by Lieutenant Colonel Roderick MacArthur (Retired)
Introduction
This article is based on a talk which I gave on two consecutive days during the Clan MacArthur International Gathering at Loch Awe on the 10th and 11th May 2024, about the MacArthurs in the ‘45, in other words the Clan during the 1745 Rising. I have put more detail into this article, compared to the original talks.
I had a Scottish father and English mother and I spent 30 years in the British Army. I give lots of talks, normally to raise funds for Military Charities. I am a member of the Society for Army Historical Research and the 1745 Association. I have been interested in the 1745 Rising for many years, have a lot of books on that period and one of my talks is a complete history of that conflict.
The Jacobite Risings
The origins of the Jacobite Risings go back to the fact that Queen Elizabeth I had no children, and her closest living relative was James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary Queen of Scots who had been Elizabeth’s cousin and like Elizabeth was directly descended from Henry VII. When Elizabeth died in 1603, James was therefore invited to become King James I of England as well as retaining his Scottish throne.
This founded the Stuart dynasty. Mary had been a Catholic, but James had been brought up as a Protestant and was well aware of the religious turmoil in both England and Scotland. Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, had broken away from the Catholic Church and founded the Protestant Church of England. His eldest daughter, Mary, had tried to change back to Catholicism when she became Queen and Elizabeth reverted to Protestantism when she became Queen. People who picked the wrong side were being executed, sometimes burnt at the stake. It was even worse in Scotland where the Protestant Episcopalian Church (run by a council of Bishops) had broken away from the Catholic Church, but then itself had been largely replaced by the Presbyterian Church. This had led to Civil Wars in Scotland. James VI & I tried to rule with tolerance towards all of these religious divides, although Catholic opponents still tried to blow up him and the English Parliament in 1605.
James VI & I died in 1625 and was succeeded by his son, Charles I. Charles believed strongly in “The Divine Right of Kings” (in other words Kings were appointed by God and Parliaments couldn’t tell Kings what to do), so he quarrelled with the Parliaments of England and Scotland and this led to Civil Wars in both countries. King Charles I was captured by the Scottish Parliamentarians, handed over to the English Parliamentarians, who put him on trial and executed him in 1649.
Charles’ son, Charles II, tried to rule in Scotland but was defeated by Oliver Cromwell so he, his brother James and their families went into exile in Holland.
After a period of rule by Oliver Cromwell, Charles II was invited to resume the thrones of England and Scotland in 1660, however he had no legitimate children, so when he died in 1685 his brother succeeded him as James VII of Scotland and II of England. James was a Catholic but the Parliaments of England and Scotland put up with that because both of his daughters, Mary and Anne, had been brought up as Protestants while living in exile in Holland and both had married Protestant princes. It was therefore felt that James would be succeeded by a Protestant. However James’ second wife was a Catholic and had a son, James Francis Stuart. James VII & II refused demands from the English and Scottish Parliaments that his newly born son should be raised as a Protestant. As a result, in 1688 both the English and Scottish Parliaments deposed James VII and II then invited his Protestant daughter Mary to assume the throne jointly with her Dutch Calvinist husband, William of Orange, as William III and Mary II.
Queen Mary died in 1694 and William continued to rule as King. The deposed James VII & II died in 1701 and when William died the following year in 1702, Mary’s sister, Anne, became Queen. By 1701 it had become clear that Anne was not going to have any children to succeed her. That same year the law was changed to require English Monarchs to be Protestant. Scotland also passed a similar law in 1704, requiring their Monarchs to be Protestant.
Although England and Scotland had the same Monarch, they remained separate countries, with separate parliaments. Those Parliaments both felt that they should have a say in who their Monarch was, so it would have been theoretically possible to have different Monarchs in the future. Queen Anne was the sixth Stuart to rule both countries and she wanted that to continue, so pressed for an Act of Union of Parliaments as well as Crowns. That was passed by both the English and Scottish Governments in 1707, thereby uniting the countries. England had had many years of peace with Scotland and the Union was seen as a way of cementing that. The Scottish government had made some poor financial decisions and was effectively bankrupt, so the Union bailed them out. There were however some Scots who thought that they had “sold their sovereignty for English gold”.
