#OnThisDay 16 Apr 1746, Culloden became the final chapter of the Jacobite Rising. It was over in under an hour, but the consequences would stretch far beyond the battlefield.

On the moor that day, it wasn’t simply Scotland against England—as often believed—but a brutal reckoning between rival loyalties, with Scots fighting on both sides.

The government line held firm. The Highland charge broke.

What followed wasn’t just defeat—it was erasure: of language, dress, and identity. Culloden didn’t just end a rising. It rewrote a nation.

Medicine kit belonging to Stuart Threipland (1716-1805). A medical doctor and staunch Jacobite, Threipland was appointed Physician-in-Chief to Charles Edward Stuart, aka Bonnie Prince Charlie, during the 1745 Jacobite Rising. After the catastrophic defeat at Culloden, Threipland disguised himself and fled to France. However, he was ultimately able to return to Scotland, buy back his family estate, and acquire such prominence in medicine that he was elected President of the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.

When The Rain Comes - Jacobites

1986 Rain-soaked folk rock ache

On 31st October 1745 the Jacobite Army and Bonnie Prince Charlie began the march south to England.

Their initial reception in Scotland was distinctly cool. MacLeod and Macdonald of Sleat both refused to rise on the grounds that the Stuart prince had not arrived with the French invasion force they had demanded. Cameron of Lochiel and Ranald Macdonald of Clanranald urged Charles Edward to go home. The prince suavely refused, and over the course of the next three weeks persuaded Lochiel and Clanranald to bring out their clans. He did so primarily by convincing them that a Scottish rising would bring on a French invasion and that the English Jacobites would then in turn rise against the government. The 'Forty-Five proper is generally taken as having commenced when Charles Edward mustered his army of about 1500 men at Glenfinnan on 19th August.

From there the Jacobites quickly marched east and then south. The government garrison in Scotland, commanded by Sir John Cope, was weak and in large part composed of raw recruits. Cope none the less threw together a field army and marched north from Edinburgh to oppose the Jacobites. His army, however, moved slowly and its failure to pick up support from the whig clans shook Cope's confidence. In consequence he backed away from a potential battle at the Corrieyairack pass and retreated away from the Jacobites to Inverness. The Jacobite army promptly debouched from the highlands into Perthshire, picking up recruits all the time, notably Lord, David Ogilvy, Ewen Macpherson of Cluny and most importantly Lord George Murray.

By the time the army arrived before Edinburgh on 17 September it numbered about 1800. The city fell without a real fight the same day and so when Cope disembarked from the ships that had brought him back south from Aberdeen he felt obliged to offer battle in the hope of stemming the Jacobite tide.

Their numbers swelled to around 2500, they "enjoyed" victory at Prestonpans on 21st September effectively delivered most of Scotland into Jacobite hands, at least temporarily, and encouraged one cautious leading Jacobite, George Mackenzie, third earl of Cromarty and hi son John, Lord MacLeod.

The key question for the Jacobites was what to do next. Charles Edward favoured advancing into England to link up with the French army he was confident would soon invade it and bring out the English Jacobites. He finally carried the Jacobite grand council by one vote and the invasion of north-west England was launched.

The Jacobite forces were gaining recruits as they marched south, their numbers were about 6,000 men and included French, English and Irish troops. Four French ships had been despatched with weapons and supplies.