On December 22nd 1715 James Francis Stewart, “The Old Pretender”, landed in Peterhead from France.
Unfortunately it was all too late as the uprising had fizzled out after Mar’s inability to press forward after Sherrifmuir, so we shall take a look at where James Stuart cane ashore, the loyal town of Peterhead. Much of this is taken directly from testimony taken around the time of the Uprising.
The people of Peterhead were in the main loyal to the Sturts, and were involved in the Jacobite uprisings from beginning to end. The town proudly remembers the numbers involved and the names of some…..
In total the number of Peterhead folk called to arms in defence of the town were 138 men and 10 women – yes Peterhead women prepared to take up arms to fight for the King – Janet Dickie, Margaret Greig, Geills Scott, Margaret Dun, Elspat Mitchell, Janet Cruickshank, Mrs Walker, Elisa Bruce and Widow Bodie and Widow Brown. They were ordered to arm themselves with “ane sufficient gun charged with powder and bullets, and four spare shots besides, and ane sufficient sword” and to meet at the Cross on the appointed day, where they marched and took part in military drills. 7 Spanish cannons, salvaged from the St Michael in 1588 were taken from their position on the Battery at Keith Inch, pulled across the sand bank at the Quinzie (Queenie), and mounted on the Tolbooth Green, looking down Broad Street for the defence of the interior of the town.
On 9th September 1715 the Earl of Mar, appointed Commander-in-Chief by the exiled ‘Pretender’ King James, issued a Proclamation at Braemar signalling the start of the 1715 uprising:
“Now is the time for all good men to show their zeal for His Majesty’s service, whose cause is so deeply concerned, and the relief of our native country from oppression, and a foreign yoke too heavy for us and our posterity to bear; and to endeavour the restoring, not only of our rightful and native king, but also our country to its ancient, free and independent constitution under him whose ancestors have reigned over us for so many generations.”
On 25th October the exiled King James wrote to his supporters in Scotland: “We have not been able to look upon the present condition of our kingdoms, or to consider their future prospect without all the horror and indignation which ought to fill the breast of every Scotsman. We have beheld a foreign family, aliens to our country, distant in blood, and strangers even to our language, ascend to the throne.
“We are come to take our part in all the dangers and difficulties to which any of our subjects from the greatest down to the meanest may be exposed on this important occasion, to relieve our subjects of Scotland from the hardships they groan under and to restore the kingdom to its ancient, free and independent state.
“But we hope for better things. We hope to see our just rights and those of the church and people of Scotland, once more settled in a free and independent Scots Parliament on their
On 31st October (Hallowe’en), the Magistrates and Town Council of Peterhead met at the Tolbooth (near the present Tolbooth Wynd), under the direction of the Secretary to the Earl of Erroll (from Slains Castle), George Leith, who was also Major General of Horses under the command of the Earl Marischal, with an order from the Earl of Mar, Chief Commander of King James’s forces in Scotland, which he read – ordering twelve of their number “to be ready mounted on horseback with sword and sufficient firelock, tomorrow precisely at six of the clock, to be witnesses to the said Mr Leith, his requiring the Lord Saltoun (of Fraserburgh) to give all due obedience to the foresaid orders.”
On 1st November (All Saints’ Day), 16 mounted “fenceable men” rode to Fraserburgh to proclaim the king. They were George Leith (Secretary to the Earl of Erroll), Bailie Cruickshank, Bailie Arbuthnot, Thomas Forbes, James Whyte, James Park, John Thomson, George Cruickshank, Alex. Smith (merchant), Robert Smith, John Logan, John Taylor, William Jollie, Alex. Forbes, James Blair & William Ramsay. The band of armed Jacobites rode off north towards Fraserburgh to “require” the Lord Saltoun to obey the orders from the Earl of Mar in support of King James.
About half a mile short of Fraserburgh the Peterhead band met Lord Saltoun and “obliged him to stop until the General’s orders were read to him.”It was demanded of him “what Party he inclined to join with” and that he “appear at His
Majesty’s Royal Standard”. Lord Saltoun answered that “he regarded neither Mr Leith nor his orders more than a footman” and further said that “at a whistle, he could raise a hundred men and cause them to fight all there present.”
Bailie Cruickshank answered that he believed they wouldn’t see them at Fraserburgh, where they immediately went and “proclaimed the King with all the solemnity we could, which we found did oblige the most of the inhabitants of that town.”
