The University and the '45 - Revision history

Pbarnaby: /* Other University Events in 1745 */

2015-08-25T09:39:30Z

Other University Events in 1745

Pbarnaby at 11:56, 15 July 2015

2015-07-15T11:56:45Z

Pbarnaby: /* Colin Maclaurin Fortifies the City */

2015-02-17T12:56:20Z

Colin Maclaurin Fortifies the City

Pbarnaby: /* Sources */

2014-08-04T15:43:48Z

Sources

Pbarnaby: /* Sources */

2014-07-29T12:00:53Z

Sources

Pbarnaby: /* Other Reponses */

2014-07-17T14:30:28Z

Other Reponses

Pbarnaby: /* Other Reponses */

2014-07-17T10:20:40Z

Other Reponses

Pbarnaby: /* Other Reponses */

2014-07-16T16:38:04Z

Other Reponses

Pbarnaby at 12:38, 20 June 2014

2014-06-20T12:38:50Z

Pbarnaby: /* Colin Maclaurin Fortifies the City */

2014-06-20T09:41:10Z

Colin Maclaurin Fortifies the City

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 [[File:IMG 1481.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Proposals for Raising Four Regiments of Women in the Three Lothians', [[Laing Collection]], [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.II.90/7) ]]The great majority of the staff and students of the University appear to have remained loyal to the Hannoverian government. [[Charles Mackie (1688-1770)]], the University's first Professor of [[History]] is reported to have spread spurious tales of Jacobite atrocities as the city prepared for the arrival of Charles Edward Stewart's army. When challenged as to their veracity, Mackie cheerfully acknowledged that they might be unfounded, but argued that they served a purpose in rousing loyalist sentiment. Edinburgh University's [[Laing Collection]] contains numerous papers belonging to Mackie who taught both William Robertson and John Home. These include letters providing eyewitness accounts of the '45 and a set of 'proposals for raising four regiments of women in the three Lothians' to combat the Jacobites. One was to comprise of wives, one of widows, one of old maids, and 'one of young lasses fullgrown and fit for action'. There is also a tentative proposal for a fifth regiment of 'wives and daughters of the Presbyterian clergy'. The only qualification required of the women is 'that they be prooff of shot and able and willing to parry a thrust' (La. II. 90/7).
-== Other University Events in 1745 ==
+== Related Pages ==
 *[[David Hume's Failed Application for Chair of Moral Philosophy, 1745|David Hume Turned down for Chair of Moral Philosophy]]
 == Sources ==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File:IMG 1487.jpg | border | 350 px | right | thumb | [[Senatus minutes|Minutes]] of the [[Senatus Academicus]] of Edinburgh University, showing that meetings were suspended between 18 June 1745 and 12 December 1746, Edinburgh University Archives (EUA IN1/GOV/SEN/1)]]The Jacobite army of Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie') occupied Edinburgh between 16 September and 1 November 1745. As it advanced on the capital, staff, students, and alumni of Edinburgh University all prepared to defend the city. A pro-Hanoverian company of University Volunteers was formed (including [[William Robertson (1721-1793)]], the future [[Principal]]), and [[Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)]], Professor of [[Mathematics]], was employed as a military engineer to fortify the city.
-University classes were suspended throughout the occupation and it is unclear whether any lessons resumed that academic year. Certainly no graduations are recorded for 1746. The [[Senatus minutes|Minutes]] of the [[Senatus Academicus]] record no meetings between 18 June 1745 and 12 December 1746. Although there is no direct mention of the Jacobite Rebellion in the Senatus Minutes, these two entries both involve figures who were prominent in the University's response to the '45. The Minutes for 18 June 1745 record the controversial appointment of [[William Cleghorn (1718-1754)]] as Professor of Moral Philosophy after religious interests thwarted the candidature of Scotland's greatest philosopher [[David Hume (1711-1776)]]. Cleghorn would distinguish himself as one of the most ardent members of the College Company of Volunteers. The Minutes for 12 December 1746 record that [[Alexander Monro ''primus'' (1697-1767)]] delivered two orations in memory of Colin Maclaurin, whose recent death was thought to result from his exertions in defending the capital.
+University classes were suspended throughout the occupation and it is unclear whether any lessons resumed that academic year. Certainly no graduations are recorded for 1746. The [[Senatus minutes|Minutes]] of the [[Senatus Academicus]] record no meetings between 18 June 1745 and 12 December 1746. Although there is no direct mention of the Jacobite Rebellion in the Senatus Minutes, these two entries both involve figures who were prominent in the University's response to the '45. The Minutes for 18 June 1745 record the controversial appointment of [[William Cleghorn (1718-1754)]] as Professor of [[Moral Philosophy]] after religious interests thwarted the candidature of Scotland's greatest philosopher [[David Hume (1711-1776)]]. Cleghorn would distinguish himself as one of the most ardent members of the College Company of Volunteers. The Minutes for 12 December 1746 record that [[Alexander Monro ''primus'' (1697-1767)]] delivered two orations in memory of Colin Maclaurin, whose recent death was thought to result from his exertions in defending the capital.
 == The College Company ==

