Jacobite Rising of 1715: The Fifteen and the Old Pretender

The Jacobite rising of 1715, known as “the Fifteen”, was an attempt to overthrow George I and restore the exiled Stuart dynasty in the person of James Francis Edward Stuart, the “Old Pretender”. Launched by the Earl of Mar in the Scottish Highlands in September 1715, it raised a large army but was fought to a standstill at Sheriffmuir and defeated at Preston in November. By February 1716 James had sailed back to France and the rising had collapsed.

Background

The Jacobites (from Jacobus, Latin for James) were supporters of the exiled King James II and VII, who had been overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688, and of his son James Francis Edward. When Queen Anne died on 1 August 1714, the crown passed under the Act of Settlement to the German Protestant George, Elector of Hanover, rather than to her Catholic half-brother James.

Many in Scotland resented the Acts of Union 1707, new taxes and the dominance of the Whigs in the new government. In England, Tories who had been driven from office by George I also flirted with Jacobitism. John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, a former Secretary of State for Scotland, was snubbed by the new king and turned to the Stuart cause.

The rising

Mar raised James’s standard at Braemar on 6 September 1715 (Old Style, the calendar then used in Britain). Highland clans and north-eastern lords joined him, and Jacobites took Perth on 14 September. Within weeks Mar commanded perhaps 12,000 to 20,000 men, far more than the government forces in Scotland under John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll.

Mar, however, stayed at Perth for weeks instead of advancing. Argyll, with only a few thousand regular troops, held the line of the River Forth at Stirling, which blocked the main route south. Mar, nicknamed “Bobbing John” for his changes of political loyalty, was an able politician but had little military experience, and he waited for reinforcements and news from France. A force under Brigadier William Mackintosh of Borlum crossed the Firth of Forth and moved south to join Jacobites from the Scottish Borders and Northumberland, led by Thomas Forster and the Earl of Derwentwater.

Sheriffmuir and Preston

On 13 November 1715 Mar finally moved south and met Argyll’s much smaller army at Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane. In a confused battle each army’s right wing routed the opposing left. Neither side gained a clear victory, but Mar withdrew to Perth, and his chance to break through to the south was lost.

On the same days, the southern Jacobite army had marched into Lancashire, hoping for an English Catholic rising. At Preston it was attacked by government troops under General Charles Wills from 12 November and surrounded when General George Carpenter arrived. Forster surrendered on 14 November with around 1,500 men.

James arrives too late

The death of Louis XIV on 1 September 1715 (New Style) had already ended hopes of significant French help. James himself landed at Peterhead only on 22 December 1715. He held court at Scone, near Perth, but his army was shrinking and Argyll’s was growing with Dutch reinforcements.

As government troops advanced through the snow, the Jacobites burned villages in their path and retreated to Montrose. On 4 February 1716 James and Mar sailed for France, leaving their followers to disperse.

Consequences

The Earl of Derwentwater and Viscount Kenmure were beheaded on Tower Hill on 24 February 1716. Many of the prisoners taken at Preston were tried in Lancashire and London, and several dozen were hanged. Hundreds of ordinary rebels were transported to the American colonies as indentured labourers, and estates were confiscated. The Earl of Nithsdale escaped from the Tower of London the night before his planned execution, disguised in women’s clothes with the help of his wife Winifred.

The government passed a Disarming Act in 1716 and later built barracks and, from the 1720s, military roads in the Highlands. Jacobitism survived, leading to a small Spanish-backed rising in 1719 and to the much larger Jacobite rising of 1745, which ended at Culloden in 1746.

Key people

James Francis Edward Stuart (1688–1766) was the Catholic son of James II and VII, raised in exile in France. John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675–1732) led the rising and spent the rest of his life in exile. John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll (1680–1743), a veteran of Marlborough’s campaigns, commanded the government army in Scotland and was criticised in London for not pursuing the Jacobites harder.

Timeline

• 1714, 1 August: Queen Anne dies; George I succeeds her.
• 1715, 1 September (New Style): Louis XIV dies, ending hopes of French support.
• 1715, 6 September: The Earl of Mar raises the Jacobite standard at Braemar.
• 1715, 14 September: Jacobites seize Perth.
• 1715, 13 November: The Battle of Sheriffmuir ends indecisively.
• 1715, 14 November: The Jacobite army in England surrenders at Preston.
• 1715, 22 December: James Francis Edward Stuart lands at Peterhead.
• 1716, 4 February: James and Mar sail from Montrose for France.
• 1716, 24 February: Derwentwater and Kenmure are executed in London.

Why it matters

The Fifteen was the most serious Jacobite challenge to the Hanoverian succession in terms of numbers, yet poor leadership and lack of foreign help doomed it. Its failure secured the new dynasty and the Union, while the government’s response in the Highlands and the memory of the rising shaped the later history of Jacobitism.