Hi u/altaccagainl, thanks for your question. You might know there was no 'official' uniform for the Jacobite army, though Charles Edward and his command made a concerted effort to unify the international composition of their troops under the auspices of a traditionally 'Highland' force to emphasize its martial prowess and intimidatory air. They did this by standardizing elements of the army's dress like the white cockade and, in some cases, as much tartan fabric as they could obtain. We know this because of the many work orders and receipts that remain in the archives, together with those for other more standard gear, like shoes, shirts, broadswords, and targes/shields. The motivation behind this visual unification was most likely to present a cohesive appearance of an irregular army drawn from an incredibly wide breadth of composition – both culturally and socio-economically. The constituency of the army was largely Scottish, but probably not even primarily made up of Gaels. The fact that Jacobite forces in 1745-6 are still popularly regarded solely as Highland Scots is partly testament to the success of those unifying efforts. And, of course, due to anti-Jacobite and even anti-Scottish propaganda campaigns by the British government and loyalist citizens in both England and Scotland.

We have a pretty strong eyewitness account from Roxburghshire bookseller Andrew Henderson, who states on p. 59 of his published version of the rising, The Edinburgh History of the Late Rebellion, that the Manchester troops 'wore blue Cloaths, Hangers, a Plaid Sash, and white Cockade'. That is generally the passage that most historians and re-enactors go to when mocking up their uniforms, and you can see a couple examples of this here and here. The first is an image by Bruno Mugnai and the second shows a re-enactor dressed as a Manchester soldier in 1745-6. Despite Henderson's note of blue jackets, I would think that the 250 or so men in the unit likely would have worn whatever coats they could have gotten a hold of, especially considering how quickly the regiment was put together and sent on the march.

I hope this answers your question satisfactorily. If you would like to read more on the unit, here are few good sources to consult:

• Jonathan Oates, 'The Manchester Regiment of 1745' in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (88:354, 2010), pp. 129-51.

• William Harrison Ainsworth, ed., The Manchester Rebels of the Fatal '45 (London, 1880).

• 'A True Account of Mr. John Daniel's Progress with Prince Charles' in Walter B. Blaikie, ed., Origins of the 'Forty-Five and Other Papers Relating to the Rising (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. 167-224.

If you would like to learn more about the motives, composition, and demographics of the Jacobite army, feel free to read through my doctoral thesis, ‘Spines of the Thistle: The Popular Constituency of the Jacobite Rising in 1745-6’ (University of St Andrews, 2016).

Yours,
Dr Darren S. Layne
Creator and Curator, The Jacobite Database of 1745