Peterhead’s Jacobite Rebellion

by Stephen Calder

James Francis Edward Stuart (King James VIII) (1688-1766)

Peterhead’s loyalty and support for the Stuart cause during the 17th and 18th Centuries led

to its population being involved in various conflicts down the years.

If we’d been living in Peterhead, for example in 1644-45, at the time the plague wiped out

half the town’s population (barely 300 people), we were under armed occupation by

Covenanters, who opposed the rule of the Stuart monarch Charles I.

If we’d been in Peterhead in 1716-17, after the failed Jacobite Rising of 1715, which saw the

exiled King James VIII land at Port Henry Pier, we’d have seen Hanoverian troops garrisoned

at the Earl Marischal’s Castle on Keith Inch “owre the Queenie”.

Again, after Culloden in 1746, with Peterhead residents supporting Bonnie Prince Charlie,

we would have seen Hanoverian troops in our town, ensuring the people’s loyalty for the

Hanoverian crown by force.

Who would realise, walking our peaceful streets today, that Peterhead had such a turbulent

and violent past?

However, following the overthrow of the Catholic King James VII (II) in 1688, when he was

driven into exile and replaced by the Protestants William and Mary, Peterhead’s streets

remained comparatively peaceful, except perhaps for quiet toasts to the “king owre the

water”. Armed drills of local men mustered and trained on the Broadgate at the old Mercat

Cross, on the Tolbooth Green and on the Links, awaiting the call to arms on behalf of the

“rightful King”.

Peterhead was a Burgh of Barony, founded in 1587 and governed by a Feudal Superior – at

the time of the 1715 Rising the 22 year old 10th Earl Marischal George Keith at Inverugie

Castle, 2 miles from the town.

At that time Peterhead was a small town of a few hundred souls, residing in what is now a

small part of the town, with the Longate as the main street. Five lanes linked Longate to

Seagate – Brook Lane (opposite Port Henry Pier), Fish Lane (now Ellis Street), Port Henry

Lane (now destroyed), Crooked Lane and Park Lane. In 1715 the Broadgate contained the

Tolbooth, the Tolbooth Green and the Mercat Cross. The Flesh Market, Slaughterhouse and

Public Warehouse were situated on the mainland near to the Quinzie (Queenie) crossing

(passable at low tide) to Keith Inch, where Castle Street led to the Earl Marischal’s Castle at

the south end of the island.

In addition to the main settlement in the Fischertoun, there were also settlements at the

older fishing village of Roanheads, on Keith Inch and in the Kirktoun near the (now ruined)

12th Century St Peter’s Church. A country track led from the Fischertoun, along what is now

Marischal Street, Erroll Street and Kirk Street, to the old kirk. The Burgh School, with

playground and schoolmaster’s house stood near the bottom of what is now Uphill Lane.

The road leading from the Tolbooth to the School was known as School Brae.

But Peterhead was not immune from the politics that engulfed these islands and the wider

continent. With the death of Queen Anne (herself a daughter of the late King James VII) in

1714, the question of a rightful successor was in the air. Fearful of a non-Protestant on the

throne, the Elector of Hanover had been chosen and crowned at Westminster, passing over

the Catholic heir James Francis Edward Stuart, who had been in exile in France since 1688.

The Proclamation at Braemar

On 9th September 1715 the Earl of Mar, appointed Commander-in-Chief by the exiled

‘Pretender’ King James, issued a Proclamation at Braemar signalling the start of the 1715

uprising:

“Now is the time for all good men to show their zeal for His Majesty’s service, whose cause

is so deeply concerned, and the relief of our native country from oppression, and a foreign

yoke too heavy for us and our posterity to bear; and to endeavour the restoring, not only of

our rightful and native king, but also our country to its ancient, free and independent

constitution under him whose ancestors have reigned over us for so many generations.”

On 20th September The Earl Marischal and his 19 year old brother James Francis Edward

Keith were met by the Earl of Mar at the Mercat Cross in Aberdeen, where James Stuart was

proclaimed King James VIII.

