Jacobite Lists from Database


I am presently compiling a database of all Jacobite’s concerned in the Rebellion of 1745. Studying the subject, it became clear that there were many misconception, on both sides, as to had happened during the Rebellion and in particular at the battle of Culloden. The idea of making a database came to me when I was present at a talk by a person well known in Jacobite circles. He was standing by the Jacobite Memorial on the battlefield telling an audience of visitors how the battle was fought. He mentioned that there must have been snipers on the English side as archaeologists has unearthed a skull near the Jacobite lines with a neat hole in his hear caused by a musket ball. This is very unlikely as muskets of the day were not capable of accuracy must over fifty yards. The reality was probably that he skull was that of a casualty of the battle who, along with many others, were shot on the battlefield after the battle or returned to the battlefield after the battle and shot. I started to collect antique book about the Rebellion and from them built a database of all the Jacobite’s mentioned. Over a period of years, I was able to consolidate a history of each person from all the books I had collected, which I combined into one field of the database giving a short history of personal details and what happened to them during the Rebellion and afterwards. The books containing lists, Jacobite Muster Roll, The Prisoners of the ’45 and the Excise lists are not accurate so it was rather complicated to gather all the Jacobite’s into one consolidated history field. In particular surname spellings and those of abode were hard to decipher. In these cases, I entered each individual in the hope that additional information would come to hand whereby names could be combined accurately. The Muster Roll I found was the least accurate with many duplications and in some cases poor layout. I now have a list of 964 men who I have found fought in the Rebellion and were not listed in the Muster Roll. Before the battle of Culloden Lord George Murray issued an order for all unattached man to attach themselves to a regiment and stay with them throughout the battle. Maybe this was needed to allocate all these additional men into some sort of fighting force rather than construct a new regiment which would have to be trained at some point. Interesting also to read the Excise reports which indicate how these persons came to join the Jacobite Rebellion and how and when they left. Many stayed for a short period of time and then went home.
 
The present database has been compiled using Filemaker 14 Pro Advanced. The program has been purchased by Apple and now many of the Filemaker features that would have helped in publishing the database have been removed and replaced by the need to purchase a Server version of the program. To circumvent this, I have made layouts in Filemaker which generate reports that can be saved as .pdf documents. I am therefore able to reproduce some older formats, covering two pages, into one page which makes it a lot easier to read. Filemaker has an accurate index system and is capable of displaying records in the database using any field find text. It is therefore possible to produce lists of names, parishes, occupations, place names, names of ships used in the Rebellion. Lists of prisons where Jacobite’s were retained, transportation lists to USA and the Colonies. In addition, the Excise lists make interesting reading as they were made on information given to the Excise Officers by locals and transmitted to the government.
 
I am willing to construct any list from information given to me. This database would be ideal to assist in tracing relatives who lived through the difficult time of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. The following lists show what can be included in a list filtered from the database.
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