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The Jacobite Cause 1644-1746 |
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Introduction James VI began his personal rule of Scotland in 1584. From 1603 until his death in 1625 James also ruled England and Ireland from London. The clan of Gregor became the object of his most vehement hatred and the most unpardonable people in all the Highlands. After Glen Fruin in 1603, he proscribed the entire Clan and decreed under pain of death, the abolition of the very name of MacGregor. In further legislation of 1611 and 1612, James urged the hunting down of surviving recalcitrant MacGregors with rewards specified for their heads. James VI died in 1625 and was succeeded by his son as Charles I. Among the Acts of Parliament during Charles’s only visit to Scotland as ruler in 1633 was a further proscription of the clan, which licensed anyone to hunt down MacGregors and be rewarded with their property. One would have thought that this treatment of our ancestors by James and Charles might have motivated the undying hatred of the survivors for the House of Stuart. But this would not be the case. Instead, when Charles I became enmeshed in the religious conflicts which eventually led to his execution by Cromwell in London in 1649, MacGregors fought in the army of the Marquis of Montrose on behalf of the King. Later, in 1653, MacGregors joined General Middleton in a rising against Commonwealth rule. As a reward of sorts, the proscription was lifted by Charles II in 1661. In 1689, following the flight into exile of James VII, Clan Gregor came out with Bonnie Dundee for James at the battle of Killiecrankie, for which the proscription was re-imposed in 1691. MacGregors fought in the Jacobite Risings of 1715, 1719 and 1745 in favour of the Stuarts. It was only in 1774 that a ruler of the upstart house of Hanover repealed the proscription on the name of MacGregor.
In 1633, King Charles I on his only visit to Scotland since he became King in 1625, re-enacted the punitive legislation against the MacGregors, emphasising that the survivors should take service with other lords and adopt their name.
In 1649 Cromwell had Charles I executed and proclaimed himself the Lord Protector. The Covenanter Government in Scotland were opposed to the execution of the King and raised another army in support of his son, whom they proclaimed Charles II at Scone. (This was the last monarch to be crowned in Scotland) Although there is a record of the MacGregor chief with his followers being summoned to join this army, there is no evidence that he did so. Charles II and his Scots army suffered defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Charles himself escaped into exile but most of the survivors were transported to the Americas as indentured servants. In 1653 the Earl of Glencairn raised a small army in the Highlands which, according to surviving records, included some MacGregors. Glencairn and his successor General Middleton, conducted a guerrilla war against the Commonwealth army of occupation but they were ultimately defeated and dispersed at Dalnaspidal in 1654. See - Clan Gregor with Glencairn 1651-60 An act of April 1661, following the Restoration of King Charles II, repealed the punitive legislation against the Clan Gregor – permitting MacGregors to use their names again – but, despite promises, there was no restitution of the lands lost to Clan Campbell. Charles II died in 1685 and was succeeded by his brother as James VII of Scotland and II of England. James himself was overtly Catholic but he did not have a Catholic heir, so his reign was reluctantly tolerated in his Protestant realms of Scotland and England. The birth of a son and heir in 1688 led to an uprising in favour of Mary, his daughter, who was married to the Protestant Prince of Orange. John Graham of Claverhouse, known as Bonnie Dundee, raised a Highland army in support of James which, in July 1689, defeated a Government army at the Pass of Killiecrankie. Claverhouse was killed at the moment of victory. Command was assumed by an Irishman, Colonel Cannon, but most of the Highlanders deserted him and the rising ended in a skirmish at Cromdale in 1690. See - Clan Gregor and Killiecrankie 1689-90 The Clan Gregor is known to have participated in the rising under Bonnie Dundee, and were nominally commanded by Gregor, the 15th chief. It does not appear that Gregor actually took the field and so the MacGregors were led in action by Lt-Col Donald MacGregor of Glengyle, the father of Rob Roy. After the failure of the Rising, a number of leading MacGregors submitted and suffered punishment including Lt-Col Donald who was confined to prison in Edinburgh until he took the oath of allegiance to William and Mary. Donald died shortly after his release. Gregor also died in 1693. An act of June 1693 reimposed the proscriptions of 1603 and 1633 on Clan Gregor. William & Mary were succeeded as monarchs of the three kingdoms by Queen Anne. In 1707 the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England was pushed through by bribery with huge opposition from the common people of Scotland. Anne died in 1714 without a living child to succeed her. She was followed by George, elector of Hanover, as George I. It has been reckoned that George stood 50th in line of succession but was the first suitable Protestant descendant of James VI. James, the Old Pretender, (born 1688, the son of the deposed James VII and II) lived in exile in France. There was an abortive attempt at a rising on his behalf in 1708, then a major insurrection in 1715, another supported by Spanish arms in 1719 and the final rising of 1745/46. What of Clan Gregor, proscribed once more and owing no favours to the Stuart dynasty? It appears that loyalty to the ancient line of the Kings of Scotland continued to be the motivation of the leading men of the clan. By now, more than a century had passed since Glen Fruin and the original acts of Proscription, descendants of Clan Gregor were scattered throughout Scotland bearing a wide variety of names and allegiances, but some MacGregors would participate in every one of the Jacobite risings of the 18th century. Archibald of Kilmannan, succeeded Gregor of Stukinroy as chief in 1693, but he took little part in the affairs of his people. He conveyed his estate of Craig Rostan to Rob Roy and went to Ireland where he eventually died in 1726. In 1714 the Government offered pensions to recognized clan chiefs provided they took the oath of allegiance to the new dynasty and abjured the Stuarts. Rob Roy and a number of leading MacGregors got together at Blair, under the auspices of the Duke of Atholl to elect Alexander Drummond of Balhaldies as chief in order to obtain a share of the money on offer. Balhaldies was a noted Jacobite plotter, but no soldier, so when the Earl of Mar raised the standard of James VIII in 1715, the MacGregor contingent was led by Rob Roy. Rob Roy, himself had been outlawed for debt in 1712 at the instance of the Duke of Montrose. Montrose and the Duke of Argyll were bitter rivals for power, so Argyll had protected Rob Roy, permitted some raiding of Montrose’s estate and allowed Rob to continue his cattle trade from secure farms near Argyll's seat at Inveraray. In 1715, the Government army in Scotland was commanded by the Duke of Argyll, so Rob Roy was careful to avoid coming into direct conflict with his protector. The Clan Gregor contingent under Rob Roy therefore participated in various minor actions of the Rising on behalf of the Jacobites in the Lennox and, for a time, occupied Falkland in Fife from where they levied food and supplies. However, at the set piece Battle of Sherrifmuir in November 1715, Rob Roy and his MacGregors stood aside, protecting the fords of the river Allan rather than join the battle line. The Battle itself was indecisive, Mar probably won but both sides retreated and the Jacobite army began to break up. See - Clan Gregor in the 1715 Rising
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