On 23rd September, on the orders of the Earl Marischal George Keith of Inverugie Castle,

James Stuart was proclaimed king at Peterhead’s Mercat Cross (at the site of the present

Reform Monument) in the Broadgate by Baron Bailie Thomas Arbuthnot “amid scenes of the

wildest enthusiasm”.

The Episcopal Minister for Peterhead Rev Alexander Barclay intruded into the kirk at the

Kirkburn and read a proclamation levying men to serve King James.

On 5th October the Bailies and Town Councillors of Peterhead assembled in the Tolbooth to

organise the defence of the town from Hanoverian attack.

On 10th October instructions were issued to the Guard regarding town and harbour patrols.

The defence of the town was divided into four districts, each company of the Guard being

under the command of a Bailie, with the rank of Captain. The 8 Captains of the Guard for

Peterhead were George Cruickshank, Alexander Arbuthnot, Thomas Arbuthnot, William

Clark, Thomas Forbes, John Logan, James Park & James Thomson.

In total the number of Peterhead folk called to arms in defence of the town were 138 men

and 10 women – yes Peterhead women prepared to take up arms to fight for the King –

Janet Dickie, Margaret Greig, Geills Scott, Margaret Dun, Elspat Mitchell, Janet Cruickshank,

Mrs Walker, Elisa Bruce and Widow Bodie and Widow Brown. They were ordered to arm

themselves with “ane sufficient gun charged with powder and bullets, and four spare shots

besides, and ane sufficient sword” and to meet at the Cross on the appointed day, where

they marched and took part in military drills.

7 Spanish cannons, salvaged from the St Michael in 1588 were taken from their position on

the Battery at Keith Inch, pulled across the sand bank at the Quinzie (Queenie), and

mounted on the Tolbooth Green, looking down Broad Street for the defence of the interior

of the town.

On 25th October the exiled King James wrote to his supporters in Scotland:

“We have not been able to look upon the present condition of our kingdoms, or to consider

their future prospect without all the horror and indignation which ought to fill the breast of

every Scotsman.

“We have beheld a foreign family, aliens to our country, distant in blood, and strangers even

to our language, ascend to the throne.

“We are come to take our part in all the dangers and difficulties to which any of our subjects

from the greatest down to the meanest may be exposed on this important occasion, to

relieve our subjects of Scotland from the hardships they groan under and to restore the

kingdom to its ancient, free and independent state.

“But we hope for better things. We hope to see our just rights and those of the church and

people of Scotland, once more settled in a free and independent Scots Parliament on their

ancient foundation.”

On 31st October (Hallowe’en), the Magistrates and Town Council of Peterhead met at the

Tolbooth (near the present Tolbooth Wynd), under the direction of the Secretary to the Earl

of Erroll (from Slains Castle), George Leith, who was also Major General of Horses under the

command of the Earl Marischal, with an order from the Earl of Mar, Chief Commander of

King James’s forces in Scotland, which he read – ordering twelve of their number “to be

ready mounted on horseback with sword and sufficient firelock, tomorrow precisely at six of

the clock, to be witnesses to the said Mr Leith, his requiring the Lord Saltoun (of Fraserburgh)

to give all due obedience to the foresaid orders.”

On 1st November (All Saints’ Day), 16 mounted “fenceable men” rode to Fraserburgh to

proclaim the king. They were George Leith (Secretary to the Earl of Erroll), Bailie

Cruickshank, Bailie Arbuthnot, Thomas Forbes, James Whyte, James Park, John Thomson,

George Cruickshank, Alex. Smith (merchant), Robert Smith, John Logan, John Taylor, William

Jollie, Alex. Forbes, James Blair & William Ramsay.

The band of armed Jacobites rode off north towards Fraserburgh to “require” the Lord

Saltoun to obey the orders from the Earl of Mar in support of King James.

About half a mile short of Fraserburgh the Peterhead band met Lord Saltoun and “obliged

him to stop until the General’s orders were read to him.”

It was demanded of him “what Party he inclined to join with” and that he “appear at His

Majesty’s Royal Standard”.

