“Reminiscences of a Jacobite: The Untold Story Of The Rising of 1745” by Michael Nevin
Reviewed by Richard Anderson FSAScot
Reminiscences of a Jacobite: The Untold Story Of The Rising of 1745, Edinburgh: Birlinn (Origin), 2020. 288 pages, hardback, £25.00, ISBN 9781839830099. Reviewed by Richard Anderson FSAScot, June 2021.
Michael Nevin has an interest in the Jacobite Uprising in Scotland. One day he noticed that a letter written by Bonnie Prince Charlie and addressed to King Louise XV of France was being auctioned. His bid was successful and ultimately resulted in this book which is in three parts.
Part I covers the essential background to the 1745 Uprising.
Part II covers the 1745 Uprising itself – the road to Prestonpans; the decision at Derby; the return to Scotland; and the last Jacobite victory at Falkirk. One fascinating chapter relates to the financing of this uprising. Michael Nevin divides this into four phases – financing the campaign; further funding as the campaign progressed to Edinburgh; difficulties in funding as the campaign progressed to Derby and back; and finally the lack of funding which contributed to the defeat at Culloden. A great deal of new information has been uncovered by Michael Nevin which goes to show not only their ingenuity in raising funds but also the extent to which the lack of funding became their ‘Archilles Heel’. Michael Nevin includes an Appendix which converts 1745 values in 2020 values.
Part III covers the Aftermath – including, of course, the missives acquired at the auction. After his successful escape and return to France, Bonnie Prince Charlie sent this letter, handwritten in French, is addressed to “Monsieur Mon Frere et Cousin” to King Louise XV. It is interesting to note that despite their close family relationship French etiquette required that Bonnie Prince Charlie send this whole missive to King Louis’ Minister of War – the Marquis d’Argenson (from whose family archives the letter eventually made its way to auction. In fact, there is no record of any reply and no guarantee that the King ever saw this missive. The letter itself is brief and refers to an enclosed Memorandum (also handwritten) in which Bonnie Prince Charlie points out to the King that “I have never lacked Scottish Subjects ready to fight”. What he did lack, he stated, was funds and “a handful of regular troops”. The thrust of the correspondence was that if the King could now see his way to providing those then success could still be achieved. As Michael Nevin points out this missive puts paid to the suggestion that Bonnie Prince Charlie had abandoned the cause after Culloden. Another fascinating aspect of this book is the research carried out by Michael Nevin into the Suggestion that Bonnie Prince Charlie had a subsequent clandestine visit to London. The illustration in the book are also very impressive.
My only criticism of this book would relate to its title. The chosen title, Reminiscences of a Jacobite suggests to me that in this letter Bonnie Prince Charlie was reminiscing about his previous campaign whereas I feel that a preferable interpretation would be that he was addressing the extent to which the struggle could be continued. Either way, this book is a continued testament to the incredible personal contribution of Bonnie Prince Charlie to this Jacobite uprising. In any event, this book is a major contribution to our knowledge of the Jacobite Uprising in Scotland and we can only hope that further information will come to light which will allow this valuable research to be carried forward.