Order of the White Rose (1886–1915)

Last updated

The Order of the White Rose was a Jacobite society founded in 1886 by Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham, as a successor to the Cycle Club. The Order attracted many writers and artists and began the Neo-Jacobite Revival that flourished in the 1890s. The Order closed during the First World War, but in 1926 the Royal Stuart Society was formed to carry on its ideal and mission.

Contents

History

Jacobites support restoration of the House of Stuart to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Following the defeat of the Jacobite rising of 1745, Jacobitism was rigorously suppressed, and Jacobite sympathisers had to form secret clubs and societies to discuss their ideas in private. One prominent example was the "Cycle of the White Rose" usually known as the Cycle Club, which had been founded in 1710 by the Williams-Wynn family in North Wales. [1] The Cycle Club continued to meet under the family's patronage until the 1860s. [2]

Formation

In 1886, Bertram Ashburnham circulated a leaflet seeking Jacobite sympathisers, and amongst those who replied was Melville Henry Massue. Together they formed the Order of the White Rose, a Jacobite group that was the spiritual successor to the Cycle Club. [3] The Order was officially started on June 10, 1866. [4]

The Order was influenced by the Oxford Movement of the 1830s and 1840s which promoted Anglo-Catholicism and held up Charles I as a martyr. [5]

The Order attracted Irish and Scottish Nationalists to its ranks. While these various interests gathered under the banner of restoring the House of Stuart, they also had a common streak against the scientific and secular democratic norms of the time. Some even planned (but did not execute) a military overthrow of the Hanoverian monarchy, with the aim of putting Princess Maria Theresa on the British throne. [6]

Neo-Jacobite revival

The 1889 Exhibition organized by the Order Exhibition of the House of Stuart.png
The 1889 Exhibition organized by the Order

In 1889, the New Gallery in London put on a major exhibition of works related to the House of Stuart, organized by Henry Jenner. Ashburnham - the president of the gallery - persuaded Queen Victoria to lend a number of items to the exhibition, as did Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont (Victoria's daughter-in-law), and families with Jacobite sympathies and pasts from England and Scotland donated items. [3]

The exhibition was a significant popular success [7] [8] and revived public interest in the House of Stuart generally, and Jacobitism specifically. [3]

The Order of the White Rose was largely a romantic and sentimental organisation, focused on a nostalgic vision of a Jacobite past. It attracted artists and writers to its ranks, including Frederick Lee, Henry Jenner, Kitty Lee Jenner, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, Robert Edward Francillon, Charles Augustus Howell, Stuart Richard Erskine, Andrew Lang and Herbert Vivian. The order published its own paper The Royalist from 1890 to 1903. [9] [10]

The popularity of the exhibition sparked a renewed interest in the political ideals of the Jacobite cause, especially amongst monarchists and Anglo-Catholics. Immediately following the exhibition, new Jacobite groups began to form. In 1890, Vivian and Erskine co-founded a weekly newspaper, The Whirlwind that espoused a Jacobite political view. [11]

Ashburnham was not a proponent of the political side of the movement, and in 1891 The Order of the White Rose split, when Vivian, Erskine and Melville Henry Massue formed the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland. Vivian and Massue were leading members of the neo-Jacobite revival, while Erskine soon focused his political endeavours on the related cause of Scottish Nationalism. The League was a "publicist for Jacobitism on a scale unwitnessed since the Eighteenth Century". [5] Several other Jacobite and Legitimist societies formed in the early 1890s, and though serious in intent, they were widely greeted with amusement and disdain. [12]

The Order was the leading society for the artistic and historical side of Jacobitism. Art dealer Charles Augustus Howell and journalist Sebastian Evans were members of the Order, [5] while poets W. B. Yeats [13] and Andrew Lang [5] were drawn to the cause. By 1910 it had inspired a branch in North America. [14]

Closure

In 1914, just after the start of the First World War, Prince Rupprecht – the legitimate king of England, Ireland and Scotland according to the Jacobite Succession – appeared in German uniform in support of The Kaiser. Public sympathy immediately turned against the Neo-Jacobites, many supporters left, and the Order was quickly closed. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobitism</span> 17/18th-century British political ideology supporting the restoration of the House of Stuart

Jacobitism was a political movement that supported the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the British throne. The name derives from the first name of James II of England, which is rendered in Latin as Jacobus. When James went into exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, the Parliament of England argued that he had abandoned the English throne, which they offered to his Protestant daughter Mary II of England, and her husband William III. In April, the Scottish Convention held that he "forfeited" the throne of Scotland by his actions, listed in the Articles of Grievances.