Lord Saltoun answered that “he regarded neither Mr Leith nor his orders more than a

footman” and further said that “at a whistle, he could raise a hundred men and cause them

to fight all there present.”

Bailie Cruickshank answered that he believed they wouldn’t see them at Fraserburgh, where

they immediately went and “proclaimed the King with all the solemnity we could, which we

found did oblige the most of the inhabitants of that town.”

A party from the group went in search of arms, which they found in the chamber of the

Clerk’s house. They broke open the door of the chamber with “ane big hammer” and found

24 new firelocks, proof marked, and all with A.R. (Anna Regina) on them, all charged with

balls and gunpowder.

The arms were taken back to Peterhead and handed to George Leith for the General’s use.

Later, a party of Jacobites, led by Irvine of Crimond, captured Lord Saltoun and forced him

to go south to join the Jacobite army at Perth. Fraserburgh was then occupied by a Jacobite

garrison, which compelled the inhabitants to contribute towards the payment of the

soldiers.

On 13th November both the Earl Marischal and James Keith fought at the Battle of

Sheriffmuir near Stirling. The Earl Marischal was 22 years old, and his brother 19 at the time

of the Battle. James suffered a musket ball wound in his shoulder and spent the night in

agony at Castle Drummond.

James Francis Edward Stuart (King James VIII) landed at Peterhead late on the night of 22nd

December 1715 (O.S.), suffering from seasickness and fevers after having travelled 7 days (5

or 6 days according to other sources) by sea from Dunkirk in a well-armed vessel laden with

a cargo of brandy. He arrived with six other gentlemen, including James Francis Fitzjames

Stuart (1696-1738), grandson of King James VII, and Lieutenant Allan Cameron (a son of

Lochiel), whom he sent immediately to Perth with the news of their arrival.

James Stuart (the ‘Old Pretender’) was 27 years old, and this was the first time he had set

foot in Britain since his father was driven into exile in 1688 (when James was six months

old). He had lived at the Scots Court at Saint-Germain-en-Laye near Paris under the

protection of the French King Louis XIV.

At first the small boat crept along the shore and attempted to enter the River Ugie,

presumably to get as near as possible to Inverugie Castle, but “the night was wet and late

the tide”, so they instead landed at the old pier of Port Henry Haven.

The unexpected visitors were graciously received at the harbour by the Earl Marischal’s

representative – the Baron Bailie Thomas Arbuthnot.

According to contemporary accounts they were “all habited like sea-officers, and passed for

Friends of the Pretender, going to Perth for his Service”.

The vessel was despatched back to France with the news of James’s safe arrival.

They stayed the night at what is now Park Lane, near the Longate – at the house of the

Baron Bailie’s brother-in-law, Captain James Park, merchant and ship owner. Some sources

suggest Captain Park was the son-in-law of the Baron Bailie, who was 34 at this time. This

seems unlikely. James Park married Janet Arbuthnot, sister of the Baron Bailie in 1714.

According to an anecdote, the mother of Dr William Bruce, an old naval surgeon, who was

related to the Arbuthnots and a staunch Jacobite, was devoured with a desire to see the

King. She put on a servant’s mob-cap and apron, carried into the parlour a cup of chocolate,

and saw James “standing with his cocked hat pulled over his eyes in deep despondency

before the fire”.

It must have seemed quite a contrast from his usual comforts at the Scots Court of St

Germain in Paris.

James barely had time to write a short letter, dated “Peterhead, December 22nd, 1715” to

say “I am, at last, thank God, in my own ancient kingdom as the bearer will tell you with all

the particulars of my passage. I am weary and won’t delay a moment the bearer.”

A local song which commemorated the landing of the King at Peterhead was sung for many

years after this event.

“King James is land’t at Peterhead, an honour great to us indeed.

The night was wet and late the tide, he couldna unto Ugie ride.

He slept a night in our good town, upon a good saft bed o’ down.

In the morning when he raise, the Marischal’s bailie brushed his claithes.

He’s come to set auld Scotland free from cursed Hanover tyranny.”

