A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



to a man, and with these went those Churchmen who had repudiated 

 James II and welcomed William of Orange, and who, by reason of their 

 toleration of Presbyterians among them, were now designated the Low 



Church party. 



Those high Tories who were not openly avowed Jacobites, were, by 

 their acceptance of King William, placed in a very false position. They felt 

 that they were violating their old Cavalier doctrine of the ' divine right.' 

 They took refuge, however, in a middle course, either by refusing to take the 

 oath of supremacy, whence they were styled non-jurors, or by taking the oath 

 to William as to the king de facto ^ while secretly reserving their allegiance to 

 King James as their king de jure}''^ Strange to relate, considering the history 

 of the town in the Civil War, nowhere did this High Tory faction assert 

 itself more noisily than in Manchester. The preaching of High Church 

 doctrine at the Collegiate church served to keep alive enthusiasm for the 

 Jacobite cause there. The cause was also very warmly espoused by numbers 

 of younger sons of the Roman Catholic and Tory gentry, who were 

 apprenticed to trade in that town."' Queen Anne's toleration of Presby- 

 terians and her known Low Church leanings alienated the extreme High 

 Tories from her, and made them join hands with the Roman Catholics 

 in the common object of restoring the Stuart succession.^'" This 

 coalition resulted in the wild and ill-considered rising of the ' Fifteen ' in 

 Lancashire. 



The preaching of the famous Dr. Sacheverell in 171 o had wrought the 

 High Church Tories generally to a pitch of extraordinary excitement. After 

 the queen's death, party feeling in Manchester ran so high that it broke out 

 in the form of so-called Sacheverell mobs, who in 17 15, the second year of 

 George's reign, attacked Presbyterian meeting-houses, and were supposed to 

 be encouraged by 'Jacobite' magistrates and justices."' Troops were sent to 

 disperse and punish the mob, but the Jacobite cause was distinctly encouraged 

 by this uproar. The joint Jacobite party of Roman Catholics and High 

 Church Tories went so far even as to send word by Lord Widdrington (a 

 connexion of the Towneleys of Towneley) to the Scotch Jacobites, then in 

 arms for the Pretender, that on the appearance of a Scotch force in 

 Lancashire, there would be ' a general insurrection of at least twenty 

 thousand men.' "' 



The invitation was accepted, and the earl of Mar appointed Mr. Forster 

 and the earl of Derwentwater to lead the expedition."' They came by 

 Kirkby Lonsdale towards Lancaster, where Lord Widdrington's brother, who 

 had come up from Manchester, assured them that the Lancashire gentlemen 

 would join them with all their interest. James III, he said, had been 

 proclaimed at Manchester, where a troop of fifty armed men, besides volun- 

 teers, were already raised.'^ On 7 November, 17 15, the Scotch army having 

 entered Lancaster,"' the prince was proclaimed there as James III, and they 

 were joined by Mr. Tyldesley, of Myerscough Lodge, and other gentlemen 



''* Jacobite Trials, 102-3. 



^^ Lanes. Memorials of the Rebellion, 171 5 (Chet. Soc. v), pt. I, chap, iv, 27. 

 '" Ibid. Inquiry into the State of Parties in Lanes, preeeding the Rebellion, v, 47. 

 '*' Ibid. Lanes, during the Rebellion of lyi^, pt. i, iii (h). 



"" Ibid. pt. I, chap, vi (c), 27. '» ji,;j pj_ 2^ j.j^p_ jjj^ g^_ 



'^ Ibid. pt. 3, p. 85. 'The March of the Insurgent Force . . . from Penrith ... to Preston in 

 Lancashire.' 'ss Ibid. 89. 



244 