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 == Colin Maclaurin Fortifies the City ==
-[[File:IMG 1505.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | Blank commission for ensigncy in Jacobite Army, signed by Charles Edward Stuart, Perth, 7 September 1745, [[Laing Collection]], [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.I.348) ]]If a vein of farce runs through the tale of the College Company, the story of [[Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)]], Professor of Mathematics since 1725, is altogether more tragic. In a letter of 9 December 1745 to his friend Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, Maclaurin wrote that 'as soon as the danger from the Rebels seem'd imminent', he left his country house in Dalkeith and came to the capital. Here he joined the pro-Government Volunteers and did his utmost to raise the spirit of resistance 'amongst the Gentlemen in hopes it would have been raised likewise amongst the Burghers & trades'. Immediately 'the care of the walls' was assigned to Maclaurin. He tells Forbes that he 'laboured night & day' to fortify the city 'under infinite discouragements from superior powers'. He was promised 'hundreds of workmen' but 'could hardly get as many dozens'. Despite daily complaints to the City Council (whose Lord Provost, Archibald Stewart, was suspected of Jacobitism), he was only given the assistance he required in the last two days before the Jacobite occupation, and that, he writes, was too late. MacLaurin was incensed because he firmly believed that:
+[[File:IMG 1505.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | Blank commission for ensigncy in Jacobite Army, signed by Charles Edward Stuart, Perth, 7 September 1745, [[Laing Collection]], [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.I.348) ]]If a vein of farce runs through the tale of the College Company, the story of [[Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)]], Professor of Mathematics since 1725, is altogether more tragic. In a letter of 9 December 1745 to his friend Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, Maclaurin wrote that 'as soon as the danger from the Rebels seem'd imminent', he left his country house in Dalkeith and came to the capital. Here he joined the pro-Government Volunteers and did his utmost to raise the spirit of resistance 'amongst the Gentlemen in hopes it would have been raised likewise amongst the Burghers & trades'. Immediately 'the care of the walls' was assigned to Maclaurin. He tells Forbes that he 'laboured night & day' to fortify the city 'under infinite discouragements from superior powers'. He was promised 'hundreds of workmen' but 'could hardly get as many dozens'. Despite daily complaints to the [[Town Council]] (whose Lord Provost, Archibald Stewart, was suspected of Jacobitism), he was only given the assistance he required in the last two days before the Jacobite occupation, and that, he writes, was too late. MacLaurin was incensed because he firmly believed that:
 <blockquote>the Town was in a condition to have stood out for two or three days against men improvided with Artillery unskillfull & then unarmed, and there was a double expection of relief viz. from the Dutch & Sr John Cope</blockquote>