On the morning of 23rd December King James left by horseback along the Longate/North

Street, past Buchanhaven and then west by the old turnpike that skirted the south bank of

the Ugie, to Inverugie Castle to visit the widowed Lady Mary Keith, mother of the Earl

Marischal.

He passed the next night at Newburgh before carrying on to Aberdeen, accompanied only

by a handful of horsemen, in ill health and in disguise.

A contemporary account reports “’Tis said the Pretender is very much indisposed since his

arrival, which is imputed to the great fatigue he has suffered at sea, and otherwise of late.”

The Earl Marischal and James Keith met King James for the first time at Fetteresso on 27th

December, making their way to Dundee on 6th January, James Stuart entering the town with

the Earl of Mar riding at his right hand and the Marischal at his left.

On 7th January 1716, they briefly set up court at Scone and arrived at Perth on 8th January.

On 30th January, the King, along with the two Keith brothers, the Earl of Mar and other main

supporters, made for Montrose, where the King sailed back to France on 4th February 1716

on the ‘Maria Teresa of St Malo’. James Stuart had been only 43 days on Scottish soil. The

Earl of Mar accompanied him back to France and served as his Secretary of State until 1722.

On 2nd February, the Episcopalian Rev Alexander Barclay took a Thanksgiving Service at the

Kirk in Peterhead for the safe arrival of James Stuart “under the name and title of King James

VIII”.

Days later, in the first week of February 1716, a detachment of Hanoverian troops arrived at

Peterhead to suppress Jacobite actions within the town. They looted and sacked the Castle

on Keith Inch, although Lady Mary, the Countess Marischal’s home at Inverugie Castle was

left unmolested.

A former servant maid called at Inverugie Castle to pay her respects to Lady Keith and

mentioned how sad she was at the loss of the family’s fortune due to her sons’ adherence

to the Stuart cause. Lady Mary rose from her chair, making no attempt to hide her

displeasure and with a scornful look told her visitor: “Woman, if my sons had not done what

they did, and what I bade them to do, I would have gone out myself with my spindle and my

rock.”

On 13th February orders were given to all the inhabitants of the town prohibiting them from

corresponding with or receiving any of the “rebels”.

In 1717 Peterhead’s defences were dismantled, and its historic cannons were dispatched to

the Tower of London where they remain to this day, despite petitions during the 18th

Century for their return.

The remaining Jacobites retreated to Ruthven in Badenoch where the troops were

dismissed. From thence, in the words of the younger brother James Keith, “every one took

the road pleased him best”.

James Keith, being wounded, made his way to the West coast where he boarded a French

ship which, on 12th May (N.S.)1716, landed him safely in Brittany.

George Keith was stripped of his rank, honours, lands and properties by the Hanoverian

victors, and was forced into exile.

Their estates were forfeited to the Hanoverian Crown and sold to the York Building

Company in 1720, but when it became bankrupt, the Governors of the Merchant Maiden

Hospital in Edinburgh purchased the town and harbours of Peterhead in 1728 for the price

of £3,420 sterling.

Battle of Glenshiel 1719

This wasn’t quite the end of the brothers’ battle for “the cause” however. In 1719 James

Keith departed from Le Havre in a small vessel with some Jacobite friends and found his

brother with Spanish troops on the West coast. There followed a battle with Hanoverian

troops at Glenshiel at which the Jacobites were defeated.

James Keith, in his own words “sick of a fever, I was forced to lurk some months in the

mountains, and in the beginning of September 1719 having got a ship, I embarked at

Peterhead, 4 days later landed in Holland and from thence, with the Earl Marischal, went to

The Hague.”

James was never to return to his native country. A tumour developed in James Keith’s

shoulder, possibly due to some botched surgery after Sheriffmuir. At the beginning of 1725,

while he was in Paris, a surgeon carried out a considerable operation on his arm. His

mother travelled to Paris to nurse him back to health, staying with relatives there until 1726,

when she journeyed back to Scotland.

