Scottish prisoners are marched to imprisonment after defeat.

The conditions were so bad the the Military Guards on the ships complained. Letter (W.O. 4/42 p 185) 14th August 1746. "Sir, It having been represented to the Secretary at War that the soldiers of Lord Henry Beauclerk's Regt. put on board the two transports, the Liberty & Property and the James and Mary, to guard the rebell prisoners there, complain much of the hardships they undergoe in performing that duty, by being obliged to lye on the deck without any sort of bedding, and having nothing to subsist upon, but bread and cheese, with hot fiery Brandy and water. I am directed by Mr Fox to desire you would enquire into the Truth of this matter and favour him with your Opinion how the inconvenience complained of may be removed, consistent with the good of his Majesty’s Service. I am Sir, Your most humble servant. Edw. Lloyd. This letter was addressed to the Officer Commanding Tilbury Fort. It was decided that detachments were to be relieved every forty eight hours. Rationing and Care of Prisoners. Real conditions for the prisoners are not revealed by the official records. As early as 13th January 1746, "Secretary Corbett" was directed to address the "Commissioners for sick and Wounded" and to instruct them to undertake the task of caring for the expected prisoners. (Treasury Board Minutes 1/32 p.81) 14th January 1746. The Treasury Board met. (T.B.M.29/30 p.230) Read a letter to Mr. Scrope for the sick/wounded office dated 11th January 1746, about subsisting Rebell prisoners in England. My Lords are of the opinion that 4 pence per diem per man be allowed them and the same be provided in the best manner".

On 20th January the Commissioners asked for £2000 on account and enquired what sum it was proposed to allow for sick prisoners.

4th March 1746 (T.B.M. 29/30 p 247) Meeting minutes.
"Commissioners for sick and wounded attend on their memorial of 25th February last concerning Rebell prisoners.

My Lords are of the opinion that sick prisoners be subsisted at or under 12 pence per day as proposed by the Commissioners; and their Lordships are also of the opinion that all persons who are or shall be taken prisoners of war on board Men of War or Transports should be deemed and treated as prisoners of war until it shall appear that they are Subjects of Great Britain and Rebells".

An undated Pamphlet published by the "Commissioners for taking Care of sick and wounded seamen and for exchanging Prisoners of War" gives the Official instructions which it is evident were never followed. It is subtitled: "Instructions to be observed by the persons appointed to take care of the Rebel Prisoners etc. in Great Britain". I give it here in full as an example of official blindness to the facts and as a typical 18th Century directive which was characteristically ignored.

I

"All such Rebels as are taken prisoners, as well as those taken upon suspicion of Treason ...  are to be secured in the gaol of the place, in the same manner other criminals for treason are; and attested lists of the names and Qualities of such prisoners are to be asked for of the persons who deliver them and copies thereof transmitted to us from time to time in Form I.

II

A weekly account of them is to be sent us in Form No. 2 and the names of such as shall have been discharged or shall have Died or Escaped ... set off on the back of it.

III

The prisoners are to be subsisted by ...  according to the annexed scheme No. 3 and care taken their provisions be properly dressed for them; That they be furnished with as much good fresh water as they shall desire, and have a sufficiency of clean straw to lie on, and that this will be changed every fortnight, for all of which there will be allowed Four pence a Man a Day.

IV

The prisoners are frequently to be mustered, and such checqued out of subsistence, for the benefit of the Crown, as refuse to answer their call.

V

If any of the said prisoners should happen to be either sick or wounded, they are to be put into some convenient place seperate (Sic) from the other prisoners, and there  furnished with beds and bedding, Diet and Nursing...for which there will be allowed Eight pence a Man a Day for as long as their state of health shall require it.

VI

Some Skilful surgeon is to be employed to attend the said sick or wounded prisoners, to furnish them with proper medicaments and to do everything necessary in the way of his profession for their cure, for which service they will be allowed six shillings and eightpence for the cure of each man.

VII

If any of the said prisoners shall die, a grave is to be dug for them and they be put into it at the cheapest rate that may be and the expense charged in the proper column of the book No. 4"

-------------------

Provisions.
The scheme of provisions to be issued each rebel prisoner every day was to be as follows: '

We should note that though bread is mentioned, no scale of oatmeal is defined. As the gaoler had to find the above ration and to make his own profit out of fourpence a day, it is hardly probable that he troubled much about the addition of oatmeal or condiment to the broth.

