Stanwix | The History Jar

Having waved farewell to Colonel Francis Townley the Mancunian newly made Governor of Carlisle and the 380/390 men who remained with him Bonnie Prince Charlie exited Carlisle via Scotch Gate and crossed the bridge over the River Eden. Lord George Murray’s men awaited him at Stanwix.

From there the Jacobites marched eight miles to the Scottish border – into what had been the Debatable Lands. At Longtown they needed to cross the River Esk. It should have been a shallow crossing place. As it was the river was if not in full spate very close to it. Cavalry were sent down river to rescue anyone that got swept away and then the soldiers formed up into lines of twelve, locked arms and made their way across with suitable gaps between the parties of twelve men. Apparently they all made it, although Hanoverian press claimed that several camp followers and jacobite women drowned as they made the attempt – this it appears was propaganda.

Once the army had made dry land the pipers struck up and the whole army danced – from joy at being back on home soil and more practically because they needed to dry out.

This event spawned yet another heroic ballad entitled The Hundred Pipers. It was written by Lady Nairn and she seems to have become slightly confused about the chronology as in the ballad the Scots danced their way into England rather than out of it.

The army now split into two columns. One led by Lord George Murray headed in the direction of Ecclefechan whilst the other containing his princeliness headed off in the direction of Dumfries via Annan. This was perhaps to make it seem as though there was a bigger army than there actually was.

The people of Annandale weren’t terribly happy to see the Jacobites not least because they’d stolen from them when the army was heading south. In Dumfries Charlie levied a fine of £2000 and demanded 1,000 pairs of shoes within twenty-four hours. Highlanders were actually stopping people in the streets and taking their shoes from them. To make matters worse there weren’t 1,000 pairs of shoes in the district. The best they could manage having raided all the cobblers in the area was 255 pairs. Andrew Crosbie of Holm and Walter Riddell of Glenriddell were carried away the next morning as hostages to ensure that the full £2000 was paid. It was only when the Jacobites reached Glasgow – anther place that wasn’t overly pleased to see them- that the money was forthcoming and they were allowed to go home.

Johnson Beattie, David. (1928) Prince Charlie and the Borderland. Carlisle: Charles Thurnam and Sons

The story begins with the Liverpool coach on the 6th September 1823. Sadly it overturned and badly injured a little boy. His right leg was amputated at the knee. The child died on the 1st November and was buried in the graveyard of St Cuthbert’s Church.

The body-snatchers Burke and Hare were up to no good in Edinburgh this time exhuming bodies and selling them to the medical world for dissection. Accounts of graves being robbed of their occupants featured in all the newspapers. There was concern that a grave had been tampered with in Stanwix. Before long suspicion focused on ‘two strangers’ who’d hired a room in Long Island. The trail led to the offices of the Edinburgh Carriers where a stoutly corded box to be delivered to Lieutenant Todd in Edinburgh had already been dispatched. Suspicion excited, the box was stopped and opened at Hawick. Inside were the bodies of three children. Another, rather heavier box, had already been refused transportation.

Meanwhile on the 8th of December, another interment was about to occur in St Cuthbert’s. The mourners may have been rather alarmed at what was discovered. The body of a Botchergate Blacksmith wash discovered with cord tied around its feet. He was carefully reburied and a search of the graveyard made. The little boy, killed in the coach accident, was missing as was the body of a cotton spinner.

A twenty guinea reward was offered for the capture of the resurrection men but they disappeared as swiftly as they had arrived. By 1828 body-snatching had reached such a pitch that the Government of the day needed to legalize dissection.