Anne died in 1714 the throne was offered to James’ son, James Francis Stuart, who would have become James III, provided that he became a Protestant. He refused and the throne was then offered to Anne’s closest Protestant relative George I of Hanover, who was the Great Grandson of James VI of Scotland (James I of England). A few years later in 1727 George II succeeded his father as King.
The deposing of James VII & II by William and Mary led to a rising, the Williamite War, in support of James in Scotland and Ireland by his followers known as Jacobites, after the Latin for James. In Scotland the Jacobites had some initial success when John Graham, Viscount Dundee (Bonnie Dundee) led his highland troops to a stunning victory at the Battle of Killiecrankie in 1689 over the Scottish General Mackay’s government forces, which included three Scots Regiments serving with the Dutch Scots Brigade, two newly raised Scottish Regiments, including the 25th Foot, which later became the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, and just one English Regiment. However, Dundee himself was killed in the battle.
The victorious Jacobites marched south to Dunkeld, a small town but with a large cathedral founded by St Columba. Dunkeld was defended by the newly raised Scottish 26th Foot, later the Cameronians or Scottish Rifles, who were a Covenanter Presbyterian Regiment raised in Glasgow.
The Cameronians were outnumbered by the Jacobites by 4:1 but after a fierce battle, which left the town in ruins, they defeated the Jacobites. There was a final battle at Cromdale in May 1690, where the government forces were led by the Scottish General Livingstone, whose army contained several Highland Clans loyal to the British Government. The Jacobites, led by Thomas Buchan were defeated and the rising in Scotland died out.
James II himself fought in Ireland, where in 1690 he was defeated by William III at the Battle of the Boyne, which is still celebrated by Irish Protestants marching through the streets with orange sashes. James II fled to France, taking with him several Regiments which became the Irish Brigade in French service.
Queen Anne’s accession to the throne in 1714 precipitated a Jacobite rising in Scotland in 1715 which culminated in the Battle of Sheriffmuir. The battle was inconclusive, but the Jacobite advance was stopped and they lost heart.
The following day, an English Jacobite uprising was defeated at the Battle of Preston. A month later, James Francis Stuart, arrived in Scotland to try to resurrect the Jacobite cause, but there was no support for him and he fled back to France.
In 1719 the Jacobites attempted another invasion of Scotland, with a small force of Spanish landing at Eilean Donan Castle, a favourite for illustrations on shortbread tins, on the mainland close to the modern Skye Bridge. Relatively few Jacobites arrived to support the Spanish units.
The small Jacobite force including Camerons, MacGregors, Mackinnons, MacKenzies, Murrays and their Spanish allies were defeated by government troops at the Battle of Glensheil. The British force included several Highland Clans loyal to the British Government (Frasers, Ross, Sutherlands, MacKays, Munros) and the famous Scottish Cavalry Regiment, the Royal Scots Greys.
The following year, in 1720, James Francis Stuart had a son, Charles Edward Stuart, “Bonnie Prince Charlie” (he is only 14 in this picture). George II’s son William Augustus, later Duke of Cumberland, was born a few months later in 1721.
In the 1740s the British, Hanoverians and Dutch were supporting the Austrians in the War of Austrian Succession against the French and Bavarians.
In 1743 an Allied Army, comprising equal numbers of British, Hanoverian and Austrian troops, commanded by King George II (the last time a British King led troops on the battlefield) beat the French at the Battle of Dettingen. The French outnumbered the Allies by 2:1 but due to French incompetence the Allies won.
The French thought that if they supported the Jacobites, a grateful Jacobite King would not fight against them any more. In 1744 they therefore planned an invasion of Britain. 12,000 French troops, commanded by their best general, Marshal de Saxe, were going to invade England and Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) was going to accompany them. A further 3,000 troops, mainly from the Irish and Scottish Regiments within the French Army, commanded by the Scottish General Keith, Earl Marischal, were going to invade Scotland and join up with Scottish Jacobites.
However, a storm in the English Channel damaged the French ships and they called off this invasion.
The following year, in May 1745, the French beat an Allied Army of British, Hanoverian and Dutch troops, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, at the Battle of Fontenoy. As a result of their victory, the French no longer thought it was necessary to support the Jacobites to achieve their aims of beating the Allies.
