In the last issue of MHM, we examined the first two failed attempts (in 1689 and 1708) to restore the Stuart dynasty by supporters of the exiled James II of England – also James VII of Scotland – who had been toppled in the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688. Poorly organised and confined largely to the Scottish Highlands, these early risings were unlikely to threaten the survival of a British government that could call on superior resources. Yet Jacobitism continued to attract support through the first half of the 18th century, and its supporters staged further attempts to restore the fallen royal house.
This time, we recall the risings of 1715 and 1719. At its peak, the first of these drew an estimated 20,000 to its banners. Jacobite forces were at large in England as well as Scotland. The 1719 rebellion, although more limited, involved Spanish troops fighting alongside Jacobites. What triggered these insurrections? And how did the London authorities prevail against them?
We ran and they ran
Jacobitism revived after the death of Queen Anne in August 1714 and the accession of George, Elector of Hanover, to the British throne as George I. He was chosen by the landed elite in Parliament to maintain the Protestant line of succession. The German-born monarch, who spoke almost no English, was an uninspiring foreigner with an indirect title to rule. The head of the Stuart family, James II/VII’s son James Francis Edward (b. 1688) – known to his followers as King James III of England and VIII of Scotland – wrote disparagingly that ‘we have beheld a foreign family, aliens to our country, distant in blood, and strangers even to our language, ascend the throne’. It was unsurprising that the prospect of a Hanoverian dynasty fostered a new mood of resistance.
Rise of the elites