76 
Lancashire Memorials of 1715 (Chetham Society, vol. v.), and I 
shall, as far as possible, avoid going over the same ground, as I 
presume the members of this Society have read or have easy 
access to this volume. My object is to lay before you certain 
facts and evidence unrecorded by Dr. Hibbert-Ware, which, I 
venture to think, very considerably increase our knowledge, and 
will lead many to differ with the doctor in his conclusions. It 
will be necessary to glance at the political state of the country 
in the years preceding 1715. 
No soorer had the Revolution of 1688 taken place than plotting 
began, and in 1689 a Jacobite rising would undoubtedly have 
occurred in Lancashire aud Cheshire had not Lord Delamere 
promptly called a muster of the militia on Bowdon Downs. 
Again, in 1694, Manchester was the scene of the trial of con- 
spirators, who, though guilty, got off by a curious chance. 
The High Church Tory party in the town and neighbourhood 
was dominant and active, and when the excitement caused by 
the trial of Dr. Sacheverell spread over the country it found 
men willing and ready to lead a thoughtless rabble to acts of 
folly and violence. The elections of 1715 all over the country 
had been much influenced by mobs. In Manchester, a mob 
under a mob colonel, whose name is unknown, and a mob captain 
named Siddall—a blacksmith by trade—for three days had the 
town virtually in their hands. On June 20th they destroyed 
Blackley Chapel, and on the 21st Monton shared the same fate. 
The fine meeting-house in Redcross Street, which cost the nation 
£1,500 to repair, was also wrecked. Then came the outbreak in 
Scotland. The Earl of Mar took the field, backed by many of 
the Scotch nobility, highland chiefs, Catholic gentry, and Pres- 
byterians, and James III. was proclaimed. The reason of this 
alliance of High Church Tories, Roman Catholics, and Presby- 
terians—so strange a combination surely never was seen in arms 
together—is fully explained by Dr. Hibbert-Ware. The Duke of 
Argyll, in command of the Royal forces, could barely hold his 
own, and Mar detached a body of highlanders under an experi- 
enced officer, Brigadier MacIntosh, to join the lowland Scotch 
under. Lord Kenmure, who were out near the border, and also 
with the north-country gentlemen, who, with Lord Derwentwater 
and Mr. Forster, had proclaimed King James. These three 
bodies joined, and, after dodging about to keep out of the way 
of General Carpenter, were led by a promise, made by the High 
Church Tory party in Manchester that 20,000 men would join 
them should they come into Lancashire, to march south. ‘Lo 
conciliate the feeling of the Presbyterians and Churchmen, 
Forster, a Church Tory, was made general. There is no doubt 
his incompetence contributed greatly to the early collapse of the 
rebellion, Of their march south it is enough to say they entered 
