost accidental death at Killiecrankie.

"His was a fight for a principle in which he believed. At that time nearly everyone in Scotland was potentially a supporter of James. The Stuarts had reigned in Scotland since 1371, and some said for hundreds of years before that.

"Replacing them by a foreign line was not something done lightly. The Williamites were a small minority, and in April 1689 could have been relatively easily overthrown in Scotland.

"They did not have popular support although they did have an English-Dutch army backed with elements of the Scots army which Claverhouse had previously led.

"But Dundee's prodigious efforts were undermined by the deviousness of leading nobles — on both sides — and particularly by James' leading adviser, the Earl of Melfort — who, instead of assisting Dundee, betrayed him, denied him resources and successfully kept that fact from the king.

"Bonnie Dundee is a tragic and glamorous figure and one of the best known and most significant historical figures associated with the city of Dundee, and it is appropriate that we commemorate this significant event every year of which all Dundonians should be proud."

Cumberland leaves Aberdeen - On this day in Scottish Military History - 1746

As the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden approaches it is probably worth a quick comparison of what the two armies did for the month before The Duke of Cumberland left Aberdeen on 8th April 1746.

Cumberland had arrived in Aberdeen exactly one month before on 8th March and in the small amount of time available he rebuilt his army. He had marched up through England on the heels of the Jacobites during winter, and in the Eighteenth Century winter was the time you rested your armies for the campaigning season from April to October. The Jacobites had thrown away the rule book and campaigned throughout the winter and up until now it had worked. By the time Cumberland's men reached Aberdeen they were tired cold and hungry.

Cumberland took a month to build them up again. They were sheltered and replenished at Aberdeen. The Royal Navy had command of the North Sea so Cumberland was well supplied with food, arms, uniforms and equipment.

He also took the time to drill all his men on how to stop a highland charge. With no Jacobites nearby Cumberland could safely take his time to train all his regiments in the new tactics. This would see his infantry train to bayonet the charging highlanders on their right and not the one in front.

It was a bold tactic that could only be taught to well drilled, well trained and disciplined troops. Cumberland had the time at Aberdeen to whip his redcoats into a force that could take on and beat the Highland Army. No other Hanoverian army had managed that in this campaign but with four weeks training and rest Cumberland was sure when he marched out of Aberdeen 265 years ago today that he could beat the Rebels.

The Jacobites had been based in Inverness since the end of February 1746. Over the next few weeks they were not idle. They chased the Earl of Loudon to Skye; they advanced as far north as Orkney, they harried the Hanoverians down the Great Glen; they retook the North of Perthshire and they raided into Banffshire.

Their aims were supposed to be to find supplies and new recruits. The reality was they lost more men than they gained. They lost most of their artillery; they hunted aimlessly round Sutherland looking for French gold which was long gone on a Royal Navy ship; they plundered rival clans' lands and then headed off into the hills.

While the Hanoverians trained the Jacobites roamed. In the six weeks between making their base in Inverness and defending it against Cumberland, thousands of Highlanders left the main body of the Highland Army going north, south, east and west; many never to return to it in time to fight at Culloden.

In early April 1746 the Jacobites were still confident. They had not been beaten yet in an open battle and were unaware of Cumberland's new tactics. Their plan was to see off another Hanoverian attack in the same old way, and hope that a French fleet with gold, arms and men would arrive in the North in the summer to keep the fight going.

As Cumberland's men marched along the Moray coast the loyal stragglers from the Jacobite raids converged again on Inverness, but unlike Cumberland's men the Jacobites were underfed, unpaid and worn out from a long campaign over winter.

They returned to beat another Hanoverian army but the reality was that the Jacobite cause was effectively already over. They had decided their own fate back in February after the Battle of Falkirk. If they had made their base at Aberdeen they would have denied it to Cumberland, and would have a better chance of French blockade runners reaching them.

By basing themselves at Inverness they allowed the Royal Navy to cut them off from the Moray Firth and from gold, arms and supplies which could have sustained a guerilla war in the Highlands throughout the summer of 1746.

Two hundred and sixty five years ago today that error was not so obvious to Prince Charles Edward Stuart and his Highland Army. Hopes still ran high of another Falkirk.

The Siege of Fort William is lifted - On this day in Scottish Military History – 1746

Using the guns captured at Fort Augustus and with other siege guns the Jacobites then moved down Great Glen to besiege Fort William. This was no tactical move against the Hanoverians; instead it was an attack by the Camerons and MacDonalds on their old foe Clan Campbell.

On 20th March 1746 the Jacobite force reached Fort William. This was to be no push-over like Fort Augustus and with the Royal Navy supplying it from Loch Linnhe Fort William easily held out. For two weeks the Hanoverians battered the Jacobite besiegers, taking out their cannon one by one.

