The Field of Prestonpans, 1745

Coloured lithograph by Mouilleron after Sir William Allan, printed by Lemercier, published by E Gambert and Company, 25 Berners Street, London, 1 September 1852.

In July 1745, James II's grandson, Charles Edward Stuart, or 'The Young Pretender', landed in the Hebrides from a French frigate. On 19 August he raised his standard at Glenfinnan. About 2,000 Highland clansmen rallied to his cause and on 17 September he entered Edinburgh and proclaimed James III King with himself as Regent. At the time, most of the British Army was fighting on the continent in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). The government initially had to rely on inexperienced troops to oppose the rising. On 21 September 1745 General John Cope's soldiers were swept away by the Jacobites, under the command of Lieutenant General Lord George Murray, at Prestonpans near Edinburgh.