My current project: reading about female Jacobites. This is pure fic research, to better be able to write a female character during the '45.
I first read Ladies in Rebellion by Katherine Fusick, a master's thesis on the subject. The first chapter is on women as agents and correspondents, focusing on Anne and Fanny (Frances) Oglethorpe, who according to Wikipedia are sisters of the Oglethorpe you guys know. Their parents were both highly placed in James II's court; the father died in 1702 but their mother lived on and was a favorite of Mary of Modena, though she stayed in England to keep control of the family estates. Their father was Anglican and their mother Catholic; they compromised by sending their four daughters to the Jacobite court to be educated as Catholic and their sons were educated as Anglican. (And your Oglethorpe was not a Jacobite, it seems, since he fought for the Hanoverian side in the '45!)
One of the sisters, Eleanor, made a French marriage, and that's where the sisters stayed when they were in France, after Mary of Modena died. All of them eventually married well except Anne, who remained unmarried; she stayed for long periods of time in England on the family estate which was on the southern coast and also an active smuggling hub. She was close to the earl of Oxford and possibly his lover. Anne and Fanny were both very active as Jacobite agents: they carried correspondence, wrote reports, evaluated potential recruits, approached and recruited people, mediated in conflicts between Jacobites, etc. They could easily travel between England and France on the excuse of visiting family. The fourth sister, Molly, was not as active an agent. Apparently Anne and Fanny were highly trusted agents.
Fanny approached the earl of Ilay (the future Duke of Argyll) for possible recruitment, and he apparently showed interest. In 1717, which obviously surprised me, since the Campbells fought on the Hanoverian side in the '15! But apparently King George saw Argyll’s growing influence over his son and had both brothers removed from all offices held under the crown in 1716. So their fall from favor obviously made them targets of recruitment, especially as Ilay apparently had the reputation of being ideologically flexible and out for his own gain. But he didn't stay recruited, obviously.
Chapter 2 of the thesis is about women and Jacobite material culture, which among other things provided the following amusing essay in the October 1748 issue of the Gentleman's Magazine on the subject of women's garters. It is The Most 18th century, in that it contains military metaphors for het sex and also Latin and Greek quotes. Here's the relevant bit: After having so lavishly spoken in praise of the garter, I cannot but disapprove of it, when it is made the distinguishing badge of a party. It ought to be like the caestus of Venus, so beautifully described in my motto, and not to be daubed with plaid, and crammed with treason. I am credibly informed, that garters of this sort were first introduced in the late rebellion, by some female aide de camps, and whether or not such ladies are to be imitated, is worth the serious consideration of the virtous part of the fair sex.
How dare women dress to express their political opinions, instead of to entice me!
Chapter 3 of the thesis was about women in the actual rising of '45, not much new for me here. Arrgh, I really wish Margaret Ogilvy had left behind a diary! Woe. I did finally find an electronic version of Beppy Byrom's diary about Manchester in the '45! It has a lot of reports on troop movements and what the Jacobites were doing when in town—she is definitely interested in military matters—but then there's also stuff about her "smoothing" (ironing) clothes and having dinner with family friends. Then we also get the head-patting footnotes of the 19th century editor ("How delightful is the fair diarist's unsophisticated enthusiasm!")
Finally, I give you The Female Rebels, an anonymous 1747 pamphlet arguing against the Jacobites, on the basis that so many women embraced their cause. I quote at length from this, because it is HILARIOUS. The bits about lots of women fighting on the battlefield are exaggerations, afaik.
It is remarkable of the Fair Sex, that whatever Opinions they embrace, they assert them with greater Constancy and Violence, than the Generality of Mankind: They seldom observe any Medium in their Passions, or set any reasonable Bounds to those Actions which result from them. As they adopt Principles without Reasoning, so they are actuated by them, to all the mad Lengths which their Whim, Caprice, or Revenge can dictate to them: They have, generally speaking, weak Heads and warm Hearts; and therefore we see that this Part of the Species are the first Prosylites to the most absurd Doctrines, and in all Changes of State or Religion, the Ladies are sure to lead the Van.
It is to this Foible of the Sex, we may ascribe the Number of Female Jacobites, which discover themselves in this Kingdom; and I cannot think it an unreasonable Conclusion, that the Cause must needs be bad, at least weak, when we find it under so much Petticoat Patronage: For I apprehend it can be no insult upon the profound Parts of the British Ladies, to suppose that they are very bad Judges in political Matters. It can be no Affront to feminine Judgment to alledge, that the Arcana of Government, the several Windings, Springs, and Wheels of the political Machine, are many Degrees removed from their Sphere of Knowledge; and therefore, when we see them with Violence and Vehemence espouse any Side of a political Theorem, it is a Chance of at least ten to one, that they are in the wrong. That they are so at present, is as evident as that they are fair; yet this is a Truth which our female Plato's will not believe; they think it impossible they should be in an Error, and it were as easy to reconcile some of them to think with Patience of Old Age, Impotence, and the Small-Pox, as to alter one Jott of their political System.