Prince Charles did not give up and decided to attempt to regain the British crown for his father, without French support. He set sail with just two ships in July 1745. Charles was in the smaller ship and the larger one contained 600 soldiers, weapons and artillery guns. They were however intercepted by a British ship, HMS Lyon.
A ferocious battle took place between the two larger ships and both had to return to their home ports in England and France for repairs.
Prince Charles sailed on by himself with only 7 men in the smaller ship and landed in Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides in Scotland on 19th August 1745. The Clan Chiefs who came to meet him said “Go home, your Majesty”. He said “I am home”.
Charles raised an Army, marched to Edinburgh then decisively beat the only British Army in Scotland in a battle at Prestonpans which only lasted 7 minutes.
Charles and his Jacobite Army then marched into England, since his aim was to restore his family to the crown of the entire United Kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. There was a British Army at Newcastle which could not march fast enough to catch the Jacobite Army and another British Army in the Midlands which they avoided by tricking them that they were heading for Wales.
Charles had told the Scottish Clan Chiefs that English Jacobites would join him, but hardly any did. Charles had also said there would be strong French support. They sent money and weapons but only a few troops. When the Jacobites reached Derby the Clan Chiefs were concerned that they had two British armies behind them and one ahead of them so they voted to return to Scotland. Charles was distraught.
There was a battle at Falkirk on 17 Jan 1746, which was a narrow victory for the Jacobites, but they still retreated to Inverness. They captured Fort George at Inverness and Fort Augustus further south, but could not take Fort William, further south still. On 16th April 1746 the weakened Jacobite Army fought its last battle against a strong British Army at Culloden.
The battle was a disaster for the Jacobites and their cause never recovered. The picture here shows the Stewart of Appin Regiment charging and there was one MacArthur in that Regiment. Their flag still exists and is in Edinburgh Castle.
MacArthurs among the Jacobites
A few years ago, there was a conversation on the MacArthur Facebook page by two American Clan members, who had been to Culloden and wondered why there was no stone Clan marker for the MacArthurs. The answer simply is that there was no MacArthur Clan Regiment, nor a record of any members of Clan MacArthur being killed at Culloden as part of the Jacobite Army.
There is an excellent book “No Quarter Given - The Muster Roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s Army 1745-46”, produced by members of the 1745 Association, which lists some 4,850 men who served in the Jacobite Army.
Jean McCann in her paper “The Jacobite Army 1745-46” estimates that a maximum of 12,000 men joined the Jacobite Army at some stage, however its operational strength was never more than 8,000 (that maximum being at Falkirk). The discrepancy between these figures is due to casualties (many from sickness, not combat) and men drifting away after battles. Many highlanders in the Jacobite Army were used to being called out by their Clan Chiefs for a cattle raid or single battle, after which they returned home to look after their families and cattle, then might, or might not, return to the Army. The size of the Jacobite Army at Culloden was only some 5,000, partly due to a Brigade of three Regiments being detached in a failed attempt to collect French gold.
The “Jacobite Muster Roll” identifies over 40% of the maximum number recruited and over 50% of its maximum operational strength. Most of the men identified seem to be those in the Jacobite Army at Culloden on 16th April 1746, in which case the book may have identified 97% of those with the Jacobite Army at that date.
That Muster Roll of the Jacobite Army has a very useful alphabetical index, which includes just 12 MacArthurs (including 4 from the MacCarter sept) and it can be seen than none of these died at Culloden. Indeed the only one who died is John MacArthur of Inverness who was part of the garrison captured at Carlisle and ended up being imprisoned in appalling conditions, which undoubtedly led to his death.
You can see on this map where those 12 MacArthurs (including 4 MacCarters) came from. All were from within the principal Jacobite recruitment area and none were from the main areas of MacArthur population.
In the 18th Century the Lowlands of Scotland had what we would recognise as the normal rule of law, with Judges and Juries. However, that did not apply in the Highlands. Before 1746, Clan Chiefs had the power to act as judges over anyone living on their land. It didn’t matter what your Clan name was, the main factor was where you lived.
Individual clansmen didn’t normally decide who to support. The Clan Chief did that and you either obeyed him or had your house burned down, or worse. However, the loyalty worked both ways, and the Clan Chief would then absolutely protect his Clansmen from all outsiders. Loyalty to the Clan Chief was ingrained and didn’t normally need coercion.
