Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
English parliament favoured union through fear
of Jacobite sympathies in Scotland being ex-
ploited by its enemies, the French.
3 SKYE MUSEUM OF ISLAND LIFE
(
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)
Bonnie Prince
Charlie
The Jacobite rebellions of the 18th century
sought to restore a Catholic Stuart king to the
British throne. James Edward Stuart (Jacobite is
derived from the Latin word for James), known
as the Old Pretender, was the son of James VII/
II. The Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart - better known as Bonnie Prince
Charlie or the Young Pretender - landed in Scotland in 1745 to lead the final Jacobite up-
rising. Raised in France, he had little military experience, didn't speak Gaelic and had a
shaky grasp of English. Nevertheless, after rallying an army of Highlanders at Glenfinnan,
he marched southwards and captured Edinburgh in September 1745. He got as far south as
Derby in England, but success was short-lived; a Hanoverian army led by the duke of
Cumberland harried him all the way back to the Highlands, where Jacobite dreams were
finally extinguished at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
4 WAR & PEACE MUSEUM (
CLICK HERE
)
The Highland Clearances
In the aftermath of the Jacobite rebellions, Highland dress, the bearing of arms and the
bagpipes were outlawed, and the Highlands came under military control. The clansmen,
no longer of any use as soldiers and uneconomical as tenants, were evicted from their
homes and farms by the Highland chieftains to make way for sheep. A few stayed to work
the sheep farms; many more were forced to seek work in the cities, or to eke a living from
crofts (small holdings) on poor coastal land. Men who had never seen the sea were forced
to take to boats to try their luck at herring fishing, and many thousands emigrated to North
America, Australia and New Zealand in the late-18th and 19th centuries.
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