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 *[[Sir Alexander Grant]], ''The Story of the University of Edinburgh during its First Three Hundred Years'', 2 vols (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1884)
 *[[John Home (1722-1808)|John Home]], ''The History of the Rebellion in the Year 1745'' (London: T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1802)
-*David Bayne Horne, ''A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967)
+*David Bayne Horn, ''A Short History of the University of Edinburgh, 1556-1889'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1967)
 *[[Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746)|Colin MacLaurin]], ''The Collected Letters of Colin MacLaurin'', ed. Stella Mills (Nantwich: Shiva, 1982)
 *Patrick Murdoch, 'An account of the Life and Writings of the Author', in Colin Maclaurin, ''An Account of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophical Discoveries'' (London: A. Millar and J. Nourse, 1748)

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:00, 29 July 2014
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	[[File:IMG 1481.jpg \| border \| 300 px \| right \| thumb \| 'Proposals for Raising Four Regiments of Women in the Three Lothians', [[Laing Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.II.90/7) ]]The great majority of the staff and students of the University appear to have remained loyal to the Hannoverian government. [[Charles Mackie (1688-1770)]], the University's first Professor of [[History]] is reported to have spread spurious tales of Jacobite atrocities as the city prepared for the arrival of Charles Edward Stewart's army. When challenged as to their veracity, Mackie cheerfully acknowledged that they might be unfounded, but argued that they served a purpose in rousing loyalist sentiment. Edinburgh University's [[Laing Collection]] contains numerous papers belonging to Mackie who taught both William Robertson and John Home. These include letters providing eyewitness accounts of the '45 and a set of 'proposals for raising four regiments of women in the three Lothians' to combat the Jacobites. One was to comprise of wives, one of widows, one of old maids, and 'one of young lasses fullgrown and fit for action'. There is also a tentative proposal for a fifth regiment of 'wives and daughters of the Presbyterian clergy'. The only qualification required of the women is 'that they be prooff of shot and able and willing to parry a thrust' (La. II. 90/7).		[[File:IMG 1481.jpg \| border \| 300 px \| right \| thumb \| 'Proposals for Raising Four Regiments of Women in the Three Lothians', [[Laing Collection]], [[Library\|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.II.90/7) ]]The great majority of the staff and students of the University appear to have remained loyal to the Hannoverian government. [[Charles Mackie (1688-1770)]], the University's first Professor of [[History]] is reported to have spread spurious tales of Jacobite atrocities as the city prepared for the arrival of Charles Edward Stewart's army. When challenged as to their veracity, Mackie cheerfully acknowledged that they might be unfounded, but argued that they served a purpose in rousing loyalist sentiment. Edinburgh University's [[Laing Collection]] contains numerous papers belonging to Mackie who taught both William Robertson and John Home. These include letters providing eyewitness accounts of the '45 and a set of 'proposals for raising four regiments of women in the three Lothians' to combat the Jacobites. One was to comprise of wives, one of widows, one of old maids, and 'one of young lasses fullgrown and fit for action'. There is also a tentative proposal for a fifth regiment of 'wives and daughters of the Presbyterian clergy'. The only qualification required of the women is 'that they be prooff of shot and able and willing to parry a thrust' (La. II. 90/7).
		+
		+	== Other University Events in 1745 ==
		+
		+	*[[David Hume's Failed Application for Chair of Moral Philosophy, 1745\|David Hume Turned down for Chair of Moral Philosophy]]