Lady Mary Keith remained a staunch Jacobite till her dying day. By the time of her death in

1729, Inverugie Castle was in a ruinous state and, immediately it was known that the

Countess had died, roving bands of thieves from St Fergus and Peterhead stripped the castle

of its furniture and fittings.

A poem attributed to her includes the lines:

“ A curse on dull and drawling Whig,

The whining, ranting, low deceiver,

Wie heart sae black and look sae big,

And canting tongue o’ clishmaclaver!

My father was a good lord’s son

My mother was an Earl’s daughter,

And I’ll be Lady Keith again

That day our King comes ower the water.”

Ruins of Inverugie Castle

Even with the loss of the Earl Marischal from Inverugie, Jacobite support died hard in

Peterhead and, even by 1745 there was still considerable sympathy for the cause and the

harbour was once again used as a ‘rebel’ port.

Peterhead harbour was being used to land arms and ammunition for the Jacobite cause in

1745 and 1746 and was a constant source of anxiety to the Government. A sloop of war

was ordered to Peterhead and was detailed for patrol duty outside the harbour during that

critical period.

On 31st October 1745, Lord Lewis Gordon wrote to the Laird of Stoneywood saying how

pleased he was at the arrival of so many ships from France and asking if someone who could

be trusted could go to Peterhead to collect weapons being landed. In 1746 Lord Lewis, after

hiding for several weeks in a peat-stack, embarked on a vessel which sailed one night from

Peterhead.

The Rev James Bisset reported that one French vessel landed not only arms but also one

hundred French soldiers. He also reported that a Spanish ship landed three or four French

officers and some gentlemen some time before 27th January 1746.

Towards the end of February 1746 Lord George Murray sent Lord Pitsligo with his troops to

Peterhead to secure £4000 and 2500 stand of arms which had been landed for Prince

Charles Stuart from a Spanish ship. At the same time a French vessel also arrived at the port

carrying a piquet of Fitzjames’ Regiment.

Lord John Drummond reported to Charles Stuart that he had landed an army of 550 of his

own men, 150 men under other leaders and 6000 Louis d’ors, and many small arms at

Peterhead.

Following the defeat of the Jacobites under King James’s son Bonnie Prince Charlie at

Culloden in 1746, the Hanoverian Lord Ancrum entered Peterhead with his Dragoons,

proclaiming that their hour of retribution had come. They were intent on setting the

Episcopal Chapel on the north side of the Tolbooth on fire, but instead the parishioners paid

for it to be demolished “stick by stick and stone by stone”, which took three days from 7th-

9th May 1746. The bill for demolition amounted to £1 15s 6d.

The Hanoverian Dragoons were garrisoned in a tavern known as the Canteen, at the foot of

Port Henry Lane, facing the Seagate. Government troops are supposed to have also been

housed at the ‘Yokieshill Inn’ on the corner of Brook Lane and North Street – a building

previously used as a castle belonging to the Keiths.

Peterhead in 1750

Several Jacobite leaders made their escape via Peterhead after Culloden. A party of 12 or 13

Jacobites reportedly sailed on a vessel from Peterhead to Bergen.

James Francis Edward Keith (1696-1758)

James Francis Edward Keith, Field Marshal to Frederick the Great of Prussia, was killed at the

Battle of Hochkirch on 14th October 1758.

Earl Marischal George Keith (1692/3-1778)

George Keith made a final visit to Peterhead in 1764, after receiving a pardon from King

George II in 1759. Preparations were made for a grand banquet in the Keith Masonic Lodge

in Lodge Walk, previous to which an address of welcome was read in Broad Street by a Mr

Forbes, a boyhood companion and friend of the Marischal’s. The immense crowd “hurrahed

and cheered in such a manner as Peterhead had never heard before.” Deeply affected, the

Earl stood in his carriage scarcely able to utter a word.

Another familiar face was spotted by the Earl Marischal - Mrs Gordon, George Keith’s old

nurse, now bent and grey with age struggling to get through the crowd. Tears welled up in

both pairs of eyes as George enquired of her health and welfare before pressing some

money into her hand as a parting gift, apologetically saying that he only wished he could

have given her more. Mrs Gordon had sold her cows to realise twenty pounds (Scots) which

she sent to aid the Marischal at the time of the 1719 Rising at Glenshiel.

Escorted by a large crowd, George set out towards Inverugie Castle with people gathering to

give him a hearty welcome.

One man, near the Collieburn, was so overcome with emotion at the Marischal’s return that

he set his house on fire, rendering himself homeless. An old friend Mr Fraser of the Mains

of Inverugie grasped him by the hand and chatted about old times.

When they reached the bridge at Waterside the castle came in sight and the Earl gazed

upon it against the evening sky – roofless and tenantless. In tones of intense grief,

expressing himself in English and French, he exclaimed “Stay the voyage! Stay the voyage!”

He sent his secretary to investigate the state of the castle, who reported that it was in ruins

and robbed of its previous grandeur. He ordered a return to Peterhead, never to see

Inverugie’s towers again.

The last Earl Marischal George Keith died on 23rd May 1778.

Peterhead in 1775

In 1868 King Wilhelm I of Prussia gifted a copy of the statue of Field Marshal James Keith,

cast from the original model, to the Provost, Magistrates and Town Council of Peterhead. It

was mounted on a pedestal of polished Peterhead granite at the top of Broad Street outside

the Town House.

Thomas Arbuthnot (1681-1762), the “Auld Bailie” was Baron Bailie to the last Earl Marischal.

His son, Thomas Arbuthnot (1727-1773) was a Lieutenant at Culloden in the Jacobite Army

in 1746. Adam Arbuthnot (1773-1850), son of the younger Thomas, was the founder of the

Arbuthnot Museum. He bequeathed his collection to the Provost, Magistrates and Town

Council of Peterhead. George Arbuthnot (1775-1847) was the First Provost of the newly-

created Town Council of Peterhead in 1833. Thomas Arbuthnot was the Second Provost in

1834. Both were great-grandsons of the “Auld Bailie”.

On the occasion of the 200th Anniversary of the King’s landing at Peterhead, on Wednesday

22nd December 1915, a meeting of the Buchan Field Club took place in the North-Eastern

(now the Caledonian) Hotel.

The Club’s Honorary General Secretary Dr J F Tocher gave a speech to commemorate the

event which, occurring during the Great War took a distinctly anti-German tone. Although

he honoured “the brave men who stood by James and who lent dignity to, and who bled for,

a lost cause”, he also mourned to think that “such splendid gifts as Keith had should have

been bestowed on the founding of a military tyranny, against which the whole civilised world

is now in arms.”

Now, on the 300th Anniversary, we can afford to be more generous to our previous

generations in Peterhead who fought for a noble cause, even to their own personal loss.

The Keiths of Inverugie and the people of the Burgh of Barony of Peterhead stayed loyal to

the Royal Stuarts over many generations and, maybe their rebellious spirit lives on even to

this day.

“To the King owre the Water.”

Bibliography:

The Evening Post – January 12th-14th (N.S.) 1716

The Weekly Journal or British Gazetteer – January 14th (N.S.) 1716

Peter Buchan: Annals of Peterhead (1819)

Peter Buchan: An Historical and Authentic Account of the Family of Keith (1820)

Rev John B Pratt: Buchan (1858)

David Scott: Grass of Parnassus (Peterhead 1887)

James Findlay: A History of Peterhead (1896)

J F Tocher: The Book of Buchan (1910)

Transactions of The Buchan Club (1913-1917)

Rev John Wilkinson: Some Chapters of Church History In Buchan (1914)

Aberdeen Spalding Club: The Jacobite Cess Roll for the County of Aberdeen in 1715 (1917)

Robert Neish: Old Peterhead (1950)

Jim Buchan: A School History of Aberdeenshire (1961)

Alex R Buchan: The Port of Peterhead (1973)

Sam Coull: Nothing But My Sword (2000)

David M Bertie: Peterhead Street Names (2009)

The Keith Lodge of Peterhead No 56 (online)