A Jacobite is a follower of someone named Jacob or James, from the Latin Jācōbus. Jacobite or Jacobitism may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruaraidh Erskine</span> Scottish nationalist activist (1869–1960)

Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr was a Scottish nationalist political activist, writer and Scottish Gaelic language revival campaigner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobite succession</span> Post-1688 claim of succession of the British crowns

The Jacobite succession is the line through which Jacobites believed that the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland should have descended, applying primogeniture, since the deposition of James II and VII in 1688 and his death in 1701. It is in opposition to the legal line of succession to the British throne since that time.

The Nonjuring schism refers to a split in the established churches of England, Scotland and Ireland, following the deposition and exile of James II and VII in the 1688 Glorious Revolution. As a condition of office, clergy were required to swear allegiance to the ruling monarch; for various reasons, some refused to take the oath to his successors William III and II and Mary II. These individuals were referred to as Non-juring, from the Latin verb iūrō, or jūrō, meaning "to swear an oath".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Archibald Hay, 13th Earl of Kinnoull</span>

Archibald FitzRoy George Hay, 13th Earl of Kinnoull, styled Viscount Dupplin from 1886 until 1897, was a Scottish peer and soldier. His titles were Earl of Kinnoull, Viscount Dupplin and Lord Hay of Kinfauns in the Peerage of Scotland; and Baron Hay of Pedwardine in the Peerage of Great Britain.

The Jacobite uprising in Cornwall of 1715 was the last uprising against the British Crown to take place in the county of Cornwall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Stuart Society</span> Organization

The Royal Stuart Society, founded in 1926, is the largest extant Jacobite organization in the United Kingdom. Its full name is The Royal Stuart Society and Royalist League, although it is best known simply as the "Royal Stuart Society". It acknowledges Francis, Duke of Bavaria as head of the House of Stuart, while refraining from making any claim on his behalf that he does not make himself.

Louis Charles Richard Duncombe-Jewell, born Louis Charles Richard Jewell, was a soldier, special war correspondent of The Times and The Morning Post, sportsman and sometimes poet. He was a champion of the Cornish language, having been born at Liskeard in Cornwall. He assumed the additional surname Duncombe in accordance with his grandmother's will in 1895. His parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren, which when they moved to South London brought him into contact with Aleister Crowley. The two remained lifelong associates. Duncombe-Jewell lived at Crowley's Scottish residence 'Boleskine' for several years from 1903. He later converted to Catholicism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melville Henry Massue</span> British genealogist and author

Melville Amadeus Henry Douglas Heddle de La Caillemotte de Massue de Ruvigné, 9th Marquis of Ruvigny and 15th of Raineval was a British genealogist and author, who was twice president of the Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobite rising of 1745</span> Attempt by the House of Stuart to regain the British throne

The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45, was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of the British Army was fighting in mainland Europe, and proved to be the last in a series of revolts that began in 1689, with major outbreaks in 1708, 1715 and 1719.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murray Pittock</span>

Murray G. H. Pittock MAE FRSE is a Scottish historian, Bradley Professor of Literature at the University of Glasgow and Pro Vice Principal at the University, where he has served in senior roles including Dean and Vice Principal since 2008. He led for the University on the University/City of Glasgow/National Library of Scotland Kelvin Hall development (kelvinhall.org.uk), and has chaired Glasgow's unique early career development programme, which has been highly influential in the sector, since 2016. He has also acted as lead or co-lead for a range of national and International partnerships, including with the Smithsonian Institution, and plays a leading role in the University's engagement with government and the cultural and creative industries (CCIs), organizing the 'Glasgow and Dublin: Creative Cities' summit in the British Embassy in Dublin in 2019, and working with the European network CIVIS on the creation of a European policy document on universities and civic engagement, on which he gave a masterclass for La Sapienza University He also produced a major report on the impact of Robert Burns on the Scottish Economy for the Scottish Government in 2020; a Parliamentary debate was held at Holyrood on the recommendations, which have been cited in policy debate many times since. In 2022, he was declared Scotland's Knowledge Exchange Champion of the year. Outside the University, he served on the Research Excellence Framework (REF) Institutional Environment Pilot Panel in 2018-22, and on the National Trust for Scotland Board (2019-27) and Investment Committee, as well as acting as Co-chair of the Scottish Arts and Humanities Alliance (SAHA) and chair of the Governance Board of the Scottish Council on Global Affairs. He also serves as Scottish History Adviser to the NTS and as an adviser to a wide range of other national heritage bodies and the Scottish Parliament; recently he has provided expert advice to both the Scottish and British parliaments on promoting Scotland abroad. He is on the Advisory Board of NISE, the Europe-wide research group bringing together over 40 research centres working on national identities and was President of the Edinburgh Walter Scott Club in 2019-20 and 2021-22. He has given a number of major lectures, most recently the Magnusson, MacCormack and Caledonian lectures

