Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-46 (”The Forty-five”)
1745 CE to 1746 CE
The major Jacobite Risings are called the Jacobite Rebellions by the ruling governments.
The "First Jacobite Rebellion" and "Second Jacobite Rebellion" are known respectively as "The Fifteen" and "The Forty-Five", after the years in which they occur (1715 and 1745).
The Jacobite rising of 1745 is the attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for the exiled House of Stuart.
The rising occurs during the War of the Austrian Succession when most of the British Army is on the European continent.
Charles Edward Stuart, commonly known as "Bonnie Prince Charlie" or "the Young Pretender", sails to Scotland and raises the Jacobite standard at Glenfinnan in the Scottish Highlands, where he is supported by a gathering of Highland clansmen.
The march south begins with an initial victory at Prestonpans near Edinburgh.
The Jacobite army, now in bold spirits, marches onward to Carlisle, over the border in England.
When it reaches Derby, some British divisions are recalled from the Continent and the Jacobite army retreats north to Inverness where the last battle on Scottish soil takes place on a nearby moor at Culloden.
The Battle of Culloden ends with the final defeat of the Jacobite cause, and with Charles Edward Stuart fleeing with a price on his head, before finally sailing to France.
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As a result of these, any failure to pledge loyalty to the victorious King William is dealt with severely.
The most infamous example of this policy is the Massacre of Glencoe in 1692.
Jacobite rebellions continue on into the mid-eighteenth century until the son of the last Catholic claimant to the throne, (James III & VIII), mounts a final campaign in 1745.
The Jacobite forces of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the "Bonnie Prince Charlie" of legend, are defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
She is succeeded by her second cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover, who is a descendant of the Stuarts through his maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, daughter of James VI & I.
A series of Jacobite rebellions breaks out in an attempt to restore the Stuart monarchy, but all ultimately fail.
Several Planned French invasions are attempted, also with the intention of placing the Stuarts on the throne.
Northwest Europe (1744–1755): Jacobite Rebellion, Colonial Rivalries, and Industrial Advances
The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745
In 1745, long-simmering Jacobite discontent flared into open rebellion. Charles Edward Stuart—the Young Pretender—landed in the Scottish Highlands and rallied clans to his cause, aiming to restore the Stuart dynasty. After early victories at Prestonpans and the occupation of Edinburgh, his forces crossed into England. Yet by 1746, the rebellion was crushed at the Battle of Culloden, where British troops under the Duke of Cumberland delivered a decisive and brutal defeat. The aftermath ushered in harsh reprisals: Highland culture was suppressed, Jacobite leaders were executed or exiled, and the clan system was systematically dismantled, extinguishing a centuries-old social order.
Britain and France: Intensifying Colonial Rivalry
The mid-1740s to early 1750s saw escalating Anglo-French competition over overseas territories, particularly in North America, the Caribbean, and India. These conflicts, part of a broader imperial rivalry, included frequent naval skirmishes and proxy wars that destabilized the colonial frontier. These tensions were a prelude to the global conflict that would become the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763).
The British government, wary of the financial strain of sustained conflict, turned again to its most powerful trading institution. In 1742, Parliament had extended the United East India Company's exclusive license until 1783 in exchange for a £1 million loan. This extension ensured continued revenues from Indian trade and reinforced the company's central role in supporting the British imperial and fiscal apparatus.
The 1750 Gaol Fever Outbreak
In May 1750, another devastating outbreak of gaol fever (typhus) struck the heart of London’s legal establishment. Originating in the filthy confines of Newgate Prison, the disease spread into the adjacent Old Bailey courtroom during the Lent assizes. Among the dead were Sir Samuel Pennant, the Lord Mayor of London, and a large number of court officers and jurors. This tragedy highlighted the appalling conditions of British prisons and the permeability of disease between carceral and civic spaces, reigniting calls for penal reform—though substantive change would remain slow.
The Hellfire Club and Elite Dissent
In this era of formal Enlightenment and state consolidation, a more shadowy aspect of elite culture flourished. Around 1749, Sir Francis Dashwood revived the Hellfire Club, more formally known as the Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe. Its rumored rituals—held at Medmenham Abbey—and its motto, Fais ce que tu voudras ("Do what thou wilt"), shocked polite society. Though shrouded in secrecy, the club attracted powerful political figures and prominent members of the aristocracy. Earlier iterations had been founded as early as 1719 by Philip, Duke of Wharton, and continued to proliferate, especially in Ireland. These clubs embodied a paradox of the period: outward rationalism masking inner libertinism among the ruling class.
John Harrison and the Mechanization of Precision
Meanwhile, John Harrison advanced his efforts to resolve the longitude problem. His H2 and H3 marine chronometers—refined in the 1740s and early 1750s—incorporated mechanisms designed to resist the distortions of humidity, temperature, and ship movement. Harrison’s work represented the forefront of mechanical innovation, challenging long-standing astronomical approaches and offering Britain a competitive navigational advantage. Though official recognition remained elusive, his chronometers laid the groundwork for reliable sea navigation, vital in an era of intensifying global trade and naval warfare.
William Champion and Zinc Metallurgy
In the realm of industry, William Champion revolutionized British metallurgy with the first commercial-scale zinc production. Building on methods similar to those long practiced at the Zawar mines in India, Champion adapted the process to Bristol’s industrial infrastructure. His innovation involved solving a complex thermodynamic problem: zinc vaporizes at 907°C, but requires reduction at 1000°C, necessitating a sealed furnace with a vapor condensation mechanism. Although no direct transmission of knowledge from India can yet be demonstrated, Champion’s success reflected a growing capacity for independent scientific problem-solving and the dawn of modern chemical engineering in Northwest Europe.
