Town Guard help prevent more bloodshed in city

AFTER the abortive Argyll Rising and Monmouth Rebellion, by 1686 King James VII and II seemed to be in secure possession of his thrones, but in reality his Catholic faith was seen by Scottish and English Protestants as a severe drawback for him, especially when the King began to appoint his co- religionists to important offices and started the process of removing anti- Catholic laws and practices.

Protestants comforted themselves that James had sired no heir and if he died, his Protestant daughters Mary – married to Prince William of Orange – and Anne would be his successors.

The Covenanters in Scotland continued to be violently suppressed, while James insisted on imposing bishops on the Kirk and appointed the Bishop of Edinburgh, John Paterson, to be Archbishop of Glasgow on January 21, 1687. He would be the last Protestant archbishop of the city.

That same year saw King James intervene directly in Glasgow’s affairs. After years of prosperity floated on a sea of debt, Glasgow was having real problems raising the taxes demanded by James, so he gave the city a licence for a whole raft of customs and excise duties to be raised from beer and wine imports. It was a very successful scheme and the city’s council sent James a cringeworthy letter of thanks which has been preserved in the archives.

“May it please your most sacreed Majestie – in the deepest sense of gratitude, wee most humblie prostrat ourselves at your royall feet, acknowledgeing your Majesties clemencie and bountie towards this your city of Glasgow in rescuing it from sinking under inevitable ruine.”

The loyal address continued in unctuous manner: “For our pairt, who by your Majesties nomination represent your authoritie here, wee shall, under the prudent conduct and unspotted loyall example of the most reverend archbishop your Majestie hath bein graciouslie pleased now to nominat for ws, witness to the world our fervent zeal against all your adversaries.” So Glasgow and its archbishop were very much on the side of King James, and he was going to need every friend he could get. For having married the commoner Anne Hyde, who died in 1671, James had married Princess Mary of Modena in 1673 – he was 39 and she was 15 at the time. They had a number of children that died in infancy before Mary gave birth to Prince James Francis Edward on June 10, 1688 – at last King James had an heir and he was baptised a Roman Catholic. Protestants in Scotland and England were appalled, and the nobility in both countries began to plot the King’s downfall.

The arrival of the infant caused great rejoicing in Glasgow, but as rumours grew of a Protestant takeover in England, in October, 1688, the city council showed its loyalty to James by raising a small army of around 1200 men who were ready to fight for the king.

The council issued orders to the officers of the armed force on November 13, unaware that eight days previously William of Orange had already landed at Brixham in Torbay to begin what history remembers as the Glorious or Bloodless Revolution.

Revolution it may have been but it was certainly not bloodless. No sooner had William and Mary made their triumphant way towards London than a state of bloody anarchy broke out in Scotland with religion at the heart.

The worst riots occurred in Edinburgh where a mob stormed the garrison of Holyroodhouse, killing 14 guards, and destroying the chapel at Holyrood Abbey which King James had fitted out for Catholic usage.

In Glasgow and the west of Scotland, protests broke out against those members of the clergy who had accepted bishops, and it is estimated that as many as 300 ministers were subjected to mobbings, beatings and general terror tactics by extreme Presbyterians, especially Covenanters who had emerged from hiding.

Even Glasgow Cathedral was not sacrosanct. A mob broke in during a service and assaulted the minister and magistrates. Fellow Protestants who did not adhere to their zealotry were beaten and humiliated in the street, and it was remarked that those who only recently had been the victims of persecution were now themselves the persecutors.

Only the presence of the Town Guard in the city saved much more

Even Glasgow Cathedral was not sacrosanct

bloodshed. This Guard had been formed in January 1689 after the original small army raised by the city for the service of King James had been disbanded for refusing to obey orders and joining the Williamites. The 60 men of the Town Guard were backed by what was effectively a militia, ordinary citizens armed with swords and muskets who could be called into action if necessary.

The English Parliament gave joint crowns to William and his wife Mary In February 1689, and the Convention of Estates offered the Scottish crown to William and Mary two months later.

William had wanted to bring in religious tolerance, but the Church of Scotland was very much against that. Curiously, it seems that the Kirk membership at that time was split 50- 50 over the long and controversial issue of bishops, but bishop- less Presbyterianism won out in the long term.

All of what happened in the 1690s might have been very different if events far to the north of Glasgow had worked out differently in the summer of 1689. After the Convention

of Estates decided that William and Mary should replace Scotland’s rightful king James VII, Viscount Dundee, John Graham of Claverhouse, the “Bluidy Clavers” who had warred against the Covenanters, raised the standard of King James in the first Jacobite Rising.

The clans did not flock to Dundee at first, but slowly the likes of Cameron of Lochiel brought their private armies of clansmen to fight for James.

Boosted by troops from Ireland, Dundee marched south to the Pass of Killiecrankie where on July, 1689, the man who had become known as Bonnie Dundee led his mainly Highland army to victory over the Williamite army led by General Hugh Mackay.

Many Jacobites were killed, however, including Dundee himself, and the Rising petered out the next year.

Some military experts have speculated that if Dundee, who was intent on capturing Edinburgh, had marched down the west coast and made Glasgow his base, Scottish and indeed British history might well have taken a different course.