John Erskine, 22nd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar

The Whigs, within a year of George's accession, win an overwhelming victory in the general election of 1715.

The Prince of Wales (the future King George II) is in the same year elected as Governor of the South Sea Company at the election of directors.

Both the new King, George I, and his son, the Prince of Wales, have significant holdings in the company, as do some prominent Whig politicians, including James Cragg, the Earl of Halifax and Sir Joseph Jekyll.

James Cragg, as Postmaster General, is responsible for intercepting mail on behalf of the government to obtain political and financial information.

All Tory politicians are removed from the board and replaced with businessmen.

Whigs Horatio Townshend, brother in law of Robert Walpole, and the Duke of Argyll are elected directors.

The new government leads to a revival of the companies share value, which had fallen below its issue price.

The previous government had failed to make the interest payments to the company for the last two years, owing more than one million.

The new administration insists the debt be written off, but allows the company to issue new shares to stockholders to the value of the missed payments.

At around ten million pounds, this now represents half the share capital issued in the entire country.

The company in 1714 had two thousand to three thousand shareholders, more than either of its rivals.

Several members of the defeated Tory Party sympathize with the Jacobites, and some disgruntled Tories side with a Jacobite rebellion which becomes known as "The Fifteen".

The Jacobites seek to enthrone Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Stuart (called "James III" by his supporters and "the Pretender" by his opponents).

The Pretender's supporters, led by Lord Mar, an embittered Scottish nobleman who had previously supported the "Glorious Revolution", instigates rebellion in Scotland where support for Jacobitism is stronger than in England.

"The Fifteen", however, is a dismal failure; Lord Mar's battle plans are poor, and the Pretender arrives late with too little money and too few arms.

The rebellion by the end of the year has all but collapsed.

Tory Jacobites in England, following the arrival from Hanover of George I in 1714, have conspired to organize armed rebellions against the new Hanoverian government.

They are indecisive and frightened by government arrests of their leaders.

The Treaty of Utrecht had ended hostilities between France and Britain.

From France, as part of widespread Jacobite plotting, James Stuart, the Pretender, has been corresponding with the Earl of Mar.

James calls on Mar in the summer of 1715 to raise the Clans.

Mar, nicknamed Bobbin' John, rushes from London to Braemar.

He summons clan leaders on August 27, 1715, to "a grand hunting-match".

Mar proclaims James as "their lawful sovereign" on September 6 and raises the old Scottish standard.

Mar's proclamation brings in an alliance of clans and northern Lowlanders, and they quickly overrun many parts of the Highlands.

Mar's Jacobites capture Perth on September 14 without opposition.

His army grows to around eight thousand men.

A force of fewer than two thousand men under the Duke of Argyll holds the Stirling plain for the government and Mar indecisively keeps his forces in Perth, waiting for the Earl of Seaforth to arrive with a body of northern clans.

Seaforth is delayed by attacks from other clans loyal to the government.

Planned risings in Wales, Devon and Cornwall are forestalled by the government arresting the local Jacobites.

A rising in the north of England starting around October 6 grows to about three hundred horsemen under Thomas Forster, a Northumberland squire.

They join forces with a rising in the south of Scotland under Viscount Kenmure.

Mar sends a Jacobite force under Brigadier William Mackintosh of Borlum to join them.

They leave Perth on October 10 and ...

...are ferried across the Firth of Forth from Burntisland to East Lothian.

Here they are diverted into an attack on an undefended Edinburgh, but having seized Leith citadel, they are chased away by the arrival of Argyll's forces.

Mackintosh's force of about two thousand now make their way south and meet their allies at Kelso in the Scottish Borders on October 22, and spend a few days arguing over their options.

The Scots want to fight government forces in the vicinity or attack Dumfries and Glasgow, but the English are determined to march towards Liverpool and lead them to expect twenty thousand recruits in Lancashire.

The Highlanders resist marching into England and there are some mutinies and defections, but they press on.

The Jacobites, instead of finding the expected welcome, are met instead by hostile militia armed with pitchforks and very few recruits.

They are unopposed in Lancaster and as they reach Preston on November 9 find about fifteen recruits, bringing their force to around four thousand.

Then Hanoverian forces (including the Cameronians) arrive to besiege them at the Battle of Preston, and on November 14 the surviving Jacobites surrender.

Mar's forces in Scotland, at the Battle of Sheriffmuir on November 13, are unable to defeat a smaller force led by the Duke of Argyll and ...

...Mar retreats to Perth while the government army builds up.

A ship from France brings the Pretender, belatedly, to Peterhead on December 22, 1715, but he is too consumed by melancholy and fits of fever to inspire his followers.

He briefly sets up court at Scone, Perthshire, visits his troops in Perth and orders the burning of villages to hinder the advance of the Duke of Argyll through deep snow.