Battle of Inverurie (1745)

Who Fought

History & Significance

The Battle of Inverurie was fought on 23 December 1745 at Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, during the Jacobite rising of 1745.

After the Jacobite capture of Edinburgh in autumn 1745, Lord Lewis Gordon had been designated as the Jacobite Lord Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire and was given responsibility for raising men in north-eastern Scotland. With a mix of volunteers and men "pressed" into service, he mustered a relatively-large regiment including three battalions: the "Aberdeen" battalion, mainly volunteers from Aberdeen itself led by James Moir of Stonywood; the "Strathbogie" battalion, unwilling feudal levies under John Gordon of Avochie; and the "Mar" battalion, mostly Highlanders raised by Francis Farquharson of Monaltrie in Braemar and upper Deeside. Gordon also set up a parallel civil administration, levying the cess in an effort to gain the Jacobites additional funds.

In December the government commander-in-chief in the north, John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, sent Norman MacLeod of MacLeod from Inverness with 500 men of the Independent Highland Companies to confront Gordon. MacLeod was to pick up reinforcement en route from George Munro, 1st of Culcairn with 200 men and the Laird of Grant with a further 500.

Gordon ordered his men to fall back to Aberdeen, where he was reinforced by part of Lord Ogilvy's Regiment from Forfarshire and Kincardineshire. He was also joined by a small detachment of Franco-Irish and Scottish regulars sent by Lord John Drummond, Who had landed at Montrose a few weeks previously.

Grant decided to return home, and Culcairn initially held post at Oldmeldrum. MacLeod, however, continued and occupied the town of Inverurie, 16 miles north-west of Aberdeen. On hearing of MacLeod's advance, Gordon determined to make a pre-emptive attack.

Gordon eventually left Aberdeen on 23 December with 1,100 men and 5 pieces of cannon thar had been taken off a ship in the harbour. He nominally led one column of Jacobite troops and Avochie another, but in reality, it appears that active command was delegated to Major Lancelot Cuthbert, brother of the laird of Castlehill and a regular in the French Royal-Ecossais, who "did all the business".

The Jacobites crossed the Bridge of Don and took the route by Fintray up the left bank of the river, and Gordon sent a detachment of 300 men, including the French regulars, by the Tyrebagger road - the main road to Inverurie, to deceive MacLeod as to his real intentions.

The 20th-century historian Ruairidh MacLeod gave an account of the Battle of Inverurie in volume LIII of the Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness, quoting from contemporary documents. At about four o'clock in the afternoon, the Irish picquets, who had marched by the right bank of the River Don, waded across the river at the ford south of Inverurie and attacked MacLeod's troops on the south-western side of the town. About 60 of MacLeod's men engaged them at the ford, where the rebels lost most of their casualties, including 11 dead among the French regulars.

The ground they fought on

The site of Battle of Inverurie (1745) lies on Argyll Group, bedrock that formed in the Neoproterozoic. The rock here is psammite, semipelite and pelite.

Frequently Asked Questions

Scheduled Monuments near Battle of Inverurie (1745)

Brandsbutt Stone, symbol stone

Scheduled monument · ~1.1 mi

Brandsbutt Stone is a Pictish symbol stone of the early medieval period, dating to approximately the 6th to 8th centuries AD. The monument stands in Aberdeenshire and bears carved symbols characteristic of Pictish art, including Class I symbol stones that display non-figurative designs incised in…

Otter / CC BY-SA 3.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Broomend, henge, avenue, symbol stone and square barrow, 160m NE, 70m E, 160m SSE and 255m SSE of Broom Lodge

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~1.4 mi

Broomend is a Bronze Age ceremonial complex in Aberdeenshire comprising a henge, avenue, symbol stone and square barrow distributed across the landscape near Broom Lodge. The monuments sit upon bedrock of the Argyll Group, ancient psammite, semipelite and pelite formations dating to the Neoproter…

St Apolinaris' Chapel and burial ground

Scheduled monument · ~1.5 mi

St Apolinaris' Chapel and burial ground is a medieval religious monument situated in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site comprises the remains of a chapel dedicated to Saint Apolinaris, a saint venerated particularly in continental Europe, alongside an associated burial ground that served the local…

Hillhead of Barra, standing stone 240m W of

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~2.5 mi

Hillhead of Barra is a Bronze Age standing stone located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated 240 metres west of the settlement from which it takes its name. The monument stands upon bedrock of the Argyll Group, a Neoproterozoic formation comprising psammite, semipelite and pelite deposits that u…

Kirkton of Bourtie, stone circle 250m WNW of

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~2.8 mi

Kirkton of Bourtie is a Bronze Age stone circle situated in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, approximately 250 metres west-north-west of Kirkton of Bourtie itself. The monument comprises a ring of standing stones typical of the Bronze Age ceremonial and ritual monuments that characterise this period in n…

East Blairbowie, standing stone 250m ENE of

Scheduled monument · Bronze Age · ~2.8 mi

East Blairbowie is a Bronze Age standing stone located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated 250 metres east-north-east of the settlement. The monument is protected by Historic Environment Scotland under the designation SM12110. Standing stones of this period, typically erected between 2300 and 70…

Other Jacobite Risings Battles

Battles near Battle of Inverurie (1745)

Explore the landscape around this battlefield

Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any location in the UK — drawing on Domesday records, scheduled monuments, Victorian OS maps, geological data and archaeological archives to tell the full story of a place.

• Battle of Inverurie · Wikidata
• Battle of Inverurie (1745) · Wikipedia
• Inverurie · Canmore