The Jacobite Manchester Regiment:
Raised in Lancashire and Manchester with a nucleus of officers from the Duke of Perth's Regiment, this was the only largely English regiment in the Jacobite army, and it was commanded by Colonel Francis Townley, a Catholic who had served in the French army. At its peak it was about 300 men and marched to Derby but many men were lost by desertion on the retreat and as it then joined the garrison of Carlisle (by which time it was only about 115 strong) it was lost when the city was surrendered on 30th December 1745. Despite apparently being promised clemency, an example was made of the survivors in order to deter other English supporters of the Jacobite cause. Townley and almost all his officers and NCOs were hanged, drawn and quartered (a brutal and theatrical mediaeval punishment designed to intimidate), and the surviving rank and file were mostly deported to the colonies to serve as slaves.
A witness at Townley's show trial said that the regiment's colours had the words Liberty and Property on one side and Church and Country on the other, possibly on a St George's red cross.
The Jacobite flags captured at Culloden were burned by the public hangman in Edinburgh and we have a list of those burned - but the descriptions are not very complete. A few Jacobite flags still survive, as do descriptions of a few others no longer in existence.
The red flag bordered blue with a central white square may have been one of the Prince's standards:
Very cool! I feel an urge to paint Jacobites.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jon. :-) What more could I ask? There are a fair number yet to come... But I will get those Piedmontese flags done soon too; that's the plan, anyway, but they are generally more time consuming than the Jacobite flags.
DeleteAll the best,
David.
Lovely flags and an interesting, if gory, bit of history about the regiment too. I'm always amazed at how small many of the Regiments were during this and other 'risings.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Steve. :-) I confess I find the '45 a bit of a grim episode in general; and as a wargamer I think the Jacobites are a bit of a one trick pony, with their mad highland charge which, if it worked, worked well, but otherwise, not so good - as we see at Culloden, in fact! So tactically it is not so exciting.
DeleteAll the best,
David.
Wonderful flags, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWillz.
Thank you, Willz. :-) More to come...
DeleteAll the best,
David.
Very good to see these David. I have the figures and now the motivation to paint them.
ReplyDeleteLovely work as ever.
Thank you! I look forward to seeing your troops with the flags sometime...:-)
DeleteAll the best,
David.
Sir David, Great to see you are still at it! I would love to see a Red &White Austrian flag for the War of Secession or 7YW. The central design is horizontal not vertical. Best regards, Bill
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bill. Good to hear from you after so long. :-) I hope all's well with you. I do have such a flag which I created for someone many years ago and I can let you have a copy. Can you let me have your latest email address, please? (Best to send it to me via the Contact Form in the left column to avoid your email being hijacked.)
DeleteAll the best,
David.