A party from the group went in search of arms, which they found in the chamber of the Clerk’s house. They broke open the door of the chamber with “ane big hammer” and found 24 new firelocks, proof marked, and all with A.R. (Anna Regina) on them, all charged with balls and gunpowder. The arms were taken back to Peterhead and handed to George Leith for the General’s use.
Later, a party of Jacobites, led by Irvine of Crimond, captured Lord Saltoun and forced him to go south to join the Jacobite army at Perth. Fraserburgh was then occupied by a Jacobite garrison, which compelled the inhabitants to contribute towards the payment of the soldiers.
On 13th November both the Earl Marischal and James Keith fought at the Battle of Sheriffmuir near Stirling. The Earl Marischal was 22 years old, and his brother 19 at the time of the Battle. James suffered a musket ball wound in his shoulder and spent the night in agony at Castle Drummond.
James Francis Edward Stuart (King James VIII) landed at Peterhead late on the night of 22nd December 1715 (O.S.), suffering from seasickness and fevers after having travelled 7 days (5 or 6 days according to other sources) by sea from Dunkirk in a well-armed vessel laden with a cargo of brandy. He arrived with six other gentlemen, including James Francis Fitzjames Stuart, grandson of King James VII, and Lieutenant Allan Cameron (a son of Lochiel), whom he sent immediately to Perth with the news of their arrival.
James Stuart was 27 years old, and this was the first time he had set foot in Britain since his father was driven into exile in 1688 (when James was six months old). He had lived at the Scots Court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris under the protection of the French King Louis XIV.
At first the small boat crept along the shore and attempted to enter the River Ugie, presumably to get as near as possible to Inverugie Castle, but “the night was wet and late the tide”, so they instead landed at the old pier of Port Henry Haven. The unexpected visitors were graciously received at the harbour by the Earl Marischal’s representative – the Baron Bailie Thomas Arbuthnot.
According to contemporary accounts they were “all habited like sea-officers, and passed for friends of the Pretender, going to Perth for his Service”. The vessel was despatched back to France with the news of James’s safe arrival.
They stayed the night at what is now Park Lane, near the Longate – at the house of the Baron Bailie’s brother-in-law, Captain James Park, merchant and ship owner. Here James wrote a short letter, dated “Peterhead, December 22nd, 1715” to say “I am, at last, thank God, in my own ancient kingdom as the bearer will tell you with all the particulars of my passage. I am weary and won’t delay a moment the bearer.”
A local song which commemorated the landing of the King at Peterhead was sung for many years after this event.
“King James is land’t at Peterhead, an honour great to us indeed.
The night was wet and late the tide, he couldna unto Ugie ride.
He slept a night in our good town, upon a good saft bed o’ down.
In the morning when he raise, the Marischal’s bailie brushed his claithes.
He’s come to set auld Scotland free from cursed Hanover tyranny.”
On the morning of 23rd December King James left by horseback, past Buchanhaven and then west by the old turnpike that skirted the south bank of the Ugie, to Inverugie Castle to visit the widowed Lady Mary Keith, mother of the Earl Marischal.
He passed the next night at Newburgh before carrying on to Aberdeen, accompanied only by a handful of horsemen, in ill health and in disguise. A contemporary account reports “’Tis said the Pretender is very much indisposed since his arrival, which is imputed to the great fatigue he has suffered at sea, and otherwise of late.”
The Earl Marischal and James Keith met King James for the first time at Fetteresso on 27th December, making their way to Dundee on 6th January, James Stuart entering the town with the Earl of Mar riding at his right hand and the Marischal at his left.
On 7th January 1716, they briefly set up court at Scone and arrived at Perth on 8th January.
On 30th January, the King, along with the two Keith brothers, the Earl of Mar and other main supporters, made for Montrose, where the King sailed back to France on 4th February 1716 on the ‘Maria Teresa of St Malo’. James Stuart had been only 43 days on Scottish soil. The Earl of Mar accompanied him back to France and served as his Secretary of State until 1722.
The first picture is a contemporary (if fanciful) illustration which appeared in a news sheet at the time. Clearly drawn by someone who had never visited Peterhead, it shows James Francis Stuart’s arrival the second at Proclamation Pend in the town of Peterhead celebrates arguably one of the most most historic event in the towns history.
