First Jacobite Revolt, (The '15)
Rising in favour of James Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender, in the aftermath of the succession of George I. While the Hanoverian succession was initially popular, George's own behaviour - his lack of any English, public preference for Hanover over England, and the Hanoverians who came with him - started to produce some discontent. Jacobite supporters started to prepare for revolt in England and Wales, but their preparations were known in London, and action was taken to prevent any real danger in England. The earl of Ormonde was forced to flee to France (August 1715), weakening the chances of any revolt in England. On 6 September 1715, the earl of Mar raised the banner of revolt in Scotland, and James Edward prepared to travel north. The revolt soon developed into two seperate campaigns. One started with a small scale revolt in north east England, and after a failed attack on Newcastle the rebels crossed into Scotland, before finally attempting to raise revolt in the north west of England, where the Jacobite cause was popular, but failed to gain any support, and on 13 November were forced to surrender. The same day saw the battle of Sherrif Muir, which ended the earl of Mar's active military revolt, although he was not actually defeated. James Edward did not arrive in Scotland until the end of December, by which time his cause was already doomed, and he and Mar abandoned their army in the face of a more active response from a now much larger loyalist army led by William Cadogan, who replaced John Campbell, second duke of Argylle. The Pretender took ship for France on 4 February 1715, and all fighting was over by April 1716.
How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (6 November 2000), First Jacobite Revolt, (The '15), http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_jacobite15th.html