The final straw was a sally from the Fort on 31st March which destroyed the last of the Jacobite siege guns. That effectively ended the siege but it took another three days for Cameron of Lochiel to admit defeat and it was on this day 265 years ago that the Jacobites marched north to rejoin the main army at Inverness.

Precious guns and men which would have been better used against Cumberland’s army were wasted in a revenge attack on a rival clan. Once again petty Highland in-fighting thwarted a concerted Jacobite effort against the Hanoverians.

The Jacobites Capture Kirkwall - On this day in Scottish Military History – 1746

On the same day Lord Reay and the captured Jacobite gold took shelter in Stromness in Orkney, a small detachment of Jacobites landed nearby in Kirkwall to support the local Jacobite sympathisers.

After the Earl of Loudon’s rout from Dornoch the Duke of Perth returned to Inverness with 300 men leaving the Earl of Cromartie in charge of 1,500 men to secure the Far North of Scotland for the Jacobites.

Cromartie split his force into three. He kept 500 men at hand to pacify East Sutherland; Coll Ban MacDonald of Barrisdale took 400 men off to find Lord Reay. (This was more little more than a clan feud since no love was lost between the MacDonalds of Assynt and the Mackays of Reay); and Cromartie’s son Lord MacLeod took 300 men north to secure Caithness and Orkney.

When MacLeod reached Caithness he detached a company of about 100 men under Mackenzie of Ardloch to sail to Kirkwall at the invitation of local Jacobites. On this day 265 years ago Kirkwall became the northernmost town captured by the Jacobites.

P.S Ardloch and his men only stayed a week. The Orcadians didn’t flock to the Jacobite cause as hoped.

The Auld Alliance, Part I

In 1942 Frenchmen were exiled in Scotland during the German occupation. Charles de Gaulle gave a speech in Edinburgh and in it he harked back to "the oldest alliance in the world" and said "In every combat where for five centuries the destiny of France was at stake, there were always men of Scotland to fight side by side with men of France, and what Frenchmen feel is that no people has ever been more generous than yours with its friendship." But were we actually bosom buddies for five hundred years?

The mention of the Auld Alliance conjures up thoughts of an old friendship between Scotland and France where we helped each other out over the centuries. Access to claret, and its influence on our law are often mentioned as legacies of the alliance but the bottom line was that it was in place to help both countries resist English domination. So forget about the plonk, in military terms what exactly did it amount to?

The first alliance was signed in 1295 between John, King of Scots and Philip IV King of France. It was in response to the aggressive actions of Edward I of England. For much of the medieval period England controlled large swathes of France. Normandy was English as a result of William the Conqueror taking the English throne in 1066. Aquitaine in south-west France was English by marriage from 1154.

Edward was greedy for land and the terms of the treaty stipulated that if either France or Scotland was attacked by England, the other country would invade English territory. Your enemy's enemy is after all your friend. The signing of an alliance was actually a formal cementing of an existing relationship. Both France and Scotland had long realised that a war on two fronts for England was always going to be to the advantage of both countries.

However this alliance didn't last five hundred years, it actually lasted only three. The French dumped the Scots when we were subjugated by Edward. They had their own problems and abandoning the treaty suited both England and France.

Edward I's son Edward II was not much of a King, and during that period the Scots and French managed on their own. Edward III was a chip of the old Plantagenet block and he was as hungry as his grandfather for land. He attacked Scotland first; but France came to our aid, renewed the alliance and checked Edward's ambitions. French attacks on English possessions in Aquitaine focused Edward's attention on France and his invasion of 1337 started the one hundred and twenty years of warfare between France and England which is called the Hundred Years War for some reason. During this period there were many times when the two countries needed to come to the aid of each other until the English were ejected from France in 1453.

Each new King of France and King of Scots would renew the alliance over the next one hundred years. English kings continued to flex their muscles now and again and the Scots and French would look to each other for help.

In 1560 things were turned upside down. Scotland went through its reformation and it suddenly felt it had more in common with its protestant neighbours than Catholic France. At the same time the new queen in England was less belligerent than her father and realised having Scotland as a friend was in England's interest. The signing of the Treaty of Edinburgh between England, Scotland and France in July 1560 ended French involvement in Scottish affairs and effectively brought an end to the Auld Alliance.

It also coincided with a thawing in the relationship between France and England. Elizabeth I had no intentions of pursing any land claims in France (even though England had just recently lost Calais to France) and for the next hundred years France and England were at peace and sometimes even allies against Spain and Holland.

It was a fight for new empires and control of the world's sea trade which precipitated the second hundred-years-war between Britain and France in the eighteenth century. By this time Scotland and England had the same monarch and same parliament, so when England went to war with France, Scotland played a full and often enthusiastic part on Britannia's side.

