Hidden Sympathies: The Hessians in Scotland 1746

Abstract

The Jacobite Rising of 1745–46 was played for high stakes. On its issue hung the fate of dynasties, and the orders of the British government, church and society. In comparison the forces engaged were tiny. The greatest concentrations brought together at a single place were at the battle of Falkirk (17 January 1746), where Lieutenant General Hawley took the field with about 8,100 troops against probably rather fewer Jacobites. In this context it was reasonable for the government in London to expect great things of the accession of strength which arrived on the theatre of operations in February 1746, in the shape of a substantial corps of hired Hessian auxiliaries. The contingent comprised six regiments or super-large battalions of infantry, a company of elite hussars and a train of twelve 3-pounder cannon, or some 5,100 combatants in all. These made up the best-drilled and turned-out troops now available to the government, and the artillery alone exceeded the number of cannon that the Duke of Cumberland was able to bring to Culloden in April. What the Hessian corps did, or rather did not do, is the subject of the present study.