Earl of Mar and the '15

The organizer and leader of the Jacobite rising in 1715 in Scotland was the Earl of Mar. He was a former pro-Unionist and Secretary of State for Scotland in Queen Anne´s last ministry (Szechi 77). One of the reasons for the rebellion seems to be Mar´s political ambitions. According to Szechi and Nicholson he was trying to maintain his power (77).

Mar had been a supporter of the Union Treaty and had helped ensure the easy transition of the monarchy to the House of Hanover. When he was rejected by George I, because the Whigs convinced the king that Mar had Jacobite sympathies, his only hope of a political future was by switching his support to the exiled House of Stuart (Nicholson). His reputation for changing sides when it suited him earned him the sobriquet "Bobbing John" (Nicholson).

The Jacobite standard was raised on 6 September 1715 in the north-east Highlands. There was wide support for the rebellion and the Jacobite forces initially vastly outnumbered the British government forces. If Mar had taken swift and vigorous action success would have been certain (Nicholson). But he had no idea how to run an army, still less how to conduct a military campaign. Hence the advances the rebels made and the success they scored in September and October 1715 in northern and western Scotland, such as the Master of Sinclair´s Burntisland raid, were almost entirely due to the dash and initiative of his subordinates. Instead of attacking the tiny government garrison in Scotland as soon as he had the opportunity, Mar camped at Perth and awaited French reinforcement (Szechi 77).

The Duke of Argyll, commander of the government forces in Scotland, had a much smaller number of men than Mar alone. Another Jacobite army in the south also wasted time and instead of attacking Argyll, marched into England with the intention of raising Lancashire (Nicholson).

Mar´s and Argyll´s armies encountered each other at Sherrifmuir on 13 November in an indecisive clash that glaringly reveals the nature of the Jacobite failure in the ´15 (Szechi 78). They had failed to seize the moment. Mar could have destroyed Argyll´s army but instead of attacking the last bits he withdrew from the field claiming victory – leaving Argyll´s army battered but intact (Szechi 78).

Not only Mar had failed in seizing the moment. The exiled Stuart ‘king’, James VIII of Scotland (usually known as James Edward, the Old Pretender), did not land in Scotland until 22 December 1715 by which time the government had regained the initiative. The Duke of Argyll had received reinforcements of battle-hardened Dutch troops (Nicholson). By February 1716 it was clear that Argyll had more than sufficient forces to crush the Jacobites if they dared to offer battle (Szeci 78). On 4 February 1716 James admitted defeat and returned to France with Mar (Szechi 78/Nicholson).

Bibliography: Szechi, Daniel. The Jacobites.Britain and Europe 1688-1788. Manchester: Manchester University Press. 1994.

Nicholson, Len. www.biggrowl.co.uk/JACOBITE.HTM.