Battle of Culloden: The story of Jacobite officer John Roy Stuart who led the final charge in 1746

The ghost of Jacobite Colonel John Roy Stuart returns to Scotland on the anniversary of the Battle of Culloden to recall what happened

April 16th 1746: the Battle of Culloden, the last battle fought on British soil.

April 16th 2025: the ghost of John Roy Stuart, poet, partisan and Colonel of the Jacobite Edinburgh Regiment, returns to Scotland to recall his life, times and final battle.

A one man play which tells the story of the Battle of Culloden through the words of the Jacobite officer who led the final charge is opening in Edinburgh.

John Roy Stuart  – Latha Chuilodair – Culloden Day details the events leading up to the battle and its aftermath in the words of John Roy Stuart who is thought to have led the final Highland Charge on 16  April 1746.

Performed by Michael Nevin, author of Reminiscences of a Jacobite: The Untold Story of the Rising of 1745, the show will mark the anniversary of the battle 279 years ago. 

Michael’s interest in the true facts surrounding the Rising of 1745 was inspired by a handwritten memorandum submitted by Prince Charles Edward Stuart to Louis XV of France which he acquired in 2002. 

He served as Treasurer of the 1745 Association between 2005 and 2010, and was the Association’s Chair between 2016 and 2023.

His new play tells the story of the battle in John Roy’s own words, as set down in his surviving songs and letters and his conversations with Lord Lovat, Lady Christian Macintosh and Lord George Murray.

In the story, John Roy remembers the people he met on his journey through life and gives his account of what happened on the fateful day of April 16th 1746. 

He recalls the follies of his youth, his great friendship with Lady Christian Macintosh who he dedicated a beautiful lament, his encounters with his friend Lord Lovat, his romantic life, his exile and his return to Scotland in 1745. 

The story is concluded with an account of the Night March on Nairn, the dispute Roy had on the morning of April 16th with Lord George Murray, the final denouement on Drumossie Moor later the same day, and his escape to France on board the ‘Heureux’ with Prince Charles.

‘I translated John Roy’s words from Gaelic into English with the help of the late Brigadier John MacFarlane who was a native Gaelic speaker,’ playwright Michael said. 

‘I hope I may have added to appreciation of them by setting them in the context of John Roy’s own life and the wider historic events in which he was involved.

‘John Roy was a warrior, partisan and poet. All but one of his surviving poems were originally composed in Scots Gaelic. 

‘They are all autobiographical and express his own emotions of joy, grief, and despair; hope and fear; and love in its many forms.

‘John Roy was a cosmopolitan figure who travelled widely, for many years living in forced exile. 

‘He spoke seven languages, including French, Spanish and Portuguese, as well as English and his native Gaelic. 

‘Detailed analysis of historic accounts of the Battle of Culloden and the tactical position of the Jacobite front line – with John Roy’s own Edinburgh Regiment on the front line between the Appin Stewarts and the Frasers, both of whose commanders would have deferred to him in a battle situation – indicate a distinct possibility, if not probability, that it was he who led the final Highland Charge into the guns of the enemy on April 16th 1746.’

The event is being held in the Old Fox’s Den at the Dublin Street Fox on 16 April at midday.

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