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The Jacobite Revolts: Chronology

 

July 2005 marked 260 years since the start of the 'Forty-Five' Jacobite Rebellion. The following events culminated in the last major battle to be fought on British soil... Culloden.

 

 

1688

Nov

'The Glorious Revolution'. Following the invasion from Holland by William of Orange, James II, the Catholic king of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, flees to France.

1689

27 July

Battle of Killliekrankie. Supporters of James II, the Jacobites, led by Viscount Dundee defeat a Protestant Covenanter army.

 

21 Aug

Jacobites attempt a rising at Dunkeld in Ireland.

1690

1 July

William of Orange defeats James II and his Jacobite supporters at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.

1691

12 July

Irish Jacobites defeated at the Battle of Aughrim.

 

Aug

William of Orange (pictured below) offers a pardon to all Jacobites in the Scottish Highlands who swear allegiance by year-end.

1692

Jan

King William III issues an order to discipline the Highland Scots.

 

13 Feb

The Glencoe Massacre. After the MacDonald chief was late talking his oath to King William, members of the Campbell clan killed 38 members of the MacDonald clan at Glencoe.

1696

Feb

A Jacobite plot to murder King William III was uncovered.

 

March

Jacobite invasion scare.

1701

12 June

Act of Settlement passed by Parliament, ensured that if William III and Princess Anne (later Queen Anne) should die without heirs, the succession to the throne should pass to Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James I, and to her heirs, if they were Protestants. The house of Hanover, which ruled Great Britain from 1714, owes its claim to this act.

 

6 Sept

Death of the deposed James II. Louis XIV of France recognises his son as James III, later known as the 'Old Pretender'.

1708

23 March

A French naval squadron attempted unsuccessfully to land the Old Pretender on the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh.

1715

6 Sept

Start of 'the Fifteen'. Following the accession of King George I, a Jacobite rebellion started in Braemar in Scotland.

 

13 Nov

The Scottish Jacobites were defeated at the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

 

14 Nov

A Scottish and English Jacobite force was defeated near Preston in northwest England.

 

22 Dec

The Old Pretender lands at Peterhead in northeast Scotland, joining Jacobites at Perth before returning to France on 4 Feb 1716.

1722

24 Sept

The Atterbury Plot. The Bishop of Rochester, Francis Atterbury, a Jacobite leader was arrested and later exiled.

1745

23 July

Start of the 'Forty-Five'. Prince Charles Edward, son of James and also known as the 'Young Pretender', landed on Eriskay Island off the west coast of Scotland.

 

19 Aug

With support from some of the Catholic MacDonalds, Charles was able to gather his men at Glenfinnan. There the standard was raised and his father was proclaimed King James III and VIII.

 

11 Sept

Jacobites capture Edinburgh.

 

21 Sept

Jacobites defeat a British force at Prestonpans and move south into England.

 

4 Dec

Jacobites reach Derby, just 150 miles from London. Due to lack of support Lord George Murray and the other chiefs advise Charles to return to Scotland and wait for French help.

 

18 Dec

Arguably the last 'battle' to take place on English soil, the Clifton Moor Skirmish saw the retreating Jacobites meet the Duke of Cumberland's forces at Clifton in Penrith.  Twelve Jacobites and fourteen of the Duke's men were killed, with the English being buried in the Clifton churchyard and the Scots under an oak tree (known locally as the Rebel Tree), where a plaque still remains.

1746

17 Jan

Back in Scotland the Jacobites fail to capture Stirling Castle, but then defeat General Henry Hawley's army at Falkirk.

 

18 Feb

Withdrawing ever further north, the Jacobites capture Inverness. They stay there for 2 months. Meanwhile a government army, led by the king's younger son, Prince William Duke of Cumberland, was catching them up.

 

16 April

Against the advice of his chiefs, Charles lined up the Jacobite army - hungry and tired - on the flat moor of Culloden. It was to be the last major battle fought on British soil. In less than an hour Cumberland's cannon destroyed the military threat of Jacobitism.

 

20 Sept

Charles fled Culloden Moor with a reward of £30,000 on his head and after many adventures, he eventually escaped on a ship to France.

1766

1 Jan

Death of the Old Pretender.

1788

31 Jan

Death of the Young Pretender.

1807

13 July

Death of Henry Stuart, Cardinal York, younger brother of the Young Pretender and the last Stuart in the male line.

 

Related Links: 

History of Scotland - The Auld Enemies 

History of Scotland - The Two Pretenders 

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