Many of the above provisions sound very hollow in view of the conditions which really did exist within the Fort and the Transports. Unfortunately none of the Forms specified above survive in the State Papers Domestic for English Prisons. If they had many of the unanswered questions of the Incident would be cleared up.

To add insult to injury the prisoners at Tilbury became an entertainment to inquisitive souls. (Culloden. John Prebble P.249)

"The fort was a great attraction to Londoners during the late summer and autumn of 1746. They went down to the marsh banked estuary by wherries or private boats. From Westminster, and for sixpence, it was possible to travel on the Gravesend tiltboat, the Long Ferry which the people of Gravesend had operated for three and a half centuries under a charter granted them by Richard II. It was rowed by five oarsmen, and could take forty passengers who sat aft under the tilt, a canvas awning. The trip was a jolly experience, particularly if the weather were fine and there was a good wind to fill the sail and relieve the oarsmen. At Tilbury they were brought in close to the Transports, and they held perfumed handkerchiefs to their noses. If one had an entree to Captain Cayran or Captain Massey, it was possible to land and enter the fort across its tidal moat. Then a walk over the cobbled parade for a brief but exciting glimpse of the Rebels inside the powder galleries. Even without such an entree the day could be made by the sight of the transports, by the bright scarlet of the sentries on the ramparts, the sun glinting on steel bayonets, seafowl crying on the mudflats and the noise of drums rolling. But the real excitement of the journey, understood or not, was that enjoyed by a man who can stand so close and yet be so comfortably far from caged animals".

CASUALTIES .AT TILBURY AND IN THE TRANSPORTS
Records have largely been lost and every writer on the subject owes a great debt to Seton and Arnot's research contained in "The prisoners of the '45". Even so, much must still be conjecture based on evidence available.

The original convoy which left Inverness bound for Tilbury consisted of seven ships escorted by H.M.S. Winchelsea containing 564 prisoners.

The "Jane of Leith" lost 11 out of her 109 prisoners (11%) between the 7th May and the 27th May. The "Alexander & Mary" lost 13 (5%) in 35 days.


At Tilbury, by the 11th August 1746, 264 prisoners had been landed and put in the Fort. 82 remained on board the "Liberty and Property" and “James and Mary". Thus the total number of prisoners had fallen from 564 to 468 in 70 days. [S.P. Dom. 85-122 & 185 36 - 18 & 207]


On the 11th September 1746, the number of prisoners in the Fort had fallen from 264 to 223, those on the "Pamela" from 82 to 74 and the total on the other two ships from 136 to 110. Thus the total reduction in the course of the month from 11th August to 11th September was from 482 to 407 [S.P. Dom. 87-122]

There is then indisputable evidence that of the original 564 prisoners of 3rd July only 407 were shown in the lists of 11th September including those in Tilbury Fort and this loss of 157 men or 29-7% in a period of 100 days accounts no doubt for the numerous blanks in the columns showing disposal of individuals in the prisoners lists. That these men, or the vast majority of them, died is the only possible explanation of the discrepancy". (Seton and Arnot).

Individuals at Tilbury.

Space precludes full details of those prisoners who are noted as being at Tilbury from being detailed here. A few of the more interesting ones will serve as examples. Each prisoner is given the number which he bears in “The Prisoners of the '45" where fuller details are available.

This latter unfortunate is mentioned in a broadsheet in Grays Reference Library entitled "A Genuine Account of the Lives, behaviour, confession and Dying words of the eight Scotch Rebels. . .  who were executed on Friday the 28th November 1746 for High Treason at Kennington Common, in Levying war against his Most Sacred Majesty King George the Second.
London. Printed by C. Trueman in the Old Baily, 1746".

This strange document gives not only the dying words of Wood but also of James Lindsay, at one time at Tilbury, "These speeches, being most excactly taken verbatim from the mouths of the condemned persons, who spoke them". Wood's speech was probably written for him as Lindsay and two others were in fact reprieved and never suffered. No doubt they treasured their dying words for a long time!

One can hardly leave the prisoners of Tilbury without a thought for Alexander Buchanan of the Jane of Leith, who was taken to London, tried, "Acquitted, but transported by mistake".

Conclusions.

Other works consulted, apart from those mentioned in the text, were:

Jacobite Gleanings, B J.Macbeth Forbes.
The Lyon in Mourning, by Robert Forbes and Rev. Henry Paton.

My thanks are also due to Roger and Eileen Saunders who started all this, to Pat Harries who checked my French translation, to Randal Bingley for much help and guidance, and to the staff of Thurrock Reference Library.

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