Welsh Journals

JACOBITISM IN WALES IN their exile after 1688 the Stuarts looked to Wales as well as to Scotland, Lancashire, and western England for their chief support; and if Scotland was naturally the main centre of Stuart hopes, Wales featured occasionally in Jacobite plans. A proposal of 1717 was for a landing at Milford Haven, and a scheme of 1738 envisaged simultaneous disembarkations there and in Scotland. Welsh Jacobites played a prominent part in negotiations with Stuart envoys during the years before the Forty-Five, and as late as 1747 another invasion project included the landing of several thousand troops in Wales. Yet general studies of Jacobitism have paid little attention to Wales, while new information has come to light since the monographs of Welsh writers on the subject. 2 Jacobitism naturally lingered longer in the north and west of Britain, for these areas were then in every sense more conservative and backward: their remoteness rendered them less susceptible to changes of ideas and attitudes, and they still continued largely feudal and rural: the typical Jacobite was a country squire. Here, too, there existed knots of Roman Catholics, almost invariably Jacobite in sympathy, for their faith was alike the mark and the main political handicap of the Stuarts. But though Wales as a geographical area long remained a centre of Jacobitism, loyalty to the Stuart dynasty cannot be associated with any Welsh national aspirations. Rather does the evidence suggest the contrary. Stuart supporters at home and abroad made no reference to, Wales in such national terms. The Welsh Jacobites frequently used the word 'English' to include themselves, and worked in close harmony with their fellows across the border. It is impossible to find in contemporary sources any plausible justification for the old view of Welsh Jacobitism as a romantic national movement against English oppression.3 A recent study has attempted to elaborate on this interpretation by attributing the strength of Jacobitism in Wales at least in part to resentment at the anglicization of the Established Church. The only basis for this contention appears to be the state- 1 Stuart MSS. (Royal Archives. Windsor Castle. By the gracious permission of Her Majesty the Queen). 206/108. I am indebted to the assistance of Dr. Eveline Cruickshanks. who examined these MSS. on behalf of the History of Parliament Trust. "Herbert M. Vaughan. 'Welsh Jacobitism'. Cymmrodorion Transactions, 1920-21, pp. 11-36, made admirable use of existing evidence. Some new material was discussed by Donald Nicholas. The Welsh Jacobites'. Cymmrodorion Transactions. 1948. pp. 467-74. 3 For this interpretation, see J. Arthur Price. 'Wales and the White Rose'. Wales. I (1894), 337-41; 'Suffering for the White Rose'. Wales. II (1895). 17-25: 'Side Lights on Welsh Jacobitism'. Y Cymmrodor. XIV (1901). 136-53.