Glenbuckets Host The Cameos September 22nd from 4 am

Major General John Gordon of Glenbucket's Regiment

The Major-General had played a prominent role in the 1715 Jacobite Uprising but by 1745 was some 72 years of age. He was gazetted as Major General by HRH Prince Charles Edward personally. His Regiment was not present in any major battles of the '45 until Culloden where it played a key role in ensuring the Prince was safely carried away.

The Regiment today, established in 1999 to focus on 1745/ 1746 re-enactments in honour of the Major-General, contributes at countless venues and Living History events. Its members also work with the Earl of Loudon's Regiment [which opposed the Jacobites at Prestonpans and was present at the 1995 250th Anniversary Celebrations in Prestonpans.]

The Trustees were honoured that the Regiment accepted its invitation to act as 'Host' for all the cameo re-enactments on September 22nd 2007. The Trustees first met the Glenbuckets in Derby in December 2006 where they shared in the reconvened Council Meeting of The Prince and resolved to continue with our campaign rather than to turn back.

Pictured below are some scenes from their work, which is entirely voluntary. The lady gracing the top photograph is Claudia McPhail, Agitant to the Regiment. She is present with her fellow Regimental colleagues in Prestonpans this year.

click to enlarge images



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Historical Note:

In 1737 John Gordon sold his tiny property of Glenbuchat for £700 and by 1738 he was with The Pretender in Rome with a demand for the Royal Presence in Scotland, but having failed in Paris on the way to sell the idea of a Franco-Jacobite invasion of Britain to Cardinal Fleury. Though scarcely even a laird, he was an impressive personality and his three daughters were married to significant highland chiefs: Forbes of Skellater, Macdonald of Glengarry, and Macdonnel of Lochgarry. In 1739, more or less as a result of Glenbucket's journey to Rome, a group of Jacobites formed an association to forward the cause. The Associators as they were known were a curious crew, being the Duke of Perth (described as "a foolish horse-racing boy"), his uncle Lord John Drummond of Fairntoun; Donald Campbell the younger of Lochiel; his uncle Sir John Campbell of Auchenbreck (a rarity among Campbell lairds for his Jacobitism as also for his maybe not unconnected "desperate fortune and little interest"); the Earl of Traquair; his brother the Honourable James Stewart and Simon Fraser Lord Lovat.

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Trustees of Battle of Prestonpans 1745 Heritage Trust