That is why there were a number of MacArthurs in various Clan Regiments, such as the three MacArthurs and three MacCarters in MacDonnell of Keppoch’s Regiment and two MacArthurs in MacKinnon Regiment. They just happened to live in those areas.
Most of the MacArthurs and MacCarters in the Jacobite Army were in Macdonnell of Keppoch’s Regiment and here are the details of that Regiment.
Almost all of the officers were MacDonnells, as were nearly half of the soldiers. The other 66 men identified as being members of the Regiment had 25 different names.
One possible reason for all of these other names, is that if there were 72 Officers and Soldiers named MacDonnell of fighting age identified as being in the Regiment, then there would have been a similar number of their sisters, of marriageable age, within the Clan. It is probable that many of the men with other names in the Regiment had married into the Clan.
The Stewart of Appin Regiment included Private John MacArthur of Glenstockdale, however he is recorded as being “At Home” so he may not have been at Culloden. As mentioned above, many highlanders in the Jacobite Army were used to being called out by their Clan Chiefs for a cattle raid or single battle, after which they went home to look after their families and cattle, then might, or might not, return to the Army.
There was one MacArthur in a Lowland Jacobite Regiment at Culloden. This was Lieutenant John MacArthur with the Duke of Perth’s Regiment. That Regiment was not clan based and had officers and soldiers of many different names, including 10 Drummonds, since the Duke of Perth was James Drummond.
There were also Private John McArthur of Inverness and Private John MacCarter of Edinburgh in John Roy Stuart’s Edinburgh Lowland Jacobite Regiment, but neither were at Culloden since they had been in the two companies which were left behind to garrison Carlisle and captured there in December 1745. Private John MacArthur died in prison.
The Jacobite MacKinnon Regiment is another example of the typical structure of a Clan Regiment. This small Regiment from Skye, not much bigger than a company, was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John MacKinnon of MacKinnon. He had 6 officers, 5 named MacKinnon and 1 named MacInnes. 70 of his 120 soldiers have been identified. 21 of these were called MacKinnon, 49 had a total of 29 other family names, including two MacArthurs, but the thing they all had in common was that they lived on MacKinnon land, so owed their Clan allegiance to John MacKinnon and not to another Clan Chief of their own name.
The reason that the MacKinnon Regiment was not at Culloden, was that it was part of a Brigade of three Regiments, commanded by George MacKenzie (Lord Cromartie), sent north to collect some French gold. The ship the gold was on was originally the Royal Navy’s HMS Hazard, but it had been captured in Montrose harbour by the Jacobites in 1745, renamed “Le Prince Charles” and was now being used to bring £13,000 in gold, worth £25 million today, to the Jacobites.
The ship was intercepted by a larger British ship and forced to land. The crew and escort from the Irish Berwick Regiment managed to get the gold off but were attacked by a stronger force of Government troops from Loudoun’s 64th Highlanders and two Independent Highland Companies from the MacKay and Sutherland Clans. Some of the gold was never found.
The MacKinnon Regiment turned around and rejoined what was left of the Jacobite Army after Culloden. They were one of the last units to lay down their arms.
MacArthurs among the Loyalists
Most of the population of Scotland lived in the Lowlands and the large cities of Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling. These all supported the British Government and were the main recruiting grounds for the Scottish Lowland Regiments of the British Army, Royal Scots Greys, Scots Guards, Royal Scots, Royal Scots Fusiliers, King’s Own Scottish Borderers and Cameronians. Three of those Regiments were part of Cumberland’s Army at Culloden.
The two regular Scottish Highland Regiments of the Black Watch and Loudoun’s Highlanders recruited throughout the Highlands but suffered from some companies being captured and desertions.
The Duke of Argyll supported the British Government and raised his Argyll Militia in the south east highlands, which included Loch Awe, Milton and Mull, where most MacArthurs lived.
Most of the Clans in the Hebrides and north of Inverness also supported the British Government and raised Independent Highland Companies. In the far north eight companies were raised, two each from the MacKays and Sutherlands, one each from the Munros, Grants and Ross, plus one which was not clan based from the townspeople of Inverness.
