To commemorate and honour the 274th anniversary of the Battle of Culloden, I thought I’d share some resources for researching Jacobite ancestors, some of these you will know from this blog’s resource page, and some are new.

A Brief History:

The Battle of Culloden was fought on 16 April 1746 between the Jacobites, a cause dedicated to placing the rightful Stuart line back on the thrones of Scotland, England and Ireland, and their opposition, the Hanoverians, who supported the Hanoverian bloodline of the oppressive King George I and George II of Hanover.

The Jacobite Army was defeated at Culloden, marking the end of Scotland as it was, signalling heavier oppressions than ever  before, the selling of over 900 Scots into slavery in the British Colonies, and the banning of Scottish national dress and the Gaelic Language.

Battle of Culloden, 16 April 1746.

The Jacobites have long been painted as either unreasonable fools and romanticised heroes, but only the opposite is true. The Jacobite rising of 1745-46 can only be viewed as a terrible tragedy that wiped out the Gaelic Culture. Approximately 2,500 Jacobites died at Culloden. My own ancestors are among those who died, and were sold as slaves.

Though the 1745-46 Rising did not end in victory for the Jacobites, their legacy carries on today, in the fact that they were brave and selfless men and women who were prepared to give their lives to free their country from oppression.

A White Cockade, a symbol of the Jacobites.

Jacobite Resources:

Jacobites.net

No Quarter Given – The Muster Roll of Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s Army, 1745-46 – Alistair Livingstone of Bachuil, Christian W.H Aikman, Betty Stuart Hart.

National Archives (nationalarchives.gov.uk) Jacobite Rising of 1745

The Jacobite Database of 1745 (jdb1745.net)

Highland Jacobites 1745, Jacobites of Lowland Scotland, England,  France, Ireland and Spain, Jacobites of Perthshire – Frances McDonnell

Jacobite Clans Podcast by Culture Perth and Kinross

Jacobite Gleanings from State Manuscripts; Short Sketches of Jacobites; the Transportations in 1745