Forbes of Culloden and the 1715 Siege of Inverness

When Queen Anne died in 1714, the crown passed to George I. He was the son of Sophia of Hanover, the grandson of Elizabeth Stuart, the great-grandson of James VI and I, and the first of the Hanoverian monarchs. The House of Stuart was so entrenched in Catholicism that the nearest Protestant heir was fifty-second in line by blood.

Not everyone was pleased with King George’s succession. Under Queen Anne, John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, had been a Commissioner for the Union, Scottish Secretary of State, Keeper of the Signet, and a Privy Counsellor. After the passage of the Acts of Union, he became the British Secretary of State. At Queen Anne’s death in 1714, George I dismissed him from office.

Offended and still ambitious, Mar raised the standard for “King James 3rd and 8th” at Braemar on September 6, 1715, igniting the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715. Although Mar claimed James Francis Edward Stuart’s support, his formal commission did not arrive until October 3. On October 22, he received royal approval as Jacobite commander-in-chief.

King George appointed John Campbell, 2nd Duke of Argyll, to command the opposing government army. Argyll had backed the Hanoverian succession and was rewarded with the colonelcy of the Royal Horse Guards in June 1715. Minor clashes occurred as both sides maneuvered, but no decisive engagements until November.

While Mar was amassing his troops in central Aberdeenshire, William Mackenzie, 5th Earl of Seaforth and head of Clan Mackenzie, rallied his supporters to march on Inverness. A vital stronghold controlling access to the northern Highlands, the town was held for the British government by John Forbes, 4th laird of Culloden, a staunch supporter of King George I.

A cadet family of the Tolquhon branch, the Forbes of Culloden had owned the estate since 1626. John Forbes was born in 1673 and married Jean Gordon, daughter of Sir Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, 3rd Baronet. While most of her Gordon relatives were Catholic Jacobites, Jean’s family were Episcopalian Royalists who did not engage in Mar’s rebellion. John Forbes first sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1704 to 1707, representing Nairnshire. He opposed the Union of 1707, fearing economic and religious ruin. In 1713, he returned as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Nairnshire, and in 1715, he was elected to represent Inverness-shire. His brother Duncan, younger by twelve years, had received his law degree from Leyden University in the Netherlands. He returned to Scotland in 1707 and married Mary Rose of Kilravock in 1708.

When word reached them of Mar amassing Jacobite troops, both brothers raised independent companies in support of the British government. They fortified both Culloden House and Kilvarock Castle.

During October and November, several thousand Jacobite recruits loyal to Seaforth and Mackintosh surrounded Inverness and attempted to force its surrender. The Forbes brothers organized defenses with the help of Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Clan Rose, Clan Munro, Clan Grant, and other allies. The Forbeses and Lovat resisted fiercely, rallying townsmen and militia to defend the walls. Skirmishes occurred around the town, but the Jacobites failed to breach the defenses.

The siege was unsuccessful, and Inverness remained in government hands.