In the Hebrides three companies of MacKenzies were raised in Lewis and Harris, plus five companies of MacLeods from Skye and two companies by MacDonald of Sleat in the south of Skye and Uist in the Outer Hebrides. The MacDonald of Sleat companies included MacArthur pipers.
In September 1745, the Lord President of the Council, Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, was authorised to raise 20 Highland Independent Companies to support the Government in the North of Scotland. These were to operate under the command of Colonel John Campbell, Lord Loudoun, who commanded the 64th Foot. Each Company had 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 1 Ensign, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals, 1 Drummer, 1 Piper and 100 men. They were issued with weapons and all of the men were paid at normal British Army rates. The officers were granted free British Army Commissions, which were valuable since normally officers in that era purchased their commissions and could then sell them when they left, this providing them with a pension (a bit like buying into a firm or partnership and selling on leaving).
Duncan Forbes only in fact raised 18 Highland Independent companies. This was not due to any lack of recruits, but he wanted to keep the much sought after officers’ commissions for two companies as a reserve, to be used if required to secure the loyalty of more Clan Chiefs.
Almost all of these companies were clan based, to the extent that in many, all of the officers and up to half of the men bore that same clan surname. The only exception was the Inverness company which was raised from the inhabitants of that town, and commanded by a local magistrate.
The Clan Chiefs would have maintained their own private armies or “tails” and now the British Government was offering to fund these, so the Loyalist Clan Chiefs were very happy with that and the Companies were all well recruited.
The Government expected Duncan Forbes to raise these Independent Companies from amongst the most loyal clans, but Forbes was cleverer than that, deliberately giving some companies to clans which were wavering in their support, so as to deny those men as recruits to the Jacobite cause. Duncan Forbes secured the loyalty of the two Skye Clan Chiefs, Norman MacLeod, and Sir Alexander MacDonald of Sleat, by blackmail. These two chiefs had planned to sell some of their tenants as indentured labourers, effectively slaves, to the Americas and West Indies. Duncan Forbes had found out and agreed not to prosecute them in return for their loyalty.
Duncan Forbes also gave three companies to the MacKenzies. Their Clan Chief, Kenneth MacKenzie, Lord Fortrose, was loyal to the British Government but George MacKenzie, Lord Cromartie, had already defected to the Jacobites with his entire company of 64th Foot and had raised a complete Jacobite Regiment. Having three Independent Companies of MacKenzies was a way of denying Lord Cromartie more recruits.
Here is a typical Highland Independent Company raised by George Munro, the Chief of Clan Munro. As you can see most of the officers and non-commissioned officers were Munros as were more than half of the private soldiers, so it had a very similar structure to the Jacobite Clan Regiments. There were no MacArthurs in this company but it is one of the few Highland Independent Companies that I have Muster Rolls for, so it is a useful example.
The Highland Independent Companies originally wore their own clothes, so were indistinguishable from the Jacobites, apart from wearing a black cockade in their bonnets rather than a white one. Later they were issued with red uniform jackets and the company commanders were given funds to buy tartan in bulk. It is thought that this might have been the origin of some of the Clan tartans.
The MacArthurs were hereditary pipers to the MacDonalds of Sleat in Skye and Uist serving in his two Highland Independent Companies.
Several sources say that these MacArthur piping families originally came from the tiny island of Ulva (7 miles by 3 miles) just to the west of Mull, where they had set up a piping school. They were second only to the MacCrimmons in their piping fame. I have traced my own family back to at least three generations living on that tiny island prior to 1840, and probably many more generations before that.
The MacDonalds of Sleat were the Clan of Flora MacDonald of “Over the Seas to Skye” fame. She always said she wasn’t a Jacobite and would have done the same for anyone in distress. She later married a distant cousin, Allan MacDonald, who was a British Army officer. They moved to America for a time where, just prior to the American War of Independence, she visited many groups of Scots living in America, encouraging them to stay loyal to the British Government. She was, incidentally, a Protestant Episcopalian and not a Catholic.
As the Jacobite rising started, Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell of Mamore the Younger who was the Lieutenant Colonel of the 64th Foot (Loudoun’s Highlanders), and later became the 5th Duke of Argyll, was tasked to raise the Argyll Militia. These comprised eight companies who were fully paid and whose officers held British Army Commissions. These companies operated as part of the main British Army, often in an advance guard role, scouting in front of the rest of the Army.
There were a further 25 companies of Argyll Militia which were mainly used for garrison duties. They were issued with weapons, but were not paid and only received rations when on duty. Their officers did not hold British Army Commissions. All of the companies had the same establishment as the Highland Independent Companies of 1 Captain, 1 Lieutenant, 1 Ensign, 4 Sergeants, 4 Corporals, 1 Drummer, 1 Piper and 100 men. The companies were raised throughout the area loyal to the Duke of Argyll.
The Argyll Militia never received uniforms, so wore their own clothes, apart from a black “government” cockade in their bonnets, often with a red or yellow saltire cross on it.
The main concentrations of MacArthurs, around Loch Awe, in Milton and in Mull were in areas owing loyalty to the Duke of Argyll. As an example of this loyalty, in 1685 Charles II died and his brother James became King James VII of Scotland and II of England. The parliaments in both England and Scotland and senior aristocrats were concerned about James’ Catholicism and any attempt to return to an autocratic rule due to his belief in the Divine Right of Kings. Archibald Cambell, the 9th Earl of Argyll led a revolt against King James.
In the Lochaweside area there were a total of 35 families. Eleven of these were MacArthurs, three were Campbells, two Macintyres, two MacKellars, two MacNabs, two Dewars, two Sinclairs, one MacPherson, one MacCallum, one MacDougal, one MacNeil, one Fletcher, one Morrison, one Macphail, one Ferguson, one Turner, one MacEwan and one Monro. The one thing all of these families had in common was loyalty to the Earl Of Argyll.
Patrick MacArthur of Inchdrynich (Inistrynich), who was a heritor (a significant landowner with responsibilities similar to an English squire), took the lead in organising all of the various families around Loch Awe to support the 9th Earl of Argyll. The revolt failed and it cost Archibald Campbell his life.
Three years later King James was deposed by both the Scottish and English parliaments. The 9th Earl of Argyll’s son, also called Archibald Campbell, became the main Scottish supporter of William and Mary becoming monarchs of England and Scotland, resulting in his being elevated to become the 1st Duke of Argyll.
Another example of this support for the Duke of Argyll occurred in October 1745 Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell of Mamore the younger (who later became the 5th Duke of Argyll) tasked Gilbert MacArthur of Easdale, who was an officer in the Argyll Militia, to remove boats from the Oban coastal area in order to deny them to the Jacobites. Gilbert MacArthur was paid £3 9s for his own costs and that of a Sergeant and 12 Men plus the hire of Horses etc for bringing in 25 Boats of Nether Lorn and the adjacent aisles to the Isle of Easdale and disabling 28 Boats on the Coast near Oban. In 1745 sum of £3 9s would have covered the pay of Gilbert MacArthur himself, his sergeant, 12 men and hire of horses for about five days.
The first two Argyll Militia Companies were formally authorised to be raised on a more permanent basis on 16th November 1745, so that they were paid all of the time and their officers were granted British Army Commissions. Number 2 Company was commanded by Captain Duncan MacVicar and his Lieutenant is named as Patrick MacArthur of Innistrynich.
There is a Return of Companies of the Argyll Militia a few months later on 20th February 1746 which includes Lieutenant John McArthur of Captain Duncan MacVicar’s Number 2 Company. It has been suggested that Lieutenant John MacArthur was a brother of his predecessor Lieutenant Patrick MacArthur “to maintain the Company’s vital MacArthur connection”. This implies that there were a number of MacArthurs serving in the company, so it was therefore important to have a MacArthur Lieutenant.
There were MacArthurs serving in other Argyll Militia Companies. On the day of the Battle of Falkirk, 17th January 1746, a company commanded by Captain Neil MacNeil of Machrihanish was stationed at Dorrator. Unaware of the order to retreat to Linlithgow, they barricaded themselves in a house but were surrounded by Jacobite troops and surrendered when they ran out of ammunition. Some of the captured men are named, including Archibald McArthur.
The 1751 Valuation lists landowners who were tenants of the Campbells of Argyll. This includes three MacArthur landowners, each of whom undoubtedly had sub-tenants, since the map which accompanied the original list shows that each were landowners of very large areas.
