Skirmish of Dunfermline

Skirmish of Dunfermline
	Part of Jacobite rising of 1715
	; Ruins at Dunfermline Abbey where the Jacobite Highlanders were encamped
Date	24 October 1715
Location	Dunfermline, Scotland
Result	British-Hanoverian Government victory
Belligerents
Scottish Hanoverian supporters	Jacobite clans
Commanders and leaders
John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll ; Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cathcart	James Malcolm of Grange; John Gordon of Glenbucket
Strength
120 Dragoons; 30 dismounted troops	80 horse; 300 Highlanders
Casualties and losses
1 man wounded and 1 horse wounded.	4 killed and 2 mortally wounded; 17 men taken prisoner

Last updated August 07, 2024

The Skirmish of Dunfermline was a conflict that took place on 24 October 1715 in Dunfermline, Scotland and was part of the Jacobite rising of 1715. It was fought between the forces of John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll who supported the British-Hanoverian Government against a Jacobite force.

Background

On 23 October 1715 during the Jacobite rising of 1715, John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, chief of Clan Campbell, learned that a party of rebel Jacobites were passing by Castle Campbell.^[1] The Jacobite force consisted of approximately 80 horse and 300 Highlanders and Argyll had heard from one of his outposts that they were heading for Fife, where they were going to levy supplies to support the main Jacobite army at Perth.^[2] Argyll dispatched a squadron of dragoons under Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cathcart to intercept them.^[2] On 24 October Cathcart had caught up with the Jacobites at Dunfermline.^[2]

The Jacobites' security was poor:^[2] Their commander, James Malcolm of Grange, was confident that he knew the area and its approaches well and so he only posted one sentry at the bridge into the Stirling end of the town.^[2] He also allowed his forces to be divided up when they took quarters.^[2] The Highlanders were under John Gordon of Glenbucket and they camped in a ruined abbey on the edge of the town.^[2] The Jacobite horse took up residence without any order in the taverns and private houses throughout the town.^[2] The Jacobites did not fix any rendezvous point where they were to meet in any alarm post and the officers settled down for a bottle of wine.^[3]

Skirmish

The Jacobite position was scouted by Cathcart in the night and he attacked at 5 a.m. from the eastern side of Dunfermline with 120 mounted dragoons.^[2] This was preceded by a noisy fire fight with the Highlanders in the abbey that had been commenced by 30 of Cathcart's dismounted men.^[2] This brought the Jacobite cavalry scrambling out of their beds and into the street in confusion, trying to find their horses and get mounted.^[2] Cathcart then charged them, killing four and mortally wounding two more.^[2] He then rode through the town and rejoined his dismounted detachment and had taken seventeen prisoners.^[2] Cathcart only suffered one man and one horse wounded.^[2] Another account says that about twenty Jacobites were taken prisoner.^[3]

Aftermath

The Skirmish of Dunfermline was the only occasion when the Duke of Argyll launched a major raid on the Jacobites before December 1715 when Dutch and Swiss reinforcements arrived.^[2] This meant that the Jacobites were allowed free rein to recruit and otherwise do as they please in Fife until late December.^[2] This boosted their confidence and resources available to them.^[2]

Related Research Articles

The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby ending the Jacobite rising of 1745.

Clan Campbell is a Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans. The Clan Campbell lands are in Argyll and within their lands lies Ben Cruachan. The chief of the clan became Earl of Argyll and later Duke of Argyll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Scots Greys</span> British Army cavalry regiment

The Royal Scots Greys was a cavalry regiment of the British Army from 1707 until 1971, when they amalgamated with the 3rd Carabiniers to form the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

Field Marshal John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, 1st Duke of Greenwich,, styled Lord Lorne from 1680 to 1703, was a Scottish nobleman and senior commander in the British Army. He served on the continent in the Nine Years' War and fought at the Siege of Kaiserswerth during the War of the Spanish Succession. He then went on to serve as a brigade commander during the later battles of the War of the Spanish Succession, and was subsequently given command of all British forces in Spain at the instigation of the Harley Ministry. After conducting a successful evacuation of the troops from Spain, he became Commander-in-Chief, Scotland. During the Jacobite Rebellion, he led the government army against the Jacobite forces led by the Earl of Mar at the Battle of Sheriffmuir. Afterwards he served as Lord Steward and then Master-General of the Ordnance under the Walpole–Townshend Ministry.

The Battle of Preston was the final action of the Jacobite rising of 1715, an attempt to put James Francis Edward Stuart on the British throne in place of George I. After two days of street-fighting, the Jacobite commander Thomas Forster surrendered to government troops under General Charles Wills. It was arguably the last battle fought on English soil.

