IN this week 275 years ago, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, had his army carry out his orders that no quarter be given to the survivors of the Battle of Culloden. Cumberland had used the excuse that Prince Charles Edward Stuart had given a “no quarter” order to his army. According to Lord Balmerino, who was executed for his leading part in the Rising, no such order was ever given. A written version supposedly made by Jacobite commander Lord George Murray was a doctored forgery, no doubt to deflect criticism, and no matter his “excuse” there is no doubt that Cumberland ordered that wounded Jacobites on the field at Drumossie Moor were to be killed and their bodies left to rot.
GLASGOW in the 1730s and early 1740s was something of a boomtown. Having been one of the places that hosted anti-Union riots in 1706-07, the city had embraced the Union and the House of Hanover, not least because of the possibilities of international trade. The town council could afford to build a new town hall, rich individuals like James Macrae, Governor of Madras, presented the city with adornments such as the first equestrian statue in Scotland, and the likes of Colonel William Macdowall made fortunes for Glasgow with the slave plantations growing sugar cane and tobacco, while early cotton imports only added to the city’s wealth.