I’m currently in the very early stages of planning a novel and am hoping to get some advice before I make any concrete decisions. I’m considering it being set during the time of the Jacobite Rising (1745/1746), but want to consider other historical events first before deciding. My only requirements are that the historical event is set in Scotland (or involves Scotland in some way) and that it’s set in the 18th or 19th century.
I’m sorry if this is too vague, I was in a rush writing this post. Thank you for any comments or recommendations!
Keeping in mind the thoughtful guidelines posted by u/Hergrim, I can at the very least confirm that if you are specifically looking to focus in on a battle that takes place upon Scottish soil during that period, your only real option is to more deeply explore the Jacobite conflicts. The last martial battle to ever take place in Scotland was at Culloden in April 1746, and the last full battle on English soil was at Preston in November 1715 – both essentially serving as codas to their respective Jacobite risings. On both sides of the border, domestic martial affairs in Britain were dominated by the Jacobite challenge and the present, if intermittent, threat of armed insurrection from within, with supplementary support from Catholic Continental nations like France and Spain. Across the Channel, complex webs of diplomatic and military intrigue were spun through the century in the respective Wars of the Spanish and Austrian Successions (1701-14; 1740-48), and it is no coincidence that the two most significant Jacobite risings were launched either during or shortly after these larger European struggles.
If further targeted consultation might help you prepare your novel, please feel free to get in touch and I will do what I can to help.
Yours,
Dr Darren S. Layne
Creator and Curator, The Jacobite Database of 1745
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your creative project, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists and the like, based on past experience: some people working on creative projects have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
Additionally, as amazing as our flair panel is, we should also point out that /r/AskHistorians is not a professional historical consultation service. If you're asking a question here because you need vital research for a future commercial product such as a historical novel, you may be better off engaging a historical consultant at a fair hourly rate to answer these questions for you. We don't know what the going rate for consultancy work would be in your locality, but it may be worth looking into that if you have in-depth or highly plot-reliant questions for this project. Some /r/AskHistorians flairs could be receptive to working as a consultant in this way. However, if you wish for a flair here to do this work for you, you will need to organize this with them yourselves.
For more general advice about doing research to inform a creative project, please check out our Monday Methods post on the subject.