Clan Maclean is a Highlands Scottish clan. They are one of the oldest clans in the Highlands and owned large tracts of land in Argyll as well as the Inner Hebrides. Many early MacLeans became famous for their honour, strength and courage in battle. They were involved in clan skirmishes with the Mackinnons, Camerons, MacDonalds and Campbells, as well as all of the Jacobite risings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Hawley</span> British army officer prominent during the Jacobite Rising (1685–1759)

Henry Hawley was a British army officer who served in the wars of the first half of the 18th century. He fought in a number of significant battles, including the Capture of Vigo in 1719, Dettingen, Fontenoy and Culloden.

The Battle of Falkirk Muir, or Battle of Falkirk, took place near Falkirk, Scotland, on 17 January 1746 during the Jacobite rising of 1745. A narrow Jacobite victory, it had little impact on the campaign.

William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, was a Scottish peer who joined the 1745 Jacobite Rising, was captured at Culloden and subsequently executed for treason on Tower Hill.

The Battle of Sheriffmuir was an engagement in 1715 at the height of the Jacobite rising in England and Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Scottish Historical Environment Policy of 2009. Sheriffmuir is a remote elevated plateau of heathland lying between Stirling and Auchterarder on the north fringe of the Ochil Hills.

Clan Cathcart is a Lowland Scottish clan.

The Clifton Moor Skirmish took place on the evening of Wednesday 18 December during the Jacobite rising of 1745. Following the decision to retreat from Derby on 6 December, the fast-moving Jacobite army split into three smaller columns; on the morning of 18th, a small force of dragoons led by Cumberland and Sir Philip Honywood made contact with the Jacobite rearguard, at that point commanded by Lord George Murray.

George Seton, 5th Earl of Winton was a Scottish nobleman who took part in the Jacobite rising of 1715 supporting "The Old Pretender" James Stuart. Captured by the English, Seton was tried and sentenced to death, but escaped and lived the rest of his life in exile.

Lieutenant-General William Kerr, 2nd Marquess of Lothian, was a Scottish peer who held a number of minor military and political offices. He was known by the courtesy title of Lord Newbattle until 1692, when he succeeded as Lord Jedburgh, then as Marquess of Lothian when his father died in 1703.

The Jacobite rising of 1715 was the attempt by James Edward Stuart to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts.

The siege of Inverness that took place in November 1715 was part of the Jacobite rising of 1715. The town of Inverness and Inverness Castle were being held by the Clan Mackenzie, led by Sir John Mackenzie of Coul who supported the rebel Jacobite cause. Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, chief of the Clan Fraser of Lovat besieged them, supported by men of the Clan Rose and Clan Forbes.

The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the Scottish government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands and were recognized as such by the government. The officers of the Independent Highland Companies were commissioned as officers of the British Army but the Independent Companies were not recognized as official regiments of the line of the army. The Independent Highland Companies were the progenitors of the Highland Regiments of the British Army that began when ten Independent Highland Companies were embodied to form the Earl of Crawford's Highland Regiment that was numbered the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1739.

Lieutenant-General Patrick Campbell, of South Hall, Argyll, also known as Peter Campbell, was a British Army officer, and Scottish Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1722 and 1741.

The Campbell of Argyll Militia also known as the Campbell militia, the Argyll militia, or the Argyllshire men, was an irregular militia unit formed in 1745 by John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll to oppose the Jacobite rising of 1745.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skirmish of Keith</span>

The Skirmish of Keith was a conflict that took place on the 20 March 1746 in Keith, Moray, Scotland and was part of the Jacobite rising of 1745.

References

1 2 Chambers, Robert (1856). "Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen - Significant Scots John Campbell". electricscotland.com (New edition along with the supplemental volume says by the Rev. Thos. Thomson ed.). Retrieved 25 February 2017.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Szechi, Danie (2006). 1715: The Great Jacobite Rebellion. Yale University Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0300111002.
1 2 Chalmers, Peter (1844). Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline. Vol. 1. W. Blackwood and Sons. pp. 279–281.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[JOHNCAMPBELLELECTRIC-1] 1 2 Chambers, Robert (1856). "Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen - Significant Scots John Campbell". electricscotland.com (New edition along with the supplemental volume says by the Rev. Thos. Thomson ed.). Retrieved 25 February 2017.

[Szechi-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Szechi, Danie (2006). 1715: The Great Jacobite Rebellion. Yale University Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 0300111002.

[Chalmers-3] 1 2 Chalmers, Peter (1844). Historical and Statistical Account of Dunfermline. Vol. 1. W. Blackwood and Sons. pp. 279–281.

[1]

[2]

[3]