On 19 August 1745, at Glenfinnan near the head of Loch Shiel in the western Scottish Highlands, Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard and publicly called supporters to arms. The ceremony turned a precarious arrival into the Jacobite Rising of 1745—the campaign remembered simply as “the ’45.”
This was not a moment when all Scotland rallied behind one cause. Jacobite loyalties crossed family, regional and religious lines, while many Scots supported the Hanoverian government or tried to avoid the conflict. That divided reality is essential to understanding both Glenfinnan and what followed.
Quick answer: The Jacobite standard was raised at Glenfinnan on 19 August 1745. Charles Edward Stuart used the gathering to proclaim his father’s claim to the British thrones and begin an armed attempt to restore the exiled House of Stuart.
Why did Charles Edward Stuart come to Scotland?
The Jacobite movement grew from the removal of the Catholic King James VII of Scotland and II of England in 1688. His supporters—Jacobites, from Jacobus, the Latin form of James—continued to recognise the Stuart line and opposed the succession that eventually placed the Hanoverian dynasty on the throne.
Charles Edward Stuart was the grandson of James VII and II and the son of James Francis Edward Stuart. In 1745, during a wider European war, he travelled from France to Scotland hoping to gather support for his father’s restoration. His landing on Eriskay in July was only a beginning. Read the earlier chapter in Bonnie Prince Charlie’s arrival on Eriskay.
The prince’s prospects were uncertain. Several Highland chiefs believed the expedition lacked the French troops and supplies that had been expected. Supporting it could expose their families, tenants and estates to ruin. The decision to join was therefore neither automatic nor purely romantic.
What happened at Glenfinnan on 19 August 1745?
Charles chose Glenfinnan as a gathering place in Lochaber, a region where important MacDonald and Cameron connections could give the rising its first military strength. Supporters arrived over the course of the day. Donald Cameron of Lochiel and Cameron clansmen played a decisive role, while MacDonald contingents and other adherents added to the assembly.
Numbers in later retellings vary, but Historic Environment Scotland describes the first Jacobite army as just over 1,000 men, mainly from Cameron and MacDonald communities. The essential act is not disputed: the standard was raised, Charles declared his father’s claim, and the expedition became an open rebellion.
Later accounts associate the raising with MacMaster of Glenaladale and describe a red-and-white banner. The precise appearance and exact choreography are less securely documented than the date, place and political purpose. Glenfinnan should therefore be understood as a public declaration and mustering—not as a perfectly recorded tableau.
Which clans supported the rising?
The Camerons and several MacDonald branches were central at the beginning, and other Highland and Lowland supporters joined as the campaign moved east. But clan allegiance was not uniform. Chiefs made different calculations, branches of the same wider name could choose different sides, and ordinary people did not always share the choice made above them.
For a fuller view of those divided loyalties, see the Jacobite rising and the clans who took different sides. Treating the ’45 as “Scotland against England” erases the many Scots in government service and the British, Irish and European dimensions of the struggle.
From Glenfinnan to Derby—and back
The Jacobites moved quickly after Glenfinnan. They entered Edinburgh and defeated a government army at Prestonpans on 21 September. The advance then crossed into England and reached Derby in December, creating a serious political and military crisis for the Hanoverian government.
Yet the army lacked the broad English support and substantial French assistance its leaders had hoped to find. At Derby, the Jacobite command decided to retreat. The force won another victory at Falkirk in January 1746, but the campaign ended in a devastating defeat at Culloden on 16 April.
The Battle of Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil. Its aftermath brought executions, imprisonment, transportation, estate forfeitures and intensified government control of the Highlands. Measures restricting weapons and Highland dress formed part of that campaign. These policies did not erase clan society overnight, but they accelerated profound changes already under way.
How has Glenfinnan been remembered?
Glenfinnan became the remembered beginning of a campaign whose ending at Culloden shaped Highland history and diaspora memory. The monument at the head of Loch Shiel was erected in the early nineteenth century to commemorate the Highlanders who supported Charles Edward Stuart. The statue on its summit was added later.
The site carries more than one history. It remembers commitment and loss, but it also reflects the nineteenth-century romanticisation of Jacobitism. Modern research has additionally examined the wealth and imperial connections behind commemoration projects of that era. Remembering the ’45 responsibly means holding courage, coercion, political division, defeat and later mythmaking in the same frame.
Why does the anniversary still matter?
Glenfinnan shows how a political cause becomes real: not through legend alone, but through individual decisions made under uncertainty. It also shows why family history rarely fits a single national story. A surname associated with one Jacobite regiment may have other branches that served the government, stayed home or emigrated long after the fighting ended.
If your family story leads into the Highlands, search for your Scottish clan or family name. The name may open a path into local records, estate histories and the communities that faced the choices of 1745.
Frequently asked questions
When was the Jacobite standard raised at Glenfinnan?
It was raised on 19 August 1745 at Glenfinnan, near the head of Loch Shiel in Lochaber.
Did all Scottish clans support Bonnie Prince Charlie?
No. Some clans and branches supported the Jacobites, others supported the government, and some attempted neutrality. Allegiance could also divide a wider kin group.
Was Glenfinnan the first event of the 1745 Rising?
Charles Edward Stuart had already landed in the Hebrides and reached the mainland, but the raising of the standard at Glenfinnan marked the public call to arms and is conventionally treated as the rising’s formal beginning.