Had they confined themselves to mere Speculations, and restrained their Scene of Action to their Drawing Rom and Toylet, tho' they might do some Mischief even there, yet the Misfortune might be esteemed tolerable: But when they leave the Exercise of the Closet, and sally out upon us in the Field; when they bridle that mischievous Member of theirs, the Tongue, and attack, beside the killing Fire of their Eyes, with Sword and Pistol; it is Time for the Male Part of the Creation to look about them, since a Change of Government might bring along with it more than a simple Change of Constitution. We are not sure, but it is a Plot of that crafty Sex, to deprive Mankind of their Dominion over the Ladies: It may be a traiterous Conspiracy of our leige Subjects, the Women, against their sovereign Lord Man.
How else can we account for that Number of Petticoats, that have appeared encased in Armour under the Banner of the Chevalier Charles? Women, (I had almost said Men) who, regardless of Danger, and forgetting the natural Softness of their Sex, appeared openly without Head-Pieces, amidst all the Horror and Confusion of undistinguishing Bullets, and uncomplaisant Swords and Bayonets; who instead of soft Down, and warm Chambers, took up with the coarse Equipage of a Camp, and all the Inclemencies of Frosts and Snow, without any other Canopy than the starry Firmament! Must it not be some Motive stronger than Regard to the Rights of the abdicated House of Stewart, that could work this Miracle, to prevail on Women to forget the natural Timidity of their Sex, their Love of Ease, the Danger of their Lives; nay, what is more to Women, the Danger of their Beauty? For sure the Prick of a Bayonet, or the grazing of a Bullet, would deform the Symetry of their Features, more than the most malignant Small-Pox. Yet all this they suffered, all this they risked. Could it be upon any meaner Motive, than to recover the long contested Empire of the Males, and to fix us for ever in their Chains, in Spite of our Beards and boasted Wisdom!
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Female Jacobites
Date: 2021-11-27 05:50 pm (UTC)I first read Ladies in Rebellion by Katherine Fusick, a master's thesis on the subject. The first chapter is on women as agents and correspondents, focusing on Anne and Fanny (Frances) Oglethorpe, who according to Wikipedia are sisters of the Oglethorpe you guys know. Their parents were both highly placed in James II's court; the father died in 1702 but their mother lived on and was a favorite of Mary of Modena, though she stayed in England to keep control of the family estates. Their father was Anglican and their mother Catholic; they compromised by sending their four daughters to the Jacobite court to be educated as Catholic and their sons were educated as Anglican. (And your Oglethorpe was not a Jacobite, it seems, since he fought for the Hanoverian side in the '45!)
One of the sisters, Eleanor, made a French marriage, and that's where the sisters stayed when they were in France, after Mary of Modena died. All of them eventually married well except Anne, who remained unmarried; she stayed for long periods of time in England on the family estate which was on the southern coast and also an active smuggling hub. She was close to the earl of Oxford and possibly his lover. Anne and Fanny were both very active as Jacobite agents: they carried correspondence, wrote reports, evaluated potential recruits, approached and recruited people, mediated in conflicts between Jacobites, etc. They could easily travel between England and France on the excuse of visiting family. The fourth sister, Molly, was not as active an agent. Apparently Anne and Fanny were highly trusted agents.
Fanny approached the earl of Ilay (the future Duke of Argyll) for possible recruitment, and he apparently showed interest. In 1717, which obviously surprised me, since the Campbells fought on the Hanoverian side in the '15! But apparently King George saw Argyll’s growing influence over his son and had both brothers removed from all offices held under the crown in 1716. So their fall from favor obviously made them targets of recruitment, especially as Ilay apparently had the reputation of being ideologically flexible and out for his own gain. But he didn't stay recruited, obviously.
Chapter 2 of the thesis is about women and Jacobite material culture, which among other things provided the following amusing essay in the October 1748 issue of the Gentleman's Magazine on the subject of women's garters. It is The Most 18th century, in that it contains military metaphors for het sex and also Latin and Greek quotes. Here's the relevant bit: After having so lavishly spoken in praise of the garter, I cannot but disapprove of it, when it is made the distinguishing badge of a party. It ought to be like the caestus of Venus, so beautifully described in my motto, and not to be daubed with plaid, and crammed with treason. I am credibly informed, that garters of this sort were first introduced in the late rebellion, by some female aide de camps, and whether or not such ladies are to be imitated, is worth the serious consideration of the virtous part of the fair sex.
How dare women dress to express their political opinions, instead of to entice me!
Chapter 3 of the thesis was about women in the actual rising of '45, not much new for me here. Arrgh, I really wish Margaret Ogilvy had left behind a diary! Woe. I did finally find an electronic version of Beppy Byrom's diary about Manchester in the '45! It has a lot of reports on troop movements and what the Jacobites were doing when in town—she is definitely interested in military matters—but then there's also stuff about her "smoothing" (ironing) clothes and having dinner with family friends. Then we also get the head-patting footnotes of the 19th century editor ("How delightful is the fair diarist's unsophisticated enthusiasm!")
Finally, I give you The Female Rebels, an anonymous 1747 pamphlet arguing against the Jacobites, on the basis that so many women embraced their cause. I quote at length from this, because it is HILARIOUS. The bits about lots of women fighting on the battlefield are exaggerations, afaik.
In spite of your beard, sir!