The Old Dog and Duck by Albert Jack

September 3rd 2009


The Three Lords Inn

Three Jacobite lords a-leaping to their deaths



It may sound as though this should be yet another pub name celebrating the great and good, but the story behind it is actually rather more bloodthirsty.

The three lords in question were rebels who got caught. The Jacobite Risings were a series of wars started by Scottish rebels who hoped to return the ousted Stuart family to the throne of England. Jacobus is the Latin form of the name of the last Stuart king in England, James II (1633-1701), deposed in 1688. What is known as the First Jacobite Rebellion, the first major uprising, failed at the Battle of Preston in 1715.

Then in 1743 James's grandson, Charles Edward Stuart (commonly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or, by his opponents, as the Young Pretender), was encouraged by the French king, Louis XV, to invade England from the north, while the French (with the blessing of the Pope) invaded from the south.

When a massive storm in the English Channel decimated their fleet, the French invasion plans were cancelled. 		 
Nothing daunted, Bonnie Prince Charlie continued with his plans, however, sailing for Scotland in July 1745 where he raised support for his cause among the Scottish clans, triggering what is remembered as the Second Jacobite Rebellion. Throughout that winter the Scottish rebels and government troops fought bloody battles all over Scotland, culminating in the encounter at Culloden, near Inverness, where the government forces, led by the Duke of Cumberland, crushed Charles's militia on 16 April 1746.

Determined to stamp out any remaining support for the Jacobite cause, Cumberland's troops pursued the rebels through the Highlands, killing every battlefield survivor they could find. Indeed, such was his enthusiasm for revenge, Cumberland picked up the nickname of 'the Butcher'. Charles himself escaped, dressed as a girl, leaving his supporters behind to face the music. Three Scottish noblemen - William Boyd, 4th Earl of Kilmarnock, Arthur Elphinstone, 6th Baron Balmerinoch, and Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat - were caught and immediately sent for trial in London, where all three were found guilty of high treason. Elphinstone and Boyd were publicly beheaded on Tower Hill in London on 18 August 1746. Unrepentant to the end, Elphinstone made a speech on the scaffold which he ended with the following words: 'If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them all down in the same cause.'

Lord Lovat, meanwhile, was beheaded on 9 April the following year, the last man ever to be executed on Tower Hill. In 1759, during the Seven Years' War, when England and France were yet again pitted against each other, the French planned another invasion, with a force of 100,000 men. Again they were hopeful of Jacobite support from the north and Charles was invited to a meeting with the French foreign minister to discuss the arrangements. When he turned up drunk and belligerent, the French were unimpressed and swiftly abandoned their plans, and Charles lost for ever the chance to recover the thrones of England and Scotland.

Any pub in England or Scotland bearing the name the Three Lords is either demonstrating its support for the Young Pretender or reminding you that, however treacherous the ruling classes can be, at least some of them get their comeuppance (some pub signs have the executioner's axe prominently displayed). But don't let that stop you from enjoying a drink in one of them.