Battle of Preston

Battle of Preston, (9–14 November 1715). The last important siege of a city in England, Preston pitted the British army of the Hanoverian King George I against a Jacobite army attempting to restore Stuart rule in the person of the Old Pretender: Prince James, son of the deposed King James II.

After a series of campaigns in Scotland in which the Earl of Mar had captured much of the Highlands and the city of Perth, the Jacobite army moved south with little resistance from the British army, expecting to be joined by more than 20,000 supporters in Lancashire. However, the support they found was disappointing, and the Jacobites entered Preston on 9 November 1715, joined by fewer than 2,000 men, under the command of Thomas Forster, a member of the Northumberland gentry.

On 12 November, General Charles Willis besieged Preston. An initial attack was repelled, with the British forces being held back by barricades and taking heavy losses from small arms fire directed at them from houses. During the night of 12 November, many Lancashire Jacobites deserted; the next day, the government forces were swelled by reinforcements, which set about preventing the Jacobites from escaping. Forster opened negotiations for surrender, but Willis refused because he knew that the Highlanders wished to fight on. It was only when Willis received confirmation that the Highlanders had disarmed and assembled in the market square that government forces entered the city on 14 November. Reports on what happened to the Jacobites vary, with some sources claiming that many were transported to the Americas. Other sources cite a number of executions, but also state that numerous Highlanders managed to find their way back to Scotland.

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Losses: British government, 300 casualties of 3,000; Jacobites, 50 casualties of 1,500 (plus a large number of desertions).