During the year 1743 the Thirty-sixth regiment was stationed in Great Britain.
1744.
In the year 1744 France and Great Britain, from being auxiliaries in the “War of the Austrian Succession,”[7] became principals in the contest. On the 20th of March 1744 France declared war against England, and on the 29th of that month a counter-declaration was made by Great Britain, in which the French Monarch was accused of violating the “Pragmatic Sanction,”[8] and of assisting the son of the Pretender in his designs on the British throne.
In the spring of 1744 the Thirty-sixth and other regiments were embarked to join the troops in Flanders; but the operations of the British army during that year were confined to the defensive, and no general engagement occurred.
1745.
In the spring of 1745 a French army, commanded by Marshal Saxe, invested Tournay, and the Duke of Cumberland, who had assumed the command of the allied army of British, Dutch, and Austrians, advanced to the relief of the town. The Thirty-sixth regiment was left in garrison at Ghent, and was consequently not at the battle of Fontenoy, which was fought on the 11th of May. The Duke of Cumberland having failed in the attempt to relieve Tournay, retreated and encamped his army at Lessines. In the meantime events were transpiring in Scotland which occasioned the Thirty-sixth and other regiments to be embarked for England.
Charles Edward, eldest son of the Pretender, having arrived at a remote part of Scotland, was joined by many of the Highland clans, when he proceeded to assert his father’s pretentions to the throne. The young adventurer and his hardy mountaineers made considerable progress, and advanced as far as Derby, but subsequently retreated towards Scotland. Upon the arrival of the Thirty-sixth regiment in England, it formed part of the army assembled at Newcastle under Field-Marshal Wade, and upon the young Pretender’s advance into England, was employed in several movements designed to cover Yorkshire. On the retreat of the insurgent clans from England, the regiment returned to Newcastle, and was afterwards ordered to proceed to Edinburgh.
1746.
The regiment arrived at Edinburgh in January 1746, and was placed under the orders of Lieut.-General Hawley, the commander of the forces in North Britain. Meanwhile the young Pretender being joined by new levies, and having procured artillery and ammunition, obtained possession of the town of Stirling and commenced the siege of the castle. In order to raise the siege Lieut.-General Hawley advanced from Edinburgh, and an encampment was formed near the village of Falkirk. On the 17th of January, as the King’s troops were at dinner in the camp, the advance of the enemy was discovered; the royal forces seized their arms and proceeded along some rugged and difficult grounds to a large moor, where the rebel army appeared in order of battle.
Success or failure in the hour of battle has sometimes been found to depend upon accidental circumstances over which the commanders of armies have no control. Such was the case at the battle of Falkirk,[9] at which a tempest of wind and rain beat so violently in the faces of the royal forces at the moment when they engaged their adversaries, that their ammunition was spoiled in the act of loading; the soldiers could not see their opponents, and several regiments gave way, while others maintained their ground. At night both parties withdrew from the field of battle, and the King’s troops proceeded to Edinburgh.