Jacobite Banners at Culloden -- myArmoury.com

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Jacobite Banners at Culloden

Most of the flags of the Pretender's army that were captured at Culloden were burnt by the public hangman in Edinburgh. A list was made of those flags, but only contains brief descriptions:

1 "a white silk colour with the Stewarts arms [and the motto] God Save the King" The arms are presumably those of the U.K., rather than just Scotland, since the whole Kingdom was being claimed. This may have been the colour of the Prince's Lifeguard of Foot.

2 "a large plain white colour, said to be the standard" A completely plain flag as the Prince's standard?? Another account refers to the standard as being red with a central white square.

3 "a white colour with a blue saltire" Just possibly, this may have been carried by the Second Battalion of Atholl's Brigade under James Spalding of Glenkirchie, but the Spalding arms are blue and yellow. The First Battalion of the same brigade under Archibald Menzies of Shian are known to have carried white colours with red saltires, from the colours of the Menzies arms.

4 "a white silk colour St. Andrew's cross in the canton" Possibly carried by a contingent of the Bannerman family.

5 "a white linen colour, motto Terrores Furio" Attributed to the Chisholm family at the time.

6 "a blue silk colour with the Lovat arms [and the motto] Sine Sanguine Victor" These are not the colours or motto of Lord Fraser of Lovat; they may be those of his second-in-command, and the man who led the clan on the day, Charles Fraser of Inverallochie.

7 "one of Lord Lovat's camp colours" No other description survives.

8 "a blue colour [with the motto] Sursum Tendo" Possibly belonging to the 2nd battalion of Ogilvy's Regiment, commanded by Sir james Kinloch - the colours are same as the Kinloch arms and the motto is similar.

9 "a blue colour [with the motto] Commit The Work To God" Unknown. the motto is that of the Sinclair family, but none are known to have been out with the Prince.

10 "a white linen colour belonging to the Farquharsons" No other description survives; the family arms were red and yellow; the motto was Fide Et Fortitudine.

Other colours known from this period are:

- Prince's Lifeguards of Horse carried a guidon taken from Gardiner's Dragoons at the battle of Falkirk. It may have been green; it certainly bore the motto Britons Strike Home.

- Cameron of Lochiel's contingent: a red flag with a central green square which bore the full arms of the family, including crest and supporters

- Gordon of Glenbucket's contingent: white with the arms of the Marques of Huntly in the centre (Glenbucket was Huntly's lieutenant colonel in the 1715 Rising).

- Lord Ogilvy's regiment: blue with a white saltire that does not reach the corners of the sheet; in the top quadrant a white scroll with Nemo Me Impune Lacessit in black and gold letters, above a thistle in natural colours.

- Stewart of Appin's regiment: blue with a yellow saltire, the colours coming from the family arms

A discussion about the list of burnt colours and other Jacobite flags appears in Military Illustrated number 38 (1991) pp.39-45

Ian Sumner, 15 March 2000
http://flagspot.net/flags/gb-sccln.html

Alex McCracken · Posted: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 7:59 am Post subject:

Hi Mac!

It's a shame how many of those old banners didn't make it, isn't it? Especially
for us reenactors! Here are some pics of the banners used by the heros
(Jacobites) of the '45:

Alex McCracken · Posted: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 8:01 am Post subject:

Jacobite banners 2:

Alex McCracken · Posted: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 8:02 am Post subject:

And the last one:

Alex McCracken · Posted: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 8:07 am Post subject:

Hmmm. No S-hilts, but still cool!

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Alex McCracken · Posted: Sat 10 Jan, 2004 7:21 pm Post subject:

Hi Sgt-Major!

Thomas McDonald wrote:

Thanks for the assist ! Hope you & the Mrs. are well , Mac

We're fine. This last week has been good for us, as the Lady McCracken
has finally gotten some job interviews for elementary school teaching
postions. There's a 4th grade job that we're both keeping our sgian
ochles crossed for! Lorna had interview #2, so we're both waiting with
bated breath for positive news.

Thomas McDonald wrote:

P.S. When are the little McCracken's coming ? ( we need to build the future troops,
afterall ;-)

Well, we're sorta leaving that one up to fate, if you take my meaning. We've already
got the names picked out and tartan jams ready! But until that happens, we've got the
cats and pooch to keep us company. Though, Lorna is now talking about getting a merle
blue Border Collie, hopefully next year when job situations are settled, and after we get a
bigger place (you know how energetic BC's are!)

Capt Alex