CHAPTER X.
THE REBELLIONS.
The most striking event in Lancashire in the beginning of the eighteenth century was the rebellion of 1715, which arose out of the Highland feeling in favour of the elder Stuart line, and the discontent of the lairds with the recent Parliamentary union. Those who planned the insurrection were in hopes of obtaining the support of the Roman Catholics in the North of England, who still owned the Pope as the supreme head of their Church. In September, 1715, the Earl of Mar raised the royal standard of “James VIII. and III.” at Braemar, and was shortly afterwards at Perth with an army of 12,000. In the rising, of which this was the prelude, the Presbyterians in Lancashire attached themselves to the Whig party, whilst the Roman Catholics took the side of the Tories. A writer on this subject[217] says: “That the Roman Catholics in Lancashire should have appeared in arms during the movement of 1715 can excite no surprise whatever. They were stimulated by a deep recollection of long bygone persecutions, to which, as a cause, they referred their existing political and religious grievances. This historical retrospect comprises in its earliest date the persecutions and degradations which they underwent in the reign of Elizabeth, and the sympathy which they subsequently met with from the unfortunate Charles, who was the first to show concern for their sufferings and civil disabilities.”
The Roman Catholics who joined the Jacobite party in 1715 were strongly opposed, not only to the Whigs, but also to the Presbyterians, as they no doubt considered that to one or other of these factions they owed much of the persecution of past years. In Lancashire there were still many Roman Catholics, and it is not a matter of surprise that they should be ready to welcome any attempt to restore the succession of the Stuarts, in whose cause they had, during the Civil Wars, shed their blood and sacrificed many of their ancestral estates, especially as they were indignant at the attempts made by King William to meet the wishes of the Nonconformists. But perhaps the greatest excitement amongst the Tories was caused by King George’s determination to continue the Toleration Act. In Manchester the feeling was very strong, and there, on June 13, 1715, a considerable mob assembled, which was led by Thomas Syddal, a peruke–maker, and continued daily to meet “with beat of drum” for several days, during which they ravaged many of the houses of those favourable to the Government, and ended by almost destroying the Presbyterian chapel in Acres Field (now Cross Street), which was at that time the only Dissenting place of worship in Manchester, and which in derision was called “St. Plungeons.”
The Manchester mob having been joined by men from Warrington and the surrounding towns, they marched into Yorkshire, demolishing several meeting–houses which they passed on their way. Similar mobs were doing the same thing in several other parts of England at or near this date. Strong measures being taken by Parliament, by the end of July these riots for the time were suppressed. Syddal and a man known as the colonel of the mob at Manchester were captured; they were tried at Lancaster in the August following, and were sentenced to imprisonment and to stand in the pillory.
The breaking out of the rebellion in Scotland and the rising in Northumberland were soon followed by a threatening attitude assumed by the people of Manchester, which was the chief centre of High Church Toryism; to foster this feeling and to obtain active assistance, Lord Widdrington and other Catholics visited the town; they were not only received with enthusiasm, but were promised at least 20,000 men, when once the Scottish force had entered Lancashire. In the north of the county there were a considerable number of adherents to the cause of the Chevalier de St. George, amongst them being many members of some of the oldest and most powerful families in the district.
On November 6, 1715,[218] the insurgents were at Kirkby Lonsdale, and being told that the town of Lancaster had ceased to make preparations for defence, they decided to march on to that place, outside of which they arrived the day following, being met by Lord Widdrington and others, who roused their drooping spirits with the intelligence that the Lancashire gentlemen were willing to join them, and that Manchester (as an instalment towards the 20,000 promised) had got arms for 50 men besides other volunteers. The Lancaster people were, it appears, waiting for some dragoons from Preston which did not arrive, so that although Sir Henry Hoghton was prepared to defend the town, he was powerless to do so; and on November 7 the Scottish army entered Lancaster with swords drawn, drums beating, colours flying, and bagpipes playing; at the head of the troops rode Lord Wintoun. At the market cross the Pretender was proclaimed King. The next thing they did was to release all the prisoners on the Crown side in the castle, amongst whom were Thomas Syddal, the Manchester mob leader, and his “colonel,” both of whom joined the rebels. Besides these, John Dalton[219] of Thurnham Hall, John Tyldesley of the Lodge, Richard Butler of Rawcliffe, and a few others of the Roman Catholic gentry, were added to their ranks. The only inhabitants of the town who volunteered were a barber and a joiner. On November 8 service was held in the church, when, the Vicar declining to pray for the Pretender, the Rev. William Paul,[220] who was with the insurgents, read the prayer.
A writer, friendly to the rebels, narrates how the gentlemen of the army, “trimed in their best cloathes,” went to take “a dish of tea with the ladyes” of Lancaster, who “apeared in their best riging” in honour of the occasion.
On November 9 the forces set off for Preston. The day proved wet, and as the ways were deep and heavy, one may easily realize that the march was disagreeable and dispiriting, so much so that at Garstang the foot were allowed to stay all night, with instructions to follow the horse troops on to Preston the following day. Here, no doubt through the influence of Thomas Tyldesley, Roger Moncaster, an attorney and Town Clerk of the Corporation, joined the standard of the Chevalier; with him also went some half dozen more from the same district.
At Preston on November 10 the Pretender was proclaimed at the cross, and all authorities agree that here the army was joined by a considerable number of gentlemen, with their tenants and servants; but they were all Roman Catholics, the High Church party being still conspicuous by their absence. Amongst the volunteers were Richard Townley, Sir Francis Anderton of Lostock, Richard Chorley of Chorley, Gabriel Hesketh of Whitehill (in Goosnargh), Ralph Standish of Standish, John Leybourn of Nateby, and many other men of high position in the county. The total strength of the rebel force has been estimated at 4,000 men. What had the Government been doing all this time? News then travelled slowly, and it appears that while the rebels were at Lancaster General Carpenter was with his soldiers at Newcastle. He afterwards set off towards Lancashire.
The insurgents knew of this, but they appeared to have been ignorant of the movements of General Wills, the commandant of the Chester garrison, who was sending out forces to Wigan. On November 8 Wills was at Manchester, where he found it would require a regiment to prevent a rising, and having provided against this emergency by sending to Chester for the militia, he set off with his troops to Preston. On November 10 Pitt’s horse and Stanhope’s dragoons reached Wigan, where they were quickly followed by other regiments, who were arranged in readiness to advance to Preston. The rebels in the interior were having a fine time of it in “proud Preston,” where they found the “ladys so very beautifull and so richly atired” that they minded “nothing but courting and feasting.” Whilst General Wills was at Wigan he appealed to Sir Henry Hoghton to raise some recruits, who, it appears, considered that the most likely party to find them was the Presbyterians; and with this in view he wrote to the Rev. James Woods, pastor of Chowbent, in the following terms: