Historic Dilston

Who were the Jacobites?

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The Jacobites were the supporters of King James II who was deposed in 1688 and his son who was also called James. The name Jacobite comes from the fact that the Latin name for James is Jacobus.

The younger James spent his life in exile. To his followers he was the rightful king, James III whom they called "the king over the water"; his opponents called him the Pretender. The Jacobites staged a rising in 1715 to attempt to set James II's son James III on the English throne but they were not successful.

In 1745, James III's son, Bonnie Prince Charlie, came secretly to Scotland to attempt a second Jacobite rising. He was known as the Young Pretender, to distinguish him from his father, the Old Pretender. This rising too was unsuccessful and Bonnie Prince Charlie retreated back to the continent. The Jacobites who escaped death in the 1715 and 1745 risings never saw their dream of the restoration of the Stuarts fulfilled.