1745 - Watnall's three close encounters with the invading Scottish Jacobites

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On October 1st 1745 England was being invaded by a large Scottish army. Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobite claimant to the throne of England, and a band of around 5,500 of his loyal Highland clansmen had just beaten the English Army at Prestonpans near Edinburgh and were marching on London to take the crown. 

They would soon reach dangerously close to Watnall Hall where the 18th century Lancelot Rolleston (the one who founded Bog End school) was in the forefront of establishing a local county militia to greet them. The other two close encounters would be more of the love and marriage variety so (hopefully) less war-like...

1746 April 16th - the decisive Battle of Culloden
when the Jacobites were finally defeated

The English counties in the way of the march all began to organise local militias and raise funds to arm themselves. 

Lancelot Rolleston of Watnall Hall, along with the great and good of Nottinghamshire signed a pledge to arm and finance a Notts militia that would soon be put to the test. This twenty-four-page ledger that I have recently discovered, shows all the people who contributed and what every penny was spent on in great detail. It's a fine piece of book-keeping and a fascinating insight into what they used the money for. Rolleston appears in the upper echelons of the county leaders at the bottom of page one and contributed a generous £50. Other local names on the list include Chaworth, Musters, Byron, Stanhope and Mellish amongst many others. The full ledger is in the notes section below.

Nottinghamshire's great and good pledge funds
for a militia to fight the Jacobite invaders.

Bonnie Prince Charlie
The Jacobites reach Derby
The Jacobites advanced rapidly through Carlisle, Preston and Manchester, causing havoc and demanding rooms, money and provisions. They had little resistance from the newly formed "Dad's Army"-style county militias. By December they were getting dangerously close to Nottingham having marched in a day from Leek to Ashbourne and on December 4th word reached Nottingham that the Jacobites were encamped in Derby. 

Rather comically, the rapidly formed 500-man Derbyshire Blues militia decided to abandon their own town and its inhabitants and tactically flee to Mansfield via Nottingham... 

"Rumour suggested somewhere in the region of 9,000 men when actually the [Jacobite] army was closer to 4,000. Even if they had known the true number it is hard to imagine what five hundred part-time soldiers could possibly have done against the highlanders in an unwalled city aside from getting themselves slaughtered."

The Scots took over key buildings in Derby using Exeter House as their HQ and took control of strategically important Swarkestone Bridge. Nottinghamshire would have been bracing itself for imminent invasion...

By now though the Jacobite supply lines were getting seriously stretched and with a stronger English force under the Duke of Cumberland heading north to meet them, the Scots war council decided to turn back. They had not raised as much popular support in the north as they had expected. Nottinghamshire was saved!

Panic on the streets of London
In the capital, the King was getting worried as most of the English army were fighting abroad. With soldiers mustering in the streets, people were starting to panic.

The March of the Guards to Finchley by William Hogarth; soldiers mustered
to defend London against Jacobite forces.
"Duncan Macgregor of Dalnasplutrach" a Jacobite officer.
The use of the broadsword and targe, a style of
weaponry first popular in 16th century Spain,
was limited largely to officers in Highland regiments.
Many Jacobites, even Highlanders,  would have used
a firelock and bayonet as their main weapon
A Jacobite cavalry man

There was no need to worry though. The Scots were already on their way back home pursued by the English forces. They'd started to leave Derby before dawn on December 6th and by 11am they were all gone. It must have been an extraordinary and frightening two days for the people of Derby but it was not without its amusing highlights. Bonnie Prince Charlie employed a young Derby lad as his official food taster and his reward when he left was one of the Prince's diamond rings.
The Jacobites were pushed further and further north and were eventually soundly defeated at Culloden outside Inverness on April 16th 1746. The Jacobite Rebellion was at an end and Bonnie Prince Charlie was forced to escape to Italy dressed as a woman.

Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite's progress
south and then back north again

Derby - Bonnie Prince Charlie's statue commemorates the Jacobite march into England.

The Jacobites return to Watnall
However, it was not the last encounter with the Jacobite Scots for Watnall and the Rollestons. Exactly 100 years later, the Rolleston family line was saved when Lancelot's great nephew (also called Lancelot) married a Fraser girl from Torbreck in Inverness. The clan Fraser were leading Jacobite supporters. Clan chief, Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat's men fought at Culloden and were present on the march to Derby. The next generation of Rollestons at Watnall Hall also struggled for an heir until they too married a Fraser lass, the first one's niece! You can read all about that here...

Watnall Hall graves – Torbreck, the Scottish Connection



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Notes and sources

Here's the Nottinghamshire ledger in full...

AI Summary

This document is a copy of a subscription book for the County of Nottingham, dated October 1, 1745. It records pledges made by various individuals to fund the immediate defence of the country during the Jacobite rebellion. 
The Jacobites wanted to restore the Stuarts to the English and Scottish crowns. The final Stuart king James II had been forced to flee abroad after Parliament voted to replace him with Prince William of Orange, a Dutch/German Hanoverian.

Subscribers agreed to pay funds to the Duke of Kingston for arming and paying necessary forces.
Subscribers pledging forty shillings or more would receive a proportional share of any remaining funds after the rebellion was suppressed.
Notable subscribers listed include the Duke of Newcastle, the Duke of Kingston, Lord Robert Sutton, Lord Byron, and other prominent local figures.