The Jacobite risings of 1715, 1719 and 1745 had various levels of official French Support for the Pretenders' attempts to re-establish a Stuart Kingdom; but October 1745 was the last time an alliance was signed between a King of Scots (exiled) and a King of France. The War of Independence in America and the revolution in France finally put a nail in the coffin of any alliance as Scots regiments were raised by the dozen to fight the French. There may have been plenty of Irish volunteers in Napoleon's armies but there were few Scotsmen.

During the middle of the nineteenth century an invasion scare led to civilians forming volunteer companies for the defence of the country. The Auld Alliance was long forgotten as Scottish volunteers flocked to the colours in their thousands to see off any French invasion force.

By 1914 it had all changed again. France and Britain were allies, and when war broke out tens of thousands of Scots rushed to join up. The losses across the world were heavy on the Western Front, and heaviest of all in France. Five hundred years after an Army of Scotland had first served in France, the divisions of Scotland fought against the German invaders. In July 1918 the 15th (Scottish) Division was detached from the British XVII Corps and was rushed south to help the hard pressed French XX Corps. The Scottish troops replaced the 1st US Division in the line and fought hard, but took 3,516 casualties. After the battle the commander of the French 17th Division was so impressed by the Scottish soldiers he erected a cairn at Buzancy. On it was an inscription which would sum up a new alliance which saw thousands of Scots die on French soil during two world wars.

Here the noble thistle of Scotland will flourish for ever among the roses of France

This post has been an overview of the Auld Alliance. Part II in the near future will cover in detail the wars where Scotland and France were allies.

The Capture of Prince Charlie’s gold - On this day in Scottish military history - 1746

A little known but important episode during the Jacobite Rebellion took place 265 years ago today.

Even though the Jacobites had retreated from the Lowlands, in March 1746 they were still a force to be reckoned with in the North. The main government force was still in Aberdeen and Loudon’s force had been routed from Dornoch. Jacobites were roaming the Highlands attacking government barracks and Independent Companies.

In mid march the French decided to send £13,000 in gold, arms and other supplies to Inverness to help their allies, and sent the sloop “Le Prince Charles Stuart" to the Moray Firth. (the ship was an ex-Royal Navy sloop HMS ‘Hazard’ which had been captured by Jacobites in Montrose harbour in late 1745 and sailed to Dunkirk)

With Irish volunteers from the French Regiment Berwick and Scots from the Garde Eccosois to guard the cargo, and exiled Scots officers in French and Spanish service returning home to join the Jacobite army; Capitaine de frigate George Talbot took his ship northwards.

By the 24th of March they were approaching their destination of Portsoy in Banffshire (coincidentally about 10 miles from where German spies landed in 1940). Unfortunately for the French they came across a squadron of Royal Navy ships off Troup Head barring their way to Portsoy. Capitaine Talbot had to quickly turn northwards to try and escape the British ships.

The frigate HMS “Sheerness” was detached from the squadron and gave chase. She was about twice as big as “Le Prince Charles Stuart” and it was a moonlit night so Talbot had to keep pushing his ship further north and further away from the Jacobite base to keep ahead of the “Sheerness”.

By daylight of the 25th “Le Prince Charles Stuart” was off the Pentland Firth and still being chased by the “Sheerness”. Talbot knew if he tried to sail to the Minch he would be overhauled by the bigger ship. Hailing some local fisherman he found out that he had a chance if he made for the Kyle of Tongue where his smaller ship should be able to sail in but the “Sheerness” would not be able to follow.

The French ship would be trapped but the supplies could be put ashore with their guards and the ship could be scuttled to stop it being recaptured.

Unfortunately the Kyle was narrow and no-one on the ship knew the waters so it soon ran aground on a sandbank at Melness on the west bank of the Kyle. The “Sheerness” managed to sail far enough up the Kyle for its guns to be in range of the trapped “Le Prince Charles Stuart” and it started a punishing bombardment.



The British frigate outgunned the French sloop and it was taking a battering. When darkness fell Talbot ordered the gold and stores ashore. This prompted a landing of sailors and marines form the “Sheerness”. Knowing his situation was now hopeless, Talbot ordered all his unwounded crew ashore where they would march with the Jacobite soldiers overland to Prince Charles’s base at Inverness. Talbot couldn’t set fire to his ship to scuttle her because of the wounded on board who could not be taken with them.

For once luck was with Talbot. If he had beached on the eastern bank of the Kyle he would have been on the land of the government supporting Lord Reay. He had landed on the west bank and came across the Laird of Melness, William Mackay, who had Jacobite sympathies.

