The Battle of Preston

The Battle of Preston

The Battle of Preston (9th – 14th November 1715), also referred to as the Preston Fight, was fought during the Jacobite Rising of 1715 (often referred to as the First Jacobite Rising, or Rebellion by supporters of the Hanoverian government).

The Jacobites moved south into England with little opposition and by the time they reached Preston in Lancashire, had grown to about 4,000 in number. Their horse troops entered Preston on the night of 9th November 1715 and as they approached, two troops of dragoons and part of a militia regiment retreated to Wigan.

General Charles Wills, commander of the Government forces in Chester was ordered to halt their advance, and left Manchester on 11th November. General Wills was a far more formidable opponent than the militia colonels, bishops and local dignitaries the Jacobites had so far encountered on their march south. He had a considerable number of regular troops available to him including six regiments of horse and one of foot, and General Carpenter was hurrying south to join him. With the help of Sir Henry Houghton, local Whig MP, he could also count on the help of a large and well-motivated militia. He had already garrisoned Warrington Bridge and Manchester against the Jacobites.

The Jacobite leader, Thomas Forster a Northumberland squire, had intended to move on that day, but learning of Wills' approach decided to stay. On the evening of 11th, the Jacobite leaders were informed Wills was closing rapidly on the town. The army was stood to and an immediate Council of War held. Forster scorned the warnings of Wills's approach, saying that the Lancastrian Catholics had promised the safety of the Jacobite army, but next morning Wills's army was seen approaching the town from the south.

There is some controversy as to what happened next. Forster and one of his commanders Mackintosh fought, both claiming later that they ordered the other to send out cavalry to hold the bridge over the Ribble, which Wills would have to cross. In the end, Derwentwater's detachment sent out for this purpose were withdrawn and Forster retired to his quarters in a huff. Another Jacobite commander Widdrington followed him with a bad case of gout which kept him in bed all day. Left in command, Mackintosh decided to reinforce the streets of the town and force Wills's men to come to close quarters.

At about midday Wills's men crossed the bridge, and at two o'clock the first assault was launched. The Jacobites had barricaded the principal streets and Wills ordered an immediate attack which met with fire from the barricades and houses, resulting in the government attack being repulsed with heavy losses. Street fighting continued until nightfall. The Jacobites fought fiercely and drove off every assault, inflicting heavy casualties. Mackintosh wrote to Mar, announcing his confidence of a victory next day.

Wills had houses set on fire with the aim of fires spreading along to the Jacobite positions, and the Jacobites tried to do the same to houses taken as government positions. At night Wills's order to light government held positions for identification helped Jacobite snipers, then overnight many Jacobites left the town. The legend of these actions is recounted in a well-known Lancashire ballad, Lo! The Bird is Fallen.

During the night, however, the situation changed completely. General Carpenter, with three regiments of dragoons and some infantry, arrived. Preston was soon encircled.

Wills stationed troops to prevent the besieged Jacobite army from escaping. The Jacobites had also suffered losses in the fighting as well as losing defectors overnight and though the Highlanders' full intention was to fight on and take the attack to the enemy, Forster agreed to his Colonel Oxburgh's offer to open negotiations with Wills for capitulation on favourable terms. This was done without informing the Highlanders, but Wills refused to treat with rebels. When the Highlanders learned of this that night they were infuriated and paraded the streets threatening any Jacobites who might even allude to a surrender, and killing or wounding several people.

At 07:00 on Monday 14th November Forster offered unconditional surrender which was turned down unless it applied to the Highlanders, then returned with confirmation that the Scots noblemen would surrender on the same terms. When the government forces entered the town the Highlanders were drawn up under arms in the market-place ready to surrender.

1,468 Jacobites were taken prisoner, 463 of them English. George Seton, 5th Earl of Winton, William Gordon, 6th Viscount of Kenmure, William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale and James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater and Sir George Collingwood were among those captured and sentenced to be executed for treason under an act of attainder.

Another source states: "They were defeated at the Battle of Preston and many clansmen were transported to the Americas".

17 Jacobites were killed and 25 wounded. Government casualties were close to 300 killed and wounded (the best discussion of this is by the historian and military expert J.Baynes in his The Jacobite Rising of 1715 [1970], pp. 126–127).

The Government acted quickly to make an example of the Jacobites. On 2nd December Captain John Shafto and three Scots officers were shot for treason and desertion. On 9th January the Commons impeached Lords Derwentwater, Widdrington, Nithsdale, Carnwath, Wintoun, Kenmure and Nairn of high treason. Forster, John Clavering, Thomas Errington, William Shafto and eight Lancastrians were also impeached, alleging that they had conspired against church and state, had incited the people and had raised rebellion in Northumberland, Durham, Cumberland and Lancashire.

On 19 January all but Wintoun admitted their guilt before the Commons. Derwentwater, Widdrington, Nithsdale and Nairn said that they had never been involved in plotting and had only learned of the Jacobite plans when they had been called on to ride out and join the Rising. Carnwath and Kenmure offered no mitigation. Lord Chancellor Cowper then asked each of the Lords if they had anything to say before sentence was passed. Derwentwater gave a strong assurance of his future loyalty and appealed to Cowper to consider his wife and children. Widdrington, Kenmure and Nairn made similar pleas.

Cowper was unmoved. Before passing sentence, he scorned their protestations of ignorance about Jacobite plotting, saying that even if it was true it only added to their guilt, as their neighbours seemed convinced they would ride out without even bothering to consult them. All seven lords were immediately sentenced to death.

Efforts were made over the following weeks to win reprieves for the condemned men, even the House of Lords writing to the King to appeal for mercy. The Countess of Derwentwater, together with several family members and influential friends, gained audience with the King and begged for clemency. Her heart-rending pleas were in vain.

The repeated offer of a reprieve on condition that the Earl renounce his religion and conform to the Established Church was not, he said, acceptable, and he turned it down on grounds of honour and conscience. Nairn, Widdrington and Carnwath were more fortunate, being reprieved shortly before their execution. Nithsdale and Wintoun managed to escape from the Tower, so reducing the number of noble victims to Derwentwater and Kenmure, the principal leaders in Northumberland and the Borders. They were seen as the most influential of the rebels and their sentence had to stand.
On 24 February Derwentwater was led out to Tower Hill and just after midday had his head severed from his body by the axe-man. Kenmure followed him to the scaffold. Meanwhile, in Liverpool on 12 January trials had been prepared against thirty-six Scots and thirty-eight English. Four were Northumbrians. Thirty-four of them were executed in various towns in Lancashire. They included John Hunter and Sir George Collingwood. Collingwood's wife desperately tried to win a reprieve for him, but in spite of Lord Lonsdale's involvement, he was hung, drawn and quartered on 25 February. Even Patten acknowledged that the Roman Catholic gentry had died like men, though he was more scornful of the Anglicans who begged for mercy.

The battle of Preston is often claimed to have been the last fought on English soil, but this depends on the definition of battle for which there are different interpretations. Preston was a siege rather than a pitched battle, so the Battle of Sedgemoor fought in 1685 is also a contender for the title of the last battle on English soil, as is the skirmish at Clifton Moor near Penrith in Cumbria on 18th December 1745 during the 'Forty-Five' Jacobite Rebellion. The fact is, however, that there was a great deal of savage fighting in streets all over the town during the Battle of Preston, far more than in most sieges. It was as much of a battle as, for example, the Battle of St Albans (1455) in the Wars of the Roses, which was also fought in the streets of the town but which is universally regarded as a battle not a siege, as is the Battle of Reading (1688). The Battle of Bossenden Wood, fought on 31 May 1838, is a much later contender.