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine</span> Scottish nobleman and Jacobite

William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine was a Scottish nobleman and Jacobite who took part in the rebellions of 1715, 1719, and 1745.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham</span> British peer

Bertram Ashburnham, 5th Earl of Ashburnham was a British peer. He was the English agent for the Spanish Carlist cause, and a supporter of Irish Home Rule. He sold off the Ashburnham collection of manuscripts which the 4th Earl had collected.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Vivian</span> English journalist and writer (1865–1940)

Herbert Vivian was an English journalist, author and newspaper owner, who befriended Lord Randolph Churchill, Charles Russell, Leopold Maxse and others in the 1880s. He campaigned for Irish Home Rule and was private secretary to Wilfrid Blunt, poet and writer, who stood in the 1888 Deptford by-election. Vivian's writings caused a rift between Oscar Wilde and James NcNeil Whistler. In the 1890s, Vivian was a leader of the Neo-Jacobite Revival, a monarchist movement keen to restore a Stuart to the British throne and replace the parliamentary system. Before the First World War he was friends with Winston Churchill and was the first journalist to interview him. Vivian lost as Liberal candidate for Deptford in 1906. As an extreme monarchist throughout his life, he became in the 1920s a supporter of fascism. His several books included the novel The Green Bay Tree with William Henry Wilkins. He was a noted Serbophile; his writings on the Balkans remain influential.

The Neo-Jacobite Revival was a political movement active during the 25 years before the First World War in the United Kingdom. The movement was monarchist, and had the specific aim of replacing British parliamentary democracy with a restored monarch from the deposed House of Stuart.

Theodore Napier (1845-1924) was a Scottish Australian who played a key part in the Neo-Jacobite Revival of the 1890s and in the rebirth of Scottish Nationalism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacobite Army (1745)</span> Military unit

The Jacobite Army, sometimes referred to as the Highland Army, was the military force assembled by Charles Edward Stuart and his Jacobite supporters during the 1745 Rising that attempted to restore the House of Stuart to the British throne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland</span>

The Legitimist Jacobite League of Great Britain and Ireland was a Jacobite society founded in 1891 by Herbert Vivian, Melville Henry Massue and Ruaraidh Erskine following a split from the earlier Order of the White Rose. The League was considered one of the key groups in the Neo-Jacobite Revival of the 1890s.

<i>The Whirlwind</i> (newspaper)

The Whirlwind was a short-lived British newspaper, published in 1890 and 1891. It was known for its Individualist political views and its artwork by Walter Sickert and James Abbott McNeill Whistler. It was also strongly Jacobite and played a leading role in the Neo-Jacobite Revival of the 1890s.

References

  1. Francillon, R.E. (1905). "Underground Jacobitism". The Monthly Review. Vol. 21. pp. 17–30.
  2. Stead, William Thomas (1905). "The lingering love of the Stuarts". The Review of Reviews. Vol. 32.
  3. 1 2 3 Guthrie, Neil (12 December 2013). The Material Culture of the Jacobites. Cambridge University Press. p. 155. ISBN   978-1-107-04133-2.
  4. 1 2 Pittock, Murray G. H. (17 July 2014). The Invention of Scotland: The Stuart Myth and the Scottish Identity, 1638 to the Present. Routledge.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Pittock, Murray (1 August 2014). Spectrum of Decadence: The Literature of the 1890s. Routledge. ISBN   9781317629528.
  6. Schuchard, Marsha Keith (28 October 2011). Emanuel Swedenborg, Secret Agent on Earth and in Heaven: Jacobites, Jews and Freemasons in Early Modern Sweden. Brill.
  7. "The Stuart Exhibition". St James's Gazette. 12 April 1888.
  8. "The Stuart Exhibition". Glasgow Evening Post. 9 January 1889.
  9. Pittock, Murray G. H. (17 July 2014). The Invention of Scotland: The Stuart Myth and the Scottish Identity, 1638 to the Present. Taylor & Francis. pp. 116–117. ISBN   978-1-317-60525-6.
  10. "Jenner, Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/75066.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  11. "The Whirlwind". New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
  12. The Outlook. Outlook Company. 1895. p. 94. The "Legitimist Jacobite League", the "White Cockade Club", the "Order of the White Rose" and the dozen or more other Jacobite associations take themselves, however, most seriously, much to the amusement, doubtless, of the outsiders who know of their existence
  13. Pilz, Anna; Standlee, Whitney (2016). Irish Women's Writing, 1878-1922: Advancing the Cause of Liberty. Oxford University Press.
  14. Americana. Vol. 5. National Americana Society. 1910. p. 522.