With two of Mackay’s horses to carry the gold and his sons as guides the French sailors, and Scots and Irish Jacobite soldiers, headed into the night to escape the Royal Navy sailors behind them.

That was the end of Talbot’s luck. The captain of the “Sheerness” sent more men ashore on the east bank of the Kyle to find loyal highlanders and they found Lord Reay. Reay had men of his own Independent Company of soldiers to hand and in the area there were remnants of Loudon’s force which had been chased from Dornoch two weeks earlier by Jacobites under the Duke of Perth.

Taking a hundred men with him, and ordering reinforcements to follow when they were ready; Reay marched down the east side of the Kyle to cut off the Jacobites.

By dawn of the 26th Talbot’s force had marched to the head of the Kyle of Tongue. At first they could see off any of Reay’s men who were trying to stop them but eventually Talbot’s men were surrounded by men of Lord Reay’s Independent Company, loyal Clan Mackay men and about 100 men of Loudon’s own 64th Highlanders. In all about 320 men by Talbot’s estimate. He may have been exaggerating the numbers but he was clearly outnumbered and his only option was surrender.

The Jacobites threw the gold into a nearby locahan (possibly Lochan Hakel) and then lay down their weapons.

The Highlanders quickly retrieved most of the gold from the shallow water but were in no great position of strength. A large Jacobite force from Dornoch under Coll Ban MacDonald of Barrisdale was marauding through Mackay lands looking for Reay and the remnants of Loudon’s force which had retreated to the North-West corner of Scotland. Reay feared he would now be a target for MacDonald and the rest of Cromartie’s force as soon as the news of the gold’s arrival in Scotland reached the Jacobites.

Taking the prisoners, the gold and his troops, Lord Reay left his home and boarded the “Sheerness”. The hastily repaired “Le Prince Charles Stuart” was refloated and sailed with them too.

After a brief stop in the Orkney the ships headed to Aberdeen; with them went the Jacobite pay chest. The meal in store at Inverness was now Prince Charles’s only method of paying his troops. Without payment of food his Highland troops would melt away into the glens so Inverness needed to be defended at all costs to preserve his army.

The loss of the French gold on 26th March 1746 helped seal the fate of the Jacobites. There would be no more retreat; they would have to face Cumberland’s army in the near future on a battlefield outside Inverness.

The Rout of Loudon from Dornoch - On this day in Scottish Military History – 1746

When Loudon retreated north from Inverness he chose as his base the land of Southeast Sutherland around Dornoch. The Kyle of Sutherland and River Shin protected his flanks and by placing most of his men along the two rivers his aim was to stop the Jacobites reaching their sympathisers in Caithness and Orkney. Whilst at Dornoch Loudon had also been reinforced by nearly 400 clansmen of the Earl of Sutherland and 100 men from Lord Reay’s Clan Mackay.

The Jacobites were not happy to have such a large force of Hanoverian troops threatening their flanks and hampering the recruitment of new supporters from the North. It was decided that a frontal attack was out of the question, Loudon was in too strong a defensive position. Instead the Jacobites would land men by fishing boats across the Dornoch Firth from Tain to the sands at Lonemore, two miles west of Dornoch

Fishing boats were rounded up from the Moray coast under the noses of the Royal Navy, and the Duke of Perth took a force of 1,800 Jacobites north from Dingwall. Loudon was not expecting a seaborne invasion and had split his force in positions along the Kyle of Sutherland and River Shin to repel any landward attacks between Bonar and Lairg. A small number of Loudon’s troops guarded Meikle Ferry near Skibo but there were not enough to stop a large attack.

As the day broke on this day 265 years ago the Mackays guarding Meikle Ferry would have been shocked to see boat loads of Jacobites approaching them. Heavily outnumbered the Mackays fled. A company of the 64th Highlanders tried to intercept the Jacobites whilst they disembarked but in a highly professional operation the Jacobites landed hundreds of men in good order and secured their landing ground.

Loudon’s men knew they were in a very difficult position. Retreating through Dornoch they headed for Little Ferry at Loch Fleet. At the same time word was sent to Loudon who was inspecting his defences at Invershin.

Knowing the rest of his force was now in an untenable position Loudon scattered his troops. He sent the local recruits of Mackay and Sutherland men north through Lairg with some of his 64th Highlanders under the command of Lord Reay. Loudon took the rest of his regiment west with his loyal MacDonald and Macleod volunteers and eventually reached Skye a week later.

In a surprisingly efficient operation the Jacobites had routed Loudon’s small army with very little loss. They had opened up the North for supplies and recruits, captured a large number of prisoners and as a bonus they had found four ships hiding in Loch Fleet with valuable cargoes of arms and ammunition.

The Jacobites were still a force to be reckoned with.