	== Sources ==		== Sources ==

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 == Other Reponses ==
-[[File:IMG 1481.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Proposals for Raising Four Regiments of Women in the Three Lothians', [[Laing Collection]], [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.II.90/7) ]]The great majority of the staff and students of the University appear to have remained loyal to the Hannoverian government. [[Charles Mackie (1688-1772)]], the University's first Professor of [[History]] is reported to have spread spurious tales of Jacobite atrocities as the city prepared for the arrival of Charles Edward Stewart's army. When challenged as to their veracity, Mackie cheerfully acknowledged that they might be unfounded, but argued that they served a purpose in rousing loyalist sentiment. Edinburgh University's [[Laing Collection]] contains numerous papers belonging to Mackie who taught both William Robertson and John Home. These include letters providing eyewitness accounts of the '45 and a set of 'proposals for raising four regiments of women in the three Lothians' to combat the Jacobites. One was to comprise of wives, one of widows, one of old maids, and 'one of young lasses fullgrown and fit for action'. There is also a tentative proposal for a fifth regiment of 'wives and daughters of the Presbyterian clergy'. The only qualification required of the women is 'that they be prooff of shot and able and willing to parry a thrust' (La. II. 90/7).
+[[File:IMG 1481.jpg | border | 300 px | right | thumb | 'Proposals for Raising Four Regiments of Women in the Three Lothians', [[Laing Collection]], [[Library|Edinburgh University Library]] (La.II.90/7) ]]The great majority of the staff and students of the University appear to have remained loyal to the Hannoverian government. [[Charles Mackie (1688-1770)]], the University's first Professor of [[History]] is reported to have spread spurious tales of Jacobite atrocities as the city prepared for the arrival of Charles Edward Stewart's army. When challenged as to their veracity, Mackie cheerfully acknowledged that they might be unfounded, but argued that they served a purpose in rousing loyalist sentiment. Edinburgh University's [[Laing Collection]] contains numerous papers belonging to Mackie who taught both William Robertson and John Home. These include letters providing eyewitness accounts of the '45 and a set of 'proposals for raising four regiments of women in the three Lothians' to combat the Jacobites. One was to comprise of wives, one of widows, one of old maids, and 'one of young lasses fullgrown and fit for action'. There is also a tentative proposal for a fifth regiment of 'wives and daughters of the Presbyterian clergy'. The only qualification required of the women is 'that they be prooff of shot and able and willing to parry a thrust' (La. II. 90/7).
 == Sources ==

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 <blockquote>I have never yet entertain'd any Fear of the Conclusion of this Affair, tho' deeply concerned for the dishonour and distress it brings on some parts of the Country, and particularly on Edinburgh' (''ibid.'')</blockquote>
-In England, he accepted an invitation to lodge with Thomas Herring, Archbishop of York. In his absence, no fewer than eight Jacobite soldiers were quartered on his house in Dalkeith. His wife, Anne Maclaurin (nee Stewart), 'tho' indisposed', entertained them well and endeavoured to extract information as to the strength of the Jacobite army. MacLaurin made his way safely back to Edinburgh on 14 November 1745, but at great cost to his health. Crossing snowbound country between Morpeth and Wooler, he caught 'the most dangerous cold I ever had' (letter to Forbes, 9 December 1745). Within a week, he was endeavouring to raise a new body of volunteers but was hampered by continuing illness. Indeed Maclaurin's health never seems to have recovered from his exertions to defend Edinburgh against the Jacobites. He died on 14 June 1746, two months after the final defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden. He was tended on his death bed by [[Alexander Monro ''primus'' (1697-1767)]], the the first Professor of [[Anatomy]] at Edinburgh University (1720-64) and founder of Edinburgh Medical School. At the first meeting of the [[Senatus Academicus]] after the reopening of Edinburgh University, Monro read two orations in praise of his late friend.
+In England, he accepted an invitation to lodge with Thomas Herring, Archbishop of York. In his absence, no fewer than eight Jacobite soldiers were quartered on his house in Dalkeith. His wife, Anne Maclaurin (nee Stewart), 'tho' indisposed', entertained them well and endeavoured to extract information as to the strength of the Jacobite army. MacLaurin made his way safely back to Edinburgh on 14 November 1745, but at great cost to his health. Crossing snowbound country between Morpeth and Wooler, he caught 'the most dangerous cold I ever had' (letter to Forbes, 9 December 1745). Within a week, he was endeavouring to raise a new body of volunteers but was hampered by continuing illness. Indeed Maclaurin's health never seems to have recovered from his exertions to defend Edinburgh against the Jacobites. He died on 14 June 1746, two months after the final defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden. He was tended on his death bed by [[Alexander Monro ''primus'' (1697-1767)]], the first Professor of [[Anatomy]] at Edinburgh University (1720-64) and founder of Edinburgh Medical School. At the first meeting of the [[Senatus Academicus]] after the reopening of Edinburgh University, Monro read two orations in praise of his late friend.
 == Other Reponses ==