Although much has been written about the main personalities and events of the ’45 – the last and arguably the most famous of the Jacobite risings – there is much still to be written about many aspects of these few dramatic months. In October 2021, a year late thanks to Covid, Helion and Company hosted a conference in conjunction with the Battle of Prestonpans (1745) Heritage Trust in which nine speakers presented eight papers on overlooked aspects or individuals and shared new research and interpretation. These papers are now presented in book form so as to allow this research to reach a wider audience.

Contributors comprise: Jenn Scott on the demographics of the Aberdeenshire Jacobites; Albert Parker on naval support by France and Spain; Iain Macintyre with surgical and medical insights; Andrew and Lucy Bamford on the reception of the Highland Army by the people of Derby; Keith McLay on the factors that lay behind the decision to retreat to Scotland; Jonathan Oates on the controversial career of Captain Caroline Scott; Arran Johnston on the Prestonpans battlefield and the memorialisation of the rising.