The Year of the Prince by George Kearton

Author:George Kearton [Kearton, George]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: RO:SF
Publisher: Sea Lion Press
Published: 2016-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

The Invasions of England, The First Phase - November 1745

The British Government now faced major difficulties and had little strategic option but to remain on the defensive. More French reinforcements for the Stuarts were likely (though no-one knew where they would land – the East Coast, anywhere from Northumberland down to Essex? the South Coast or the South West? - all had been rumoured). There were also storm clouds gathering in the North West with an Irish invasion expected daily. Nor were Wales and the South West ‘safe’; rumours were circulating of Jacobite preparations in both areas.

The one certainty was that Jacobite forces would invade from Scotland, but the British spies had not been able to ascertain which of the two possible routes (to the West of the Cheviots and Pennines or to the East) would be used - and just to confuse the spies even further, the Jacobite forces had left Edinburgh in one body, heading for Dalkeith in Midlothian.

The Government response to this maelstrom of rumour and uncertainty was cautious but it was difficult to see what else might be done without further reinforcements from Europe, where the British Regiments were now making their way to Ostend for an embarkation that would never take place.

Wade had been posted to the North East and took up post at Morpeth with 3,000 men. From here he would attempt to defend Newcastle-upon-Tyne but was also well-placed to move across the Pennines should the Jacobites only invade in the North West.

Ligonier had moved north to Chester with about 4,000 men in order to protect the North West from Irish invasion, from any Scots Jacobite incursion into Lancashire and from any Welsh threat.

Hawley set up camp at Bedford. Ultimately he could hope to protect London from there as well as respond to any French landings in Essex. His force numbered some 7,000 men. Their numbers had been boosted by the arrival of four Dutch Regiments supplied under treaty but, perhaps worryingly if the Jacobites were to succeed further North, his force also had two Scots contingents - including 600 men from the Royal Scots Fusiliers, and elements of the relatively recently formed Black Watch which had been established by Wade and confirmed as a marching (or front line) regiment only in 1739. Hawley’s army also included Brigade Major James Wolfe, who was to play a noble and heroic part in the remainder of the campaign as well as being a major participant in the Hanoverian Invasion of 1751.

All three Government commanders did what they could to raise local militia forces in support of the King but the results were decidedly mixed. Previous governments had been so complacent that the Militia Act allowing for local recruitment had not been re-enacted upon its expiry several years previously. Ligonier probably enjoyed most success in this regard, with the Earl of Derby assuming responsibility for Liverpool and also raising a small Regiment of blue-coated cavalry in Bury, just outside Manchester.

A single Jacobite army had marched out of Edinburgh.

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