- Mike Godwin Old Nottingham Pictures FB group for the ledger post https://www.facebook.com/groups/20722646442/permalink/10163740845676443/

Kingston's Light Horse
"In 1745, the Duke of Kingston, with the assistance of the noblemen and gentlemen of the county, undertook to raise a regiment of light cavalry for the service of the Crown. This regiment, though more commonly known as "Kingston's Light Horse," acquired the distinctive title of the "Royal Foresters," and fought bravely for King George II. against the adherents of the house of Stuart. At the battle of Culloden, the regiment especially distinguished itself; and, in that engagement, three Notting-hamshire butchers, who had enlisted as private troopers in the "Royal Foresters," are recorded to have slain fourteen of the enemy with their own swords. The tattered banners and broken kettle-drums of this regiment were for many years preserved over the entrance of the grand jury room, in the Shire Hall, at Nottingham, but, to the disgrace of the county of Nottingham, these honourable memorials of the military prowess of Nottinghamshire men have been removed from the position which they so long occupied, and have been either destroyed or lost."
Historical Record of the Royal Sherwood Foresters, Or, Nottinghamshire by Alfred Edward Lawson Lowe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_Kingston%27s_Regiment_of_Light_Horse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Sherwood_Foresters_Militia

History Jar on the Derbyshire Blues

- "The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1745" By John Home
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_History_of_the_Rebellion_in_the_Year/zZXRAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1745&printsec=frontcover
"JOHN HAY's Account of the Retreat of the Rebels from Derby.
THERE was a council of war held at Macclesfield, in which it was unanimously agreed to make some forced marches, so as to get between the Duke's army and London; and then march on as fast as they could to the capital. One of the keenest for that measure was Lord George Murray.
WHEN this was agreed upon, the army marched to Leek, and then to Ashbourne in one day. The general [mustering call] was beat at midnight, and they marched on to Derby, where they arrived early in the morning of the 4th December. Next day the army was ready to march, and every body gone to their posts."
However some of the generals had been thinking that the forced rapid march may not be the best policy and the whole day was spent in a council of war deciding what to do. BPC has at first completely against the plan to retreat but was won over. Even when they started the march back north many participants did not know which direction they were now going.

- The Diamond ring story
According to local Derby history, Bonnie Prince Charlie did indeed give a diamond ring to a young lad who acted as his food taster during his stay in the town in December 1745.
  • The Food Taster: During his stay at Exeter House in Derby, Bonnie Prince Charlie took his meals at the home of Mrs. Ward, the widow of the former Chief Alderman of Derby.
  • The Gift: To ensure his safety, Charlie had Mrs. Ward's 13-year-old son, Samuel, taste his food. Upon leaving Derby to retreat back to Scotland, the Prince gave this diamond ring to the young taster (or according to some accounts, his mother) as a reward.
  • The Ring's History: The ring remained with the Ward family until 1947, when it was offered to the Derby Museum, where it is often associated with the local commemoration of the 1745 rebellion.
While the Prince did not "employ" a formal, long-term taster, the story of the 13-year-old boy in Derby is a well-known local legend documented in historical records of his stay at Exeter House.

- The Jacobites in Macclesfield (courtesy of Alpha History website). The Jacobites were hoping to raise a national rebellion against the less than popular new Hanoverian royal family recently shipped in from Germany and hoped to recruit more rebels as they progressed to London. Their welcome in Macclesfield was certainly encouraging... 

1745: Invading Scots beshit the streets of Macclesfield
John Stafford was a lawyer and the town clerk of Macclesfield, near Manchester, at the height of the Jacobite uprising in 1745. Led by the ‘Bonnie Prince’, Charles Stuart, the Jacobite rebels invaded England in November 1745. By the end of the month, the Jacobite advance had reached Macclesfield, where it was warmly welcomed by most townspeople.
John Stafford, a Hanover loyalist, was much less enthusiastic about their presence. Nevertheless, Stafford took an interest in the arrival of the ‘Pretender’s forces, recording observations about their numbers, their personnel and Charles Stuart himself.
Stafford was also required to provide lodgings for two Scottish soldiers. One was a young officer, “exceedingly civil” and a “person of sense and account” who charmed Stafford’s daughters. His second guest was a “very ordinary fellow” who “tried all the locks in my bureau and in my wife’s closet” and pilfered several small items from the Stafford house.
After enduring a sleepless night, Stafford walked across the road to visit his neighbour, who was hosting more than 50 Highland soldiers and their camp followers. To his horror:
“The house floor was covered with straw, and men, women and children lay promiscuously together like a kennel of hounds, some of ’em stark naked.”
Stafford then took a walk around the neighbourhood and discovered that it had been befouled by the visiting Scots: 
“As soon as it was daylight the streets appeared in the Edinburgh fashion, being beshit all along on both sides, from one end to the other.”
To Stafford’s “great joy” the Jacobite contingent left the following day and pushed on towards Derby. They passed through Macclesfield again a week later, this time in retreat. In April the following year, Charles Stuart and his army were conclusively defeated at the Battle of Culloden.
Source: Letter from John Stafford, December 2nd 1745.


Local Derby historian on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txwhho4b4xg


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