Lieutenant General George Wade, Commander in Chief of all his Majesties Forces in Scotland, 1736

Mezzotint by A Vanhaeken after J Vanderbank, published 1736.

During the 1720s and 1730s, Wade (1673-1748) oversaw the construction of barracks, bridges and roads to assist in the control of the Scottish Highlands. This was in the aftermath of the 1st Jacobite Rebellion (1715). He had earlier served in the Nine Years War (1688-1697) and War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714).

In the 1740s he served in Flanders during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). During the 2nd Jacobite Revolt (1745-1746), Wade initially commanded the British Army troops, but having been wrong-footed by the Jacobites' advance into England he was replaced as commander-in-chief by the Duke of Cumberland.