Duncan MacArthur of Inistrynich
John MacArthur of Ardbrecknish
John MacArthur of Milntown (Milton)
The conclusion is that there were a number of MacArthurs serving with the Jacobite Army but none of these came from traditional MacArthur areas and they were all living within the main recruitment area of the Jacobite Army . The majority of MacArthurs, particularly those living around Loch Awe and in Mull would appear to have remained loyal to the Duke of Argyll. Those living in Skye remained loyal to MacDonald of Sleet, and through those Chiefs supported the British Government.
The Black Watch were in the Netherlands in 1745 and were distinguished in the Battle of Fontenoy. They then returned to London and were part of George II’s Army defending the capital. They had 3 Additional Companies in Scotland, one captured at Prestonpans, one captured at Dornoch Firth and one guarding the baggage at Culloden.
There were no MacArthurs in the 1760 Muster Rolls of the Scottish Lowland Regiments, so there were probably none in 1745.
Choosing Both Sides
Some Clan Chiefs were strong Jacobite supporters and some were strong Government supporters, but most didn’t care who the King was and just wanted to lead their Clans without interference from anyone else. To do this they needed to be on the winning side so split loyalties were common in 1745.
A classic example is the small Chisholm Clan. The elderly Clan Chief sent his youngest son, Roderick Chisholm, out to command a small 80 strong Chisholm Regiment to join the Jacobite Army. As they charged at Culloden, many were killed, including Roderick Chisholm. His body was recovered by his two older brothers, both of whom were serving with the Royal Scots on the opposite side of the battlefield. No matter who won, the Chisholm Clan would be on the winning side. A quarter of the British Army at Culloden was actually Scots (Royal Scots, Royal Scots Fusiliers, King’s Own Scottish Borderers and Argyll Militia).
Another classic example is Clan MacIntosh. Angus MacIntosh was Chief of the Clan and also Chief of the Chattan Federation, a group of allied Clans. In 1743 he was granted a British Army commission to command a company in the Black Watch. His young 20 year old wife, Anne, rode around their estates and raised 97 of the 100 men he required. In 1745, Angus marched off with his company to help defend Inverness against the Jacobites. His wife, Anne, now aged 22, rode around their estates again and raised a Regiment of 300 men to join the Jacobite Army, for which she was nicknamed “Colonel Anne”.
Later in the war, Angus was captured and placed in the custody of his wife. She greeted him with “Your servant, Captain” to which he replied “Your servant, Colonel” recognising her higher status as a Regimental Commander.
After Culloden she was arrested, threatened with execution but then placed in her husband’s custody. A few months later the loyalist Clan Chiefs were invited to a ball in London to celebrate the Duke of Cumberland’s victory at Culloden. Angus and Anne went. People in London were expecting Anne to be a fierce Amazonian warrior, and could not believe that she was a pretty young lady. The Duke of Cumberland asked her to dance and told the band to strike up a tune to celebrate his victory “Up and at them Wullie”. Anne danced with him and then said, “I have danced to your tune, now you must dance to mine” and told the band to strike up “Auld Stuart’s back again”. Whatever his other faults, and he had many, Cumberland was too much of a gentleman to refuse.
Anne and Angus lived happily together for the rest of their lives, so one must wonder whether their taking opposite sides was a ploy to make sure that the Clan would be on the winning side.
Lord George Murray was the third son of his family, and both of his older brothers claimed the title of Duke of Atholl, one for the Jacobites and one for the Government. Their family home was Blair Atholl Castle. When Lord George became Prince Charles’ right hand man, his son was horrified, since he was serving as a British Army Officer, and he feared that his career would be ruined. The Murrays were incidentally Protestant Episcopalian and not Catholic.
Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, promised support to both sides but sent his 20 year old son, also called Simon Fraser out to command his Regiment of two battalions of Frasers, saying he could not control his young men. However he was caught out and executed. His son who actually led the Frasers was pardoned. 12 years later the British Government needed more men to fight the French in North America. The young Simon Fraser raised a Regiment, 78th Fraser Highlanders, which fought as part of General Wolfe’s Army at Quebec. In 1745 the young Simon Fraser was leading a Jacobite Regiment. He died as a British Army Major General.