Denmark-Norway: Quiet Reform and Commercial Development
In Denmark-Norway, Frederick V continued the cautious modernization of his dual monarchy. While not a major actor in the Anglo-French rivalry, Denmark-Norway pursued regional economic consolidation. Copenhagen’s shipyards and merchants grew in importance, while gradual administrative reforms continued. However, the North Atlantic dependencies—Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Shetland, and Orkney—remained on the periphery, economically dependent on fishing and trade in wool and dried cod, and largely untouched by the era’s industrial innovations.
Ireland: Repression and Emigration
The penal codes remained harshly enforced in Ireland, marginalizing the Catholic majority and restricting political and economic participation. Rural poverty deepened, especially in western counties, driving a new wave of emigration to North America. Though Dublin and Belfast retained pockets of commercial vitality and Enlightenment culture, the broader island remained socially polarized and economically stagnant.
Intellectual and Cultural Milestones
The literary and intellectual culture of Northwest Europe continued to flourish. In 1755, Samuel Johnson published his Dictionary of the English Language, an extraordinary achievement that standardized English spelling and grammar. Simultaneously, elite social spaces—from libraries and salons to reading chairs and secret societies—supported a wide range of intellectual expression, from moral philosophy to occult experimentation. The period’s cultural life reflected the tensions between Enlightenment order and aristocratic indulgence.
Between 1744 and 1755, Northwest Europe experienced profound shifts: the last Jacobite rebellion was extinguished, Britain and France entered increasingly violent imperial rivalry, and transformative scientific and industrial advances began reshaping the region's technological capabilities. From the disease-ridden prisons of London to the smelting furnaces of Bristol, from secret libertine societies to precision marine chronometers, the age was marked by paradox—order and disorder, discipline and decadence—on the cusp of global conflict and industrial revolution.
These include the Catholic Duke of Perth, his uncle Lord John Drummond of Fairntower, Lord Lovat, Donald Cameron of Lochiel and Lord Linton, with John Murray of Broughton an intermediary between the Highlands and the Lowlands and linking the Association with the House of Stuart.
James II had been deposed as the King of England in 1688 in favor of his daughter, Mary, and her husband the Protestant Prince of Orange—William III of the house of Orange-Nassau.
There remains a significant element of the population of the British Isles that hops for the return of the Stuart family as monarchs.
King Louis XIV of France had shown great support for Stuart cause.
Indeed, in 1715, France had sponsored an uprising in Scotland, which the pretender James had joined, but it was defeated.
Forbidden to return to France by the new king, Louis XV, James had sought sanctuary elsewhere.
Finally, Pope Clement XI had offered James and his family the use of Palazzo Muti and a lifetime annuity of eight thousand Roman scudi.
It was here, in the Palazzo Muti, that Charles Edward Stuart, was born and had lived his whole life.
Charles has much more charisma than his father James, and now Louis XV is favorably disposed toward helping him create another uprising in Scotland.
Charles had sent Drummond of Balhaldy, who Louis XV had sent as an emissary to the Stuart "court" in Rome, to England in spring 1744 on an intelligence mission.
Balhaldy had reported that the English Tory Jacobites wish for Charles to come as soon as possible.
Charles had written to Louis XV, his second cousin, on July 24, saying he had been informed that England could be retaken without civil war as it is stripped of soldiers.
In August, he meets Murray of Broughton at Tuileries Palace, who tells him he will not get the support of more than four thousand Highlanders and that he must drop his plans to come to Scotland.
When Murray says French backing is extremely unlikely given their defensive position in Flanders, Charles replies that he is "determined to come the following summer to Scotland, though with a single footman".
The Jacobite (Stuart) rebellion of 1745, which attempts to put “Bonnie Prince Charles” on the British throne, is crushed in Scotland.
The Association in Scotland had written in early 1745 that it objected to a Jacobite rising if it was not supported by six thousand French soldiers; however, Lord Linton had been unable to find a safe way of transporting the letter to Charles.
Charles goes to Paris again in defiance of a French government ban of his presence there, determined to go to Scotland to force the French to back him.
Charles borrows forty thousand livres from Parisian banker George Walters (who later extends Charles' credit to one hundred and twenty thousand) to purchase broadswords.
The commander of the Irish Brigade of the French Army, Lord Clare, introduces Charles to Irish shipowners who agree to help him get to Scotland with money, volunteers and arms.
Sir Walter Ruttlidge gives Charles the captured sixty-four-gun British warship Elisabeth, which has on board one hundred volunteers from Clare's Regiment of the Irish Brigade, fifteen hundred muskets and eighteen hundred broadswords.
Charles' ship is to be the sixteen-gun privateer Du Teillay, which also had on board muskets, swords and four thousand louis d'or.
Volunteers drawn from the Irish Brigade of France are to form a bridgehead for the main French invasion, but due to the vigilance of the English Channel fleet, only one composite Irish battalion (five hundred men) will land in Scotland where they will fight bravely in the campaign.
The Du Teillay had sailed from Nantes on June 22, 1745, meeting the Elisabeth at Brittany on July 4 and then sailing together for Scotland.
The British officers of the Lion believe that the French ships are bound for North America, so do not inform the government.
The Du Teillay sails on and ...