Cumbria and the 'Forty-Five

Bonnie Prince Charlie’s reckless bid to capture the British throne is usually thought of as part of Scottish history but while researching my new novel Ravenglass, I was surprised to find out what a big part Cumbria played in this 1745 rebellion often known as the ‘’Forty-five.’ As soon as I started writing my story of fluidity and forbidden love told by Kit Ravenglass, the fictional son of a Whitehaven slave-ship owner, I knew that the ‘Forty-five would play a dramatic part in the plot. But I hadn’t known that the events Kit would witness in Cumbria were pivotal to the outcome of Britain’s last dynastic war.

My research visit to Whitehaven in March 2020

            Whitehaven, the main setting of Ravenglass, is a gem. A remarkably intact Georgian town, it was second only to the port of London in terms of shipping tonnage transported in the mid-18^th century. The Ravenglass family live in one of the fine new houses built on a grid of elegant streets. But following a family tragedy, Kit flees the town and begins a new life as a woman on an adventurous journey to Edinburgh. In September 1745, Charles Edward Stuart, better known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, arrives from exile to capture the Scottish capital and Kit is swept up by the excitement. But Charles, the ‘young pretender’ is determined to take back the British crown for his family and so his occupation of Edinburgh is not enough. Six weeks later the prince and his followers, including Kit, head south to England and the first English town they take is Carlisle.

            Despite Carlisle folk’s general dislike of the rebellion and a contingent of government troops in the castle who were meant to defend the city, the Mayor of Carlisle surrendered almost instantly to the invaders. Triumphant, Bonnie Prince Charlie appointed one of his officers, John Hamilton to be the governor of occupied Carlisle and fired by success, the prince immediately led a march south to oust George II from the throne. A rebel garrison was left behind to hold Carlisle, and for the following two months the city became the only place in England under the rule of the Stuarts.

But the rebels’ march on London in bitter winter weather was doomed, and by Derby the prince’s commanders forced him to turn back north. In retreat, the prince and his army were relentlessly pursued by the king’s forces led by his son, the ruthless Duke of Cumberland. Nevertheless, the rebels with their French soldiers and Highland warriors remained a formidable fighting force and they saw off the king’s army in a skirmish at Clifton Moor near Penrith which lays claim to being the last ever pitched battle on English soil.

Charles Edward Stuart aka Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745

This rebel success gave the main body of Prince Charlie’s forces time to reach the others behind Carlisle’s formidable town walls. The prince stayed in the city less than a day before continuing north with his army to the relative safety of Scotland. But he would not give up Carlisle, his toehold on English territory, and he left behind a small troop, of mainly English rebel volunteers from the Manchester Regiment, who were supposed to hold the city for the rebel prince against the might of the British state. Kit Ravenglass, still living as a woman, remains with these hopeless occupiers over Christmas 1745. Tension mounts as they watch Cumberland’s army building artillery emplacements within sight of the town walls. Once the big cannons brought from Whitehaven harbour are hauled into place, a bloody bombardment ensues and the crushing defeat for the rebels brings a climax to Kit’s personal dramas.

The defeated rebels were imprisoned in Carlisle Castle and Cathedral. Many were transported to exile in the Caribbean while thirty-three were executed at Harraby Hill outside Carlisle. The leaders, including the rebel governor, John Hamilton, were taken to London and suffered the worst traitor’s death by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Hamilton’s head was preserved in spirits and sent back to Carlisle where it was displayed amongst the others fixed on stakes above the Scotch Gate in the town walls.

Kit Ravenglass, wearing women’s clothes, is taken with other female rebels to imprisonment in Whitehaven House of Correction. I used a real historical footnote from the ’Forty-five in Cumbria to bring Kit’s story to a conclusion in the place where it started. A document survives from the Duke of Cumberland’s secretary giving orders for a group of rebel prisoners to be taken from Carlisle to Whitehaven. The men in this group of captives are listed by name. Below these names is the footnote; ‘& three Women.’ Little is known about these women except that they were held in Whitehaven gaol for eight months and then, remarkably, they escaped. It’s an ending too intriguing for a novelist to pass up!

I’m so glad to have embarked on my research journey into 18^th century Cumbria and I hope the county’s fascinating history will help entice booklovers to read Ravenglass.

Carlisle Castle

This article first appeared in the November 2025 edition of Cumbria Life magazine