200 years later in 1944 a successor to the title of Lord Lovat, Brigadier Simon Fraser, led 3 Commando Brigade ashore at D-Day, with his piper playing beside him, as they marched inland to relieve the Airborne Forces who had seized Pegasus Bridge.
Although the Jacobites liked to refer to the Hanoverians as “usurpers”, they were in fact directly descended from the Stuart Scottish Kings (George I was the Great Grandson of James VI of Scotland) and were invited to rule the United Kingdom by the British Government.
Some Scots felt that the Stuarts might be more sympathetic to dissolving the Union, but that was unlikely. James VI & I had styled himself King of Great Britain & Ireland and was keen on unifying the Parliaments. His Great Granddaughter, Anne Stuart, passed the Act of Union. Prince Charles invaded England to put his father on the throne of the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. To the disappointment of some Scots Jacobites, Charles did not re-establish a Scottish Parliament.
Most of the Jacobite Army was Scottish, but there were as many Scots supporting the Government serving in the British Army, Argyll Militia, Highland Independent Companies and Lowland Volunteers. The Jacobite cause could not succeed without substantial French Troops support, of at least the level which they had planned for the 1744 invasion, but that was not forthcoming.
Even if the Jacobites had won, there was no support for a Catholic monarchy in either England or Scotland. Only 10% of English were Catholic and only 5% of Scots. The Parliaments in both countries had passed laws requiring the monarch to be a Protestant, so a new Catholic King would probably not have lasted long before there would have been a rebellion against him.
The Aftermath
The leading Highlanders who supported the British Government, the Duke of Argyll, Lieutenant Colonel John Campbell (who raised the Argyll Militia) and Duncan Forbes (who raised the Highland Independent Companies) all recognised that only the Clan Chiefs had the luxury of being able to decide which side to support. The ordinary Highland Clansman had no option other than to obey his Clan Chief. These leading Highlanders therefore argued for leniency, but the British establishment was so shaken by the Rising that these compassionate pleas were ignored. Incidentally, Duncan Forbes hated the fact that his title of Lord Culloden was remembered for that battle.
The Disarming Act of 1746 was passed banning civilians in Scotland from carrying weapons and wearing tartan. The penalty for the first offence was 6 months imprisonment and for the second offence, transportation for 7 years.
The only Scots wearing tartan were those in the British Army, originally just the Black Watch but then an increasing number of Scottish Regiments. The ban on civilians wearing tartan was lifted 36 years later in 1782.
Under the Heritable Jurisdictions Act of 1746, the power of Clan Chiefs to act as judges was removed. The intention was to break to ties of loyalty from the clansmen to their Clan Chiefs, but it also resulted in many Clan Chiefs no longer considering themselves as looking after their people, but just becoming landlords.
Some Clan Chiefs realised that sheep were 10 times more profitable than people on their land, and this led to the Highland Clearances.
Some Clan Chiefs in the Highlands and Islands forced their tenants to emigrate to America, Canada and Australia. Others gave their tenants poorer patches of land, so forcing them to “voluntarily” emigrate. Not all went overseas, many moving to the Lowlands of Scotland or Northern England. These Highland Clearances coincided with the Industrial Revolution in Britain, with railways, coal mines, steel works, shipbuilding yards and cotton mills all needing large amounts of labour, but often in poor working and living conditions.
In 1840 my own Great Great Grandfather left the tiny island of Ulva, just to the west of Mull, and moved to Ayrshire in the Scottish Lowlands. His ancestors had lived on Ulva for many generations before him. I am not sure whether he left because of the Highland Clearances, or the Potato Famine, which hit Ireland and the west coast of Scotland at that time. Two generations later my Grandfather moved to Edinburgh.
During the following years many Scots emigrated, particularly to Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand, but still retaining links and an affection for their ancestors homeland. Many were very successful in their lives.
Emigration is still continuing and my own family is typical of this. My Scottish father married my English mother and I was brought up in England, but still visiting my Scottish relatives frequently as a child. My father’s brother and his family of my aunt and two cousins emigrated to Perth in Australia. One of my father’s sisters married a Canadian and went to live in Canada, another sister married a Scotsman but spent many years living in Wales because of his job. The last sister stayed in Scotland to look after my grandparents as they got older.
