Account of Money Paid to the Jacobite Rebels in Manchester and Salford

Account of moneys borrowed from 35 named individuals, plus the wardens and fellows of the Collegiate Church of Manchester, to pay the sum of £2500 extorted by the Jacobite rebels from Manchester and Salford on 10 December 1745 during their retreat from Derby; together with an account of the sums of money collected from a far larger number of persons to repay the above individuals. The latter account is arranged geographically, by neighbourhood.

The account appears to have been compiled by James Bayley, since the writer notes that he and John Dickenson stood joint surety for the sums borrowed (‘Mr Dickenson & my Selfe gave our joint notes’). Although the account states that it relates to the town of Salford, the contributors clearly came from both Salford and Manchester, as well as the wider district. The account constitutes an important record of the leading citizens of Manchester and Salford, both male and female.

Contents

Front cover: Later title, ‘Rebellion 1745’.

[pp. 1-2] List of the sums borrowed from individuals to pay what the rebels extorted from the town of Salford. 35 individuals are listed, together with the wardens and fellows of the Collegiate Church. Heading: ‘Money Borowed of ye Following persons to pay what ye Rebells extorted from ye Town of Salford 10th December 1745 for which Mr Dickenson & my Selfe gave our joint notes payable in 3 months.’

[pp. 3-4] 1-2. List of the sums collected from individuals to repay the money borrowed to pay what the rebels extorted from the town of Salford. Heading: ‘Collected from ye Following persons to pay ye money that was Borowed to pay ye Rebels what ye Extorted from ye town of Salford’. The list is arranged geographically by neighbourhood, beginning with Deansgate, Wood Street and Parsonage.

[p. 5] 3: King Street ‘& about it’.

[p. 6] 4: St Ann’s Square, Back Square and Pooll [Pool] Court.

[pp. 7-8] 5-6: Both Market Places and Smithy Door.

[pp. 9-10] 7-8: Hanging Ditch, Fennell Street, ‘Within Greave’ [Withy Grove] and Toad Lane.

[p. 10] 9: The Country Gentlemen, including ‘Mr Edward Byrom part of the money in his hands left for a stock for ye rights of ye town, £550.’

[p. 11] 10: Market Street Lane.

[p. 12] 11: Millgate.

[p. 13] 12: Cateaton Street, Half Street and ‘about ye Old Church’.

[pp. 13-14] 13-14: Collected from Salford.

[pp. 15-16] 15: From Country Traders.

[p. 17] Cash account: debit.
‘Cash paid ye Rebells when here’: £2504 13s.
‘To cash paid to Mr John Smith, for his trouble in collecting money’: £1 1s.
‘To Deputy Bowker for Do. Books’: £2 2s.
‘To Deputy Cooke for Do.’: £1 1s.
‘To Lawyer Chetham for his advice’: £1 1s.
‘To Mr. Chr. Byrom for attending him’: 5s.
[Total] £2510 3s.
[In another hand] ‘To cash returned Mr. Edward Byrom by the hands of John Dickinson’: £3 8s.
[Total] £2513 11s.

[p. 18] Cash account: credit.
‘By Cash Collected from Severall Persons Perticulars in this Book’: £2509 14s 6d.
[In another hand] ‘By Cash from Mr Greaves’: £2 2s.
‘By Mr Miles Bower which he had in his hands’: 10s.
‘By Cash Mr Bayley advanc’d to Ballance ye Acc[oun]t’: £1 4s 6d.
[Total] £2513 11s.

The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart (also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie) to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. Jacobite forces entered England unopposed on 8 November 1745 and captured Carlisle and Preston on their march south. They entered Manchester on 28 November, and recruited considerable numbers of volunteers in the town, who were formed into the Manchester Regiment under the command of Francis Towneley, a prominent Lancashire catholic. As is well known, the Jacobite army reached Derby, but when further reinforcements failed to materialise and with no sign of French forces landing in England, the Prince’s Council voted overwhelmingly to retreat back north.

The rebels re-entered Manchester on 9 December, receiving a more hostile reception than during their first visit. The Prince’s Council ordered a levy of £5000 upon Manchester and Salford, although the sum was reduced to £2500 when the inhabitants pointed out the impossibility of raising such a large sum within one day. John Dickenson and James Bayley senior of Manchester, merchant, stood joint surety for the sum after the latter was threatened with being taken prisoner. A detailed account of events is provided in Francis Douglas, The history of the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746, pp. 101-102:

‘Next day at noon [9 December], about 40 of the rebels came in. Several stones were thrown at them by the mob as they came thro’ Hanging ditch. They threatened to fire, but did not; and sat on horseback, some with pistols, others with guns in their hands, all ready cocked, till the main body came in. They billeted themselves most at their old quarters. They behaved worse than they did before [i.e. during the march south]. After seven o’clock, the constables sent for several of the principal inhabitants to meet them at the old coffee-house, and there shewed them a warrant from the Pretender, to raise from the town 5000l. against the next day by four o’clock, on pain of military execution. It was thought impossible to do this, considering the sums they had extorted from the town before, which amounted to near 3000l.

‘Next morning, a considerable sum of the inhabitants met; some of whom waited on the Pretender, to acquaint him with the impossibility of raising the money, and to endeavour to have the payment excused. Upon this he mitigated it to 2500l. and sent a warrant for that sum to be levied on Manchester and Salford by one o’clock; and while methods were contriving how to procure it, three or four of the rebels seized Mr. James Bailey senior, took him to Secretary Murray at the Pretender’s lodgings, and told him he must be a prisoner till it was paid; and if it was not paid, he must go with them. Mr. Bailey endeavoured to excuse himself, by saying he was betwixt 70 and 80 years old, and, to his remembrance, had not laid a night out of his own bed for two years, nor could bear travel. He was told, if he could not ride, they would endeavour to get him a wheel-carriage. Mr. Bailey said, his confinement was an obstruction to the raising the money, and if he was at liberty he might borrow some. The Secretary brought an answer, that the Prince, in consideration of his age, if he would give him his word and honour to fetch him 2500l. in two hours, or surrender himself a prisoner, consented he should have his liberty so long. This Mr. Bailey agreed to, and went to the coffee-house where a great number of the inhabitants were; and it being proposed that Mr. Bailey and Mr. John Dickenson should give promissory notes, payable in three months, to such as would lend any money, it was agreed to, and the money being thereby procured, was paid about two o’clock. Their main body marched this morning for Wigan, and the remainder in the afternoon.’

In his contemporary journal, John Byrom recorded: ‘Tuesday 10th: they have ordered a contribution of £5,000 for the insolence of the mob, but with much ado they have got it to one half, to raise it by one o'clock; they took old Mr. Bailey prisoner, but let him go on condition that he should raise one half of the money; they have much ado to find so much money in the town, they came within threepence, at last they got that, a party of about 1000 stayed to take it; as they went through Salford a man shot at the last of them; they all turned about, everybody in great confusion.’ (Parkinson, pp. 399-400)

According to Ernest Axon, James Bayley was baptised at the Collegiate Church of Manchester on 4 February 1673/4. ‘At the time of the rebellion, in 1745, he was the oldest and one of the most prosperous of the Manchester merchants’, as well as being a Whig. For most of his life he lived in Bayley’s Court, Market Place, Manchester. On 3 January 1698 he married Sarah, daughter of Samuel Kirkes of Chester; they had eight children. (Ernest Axon, pp. 4-7)

The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

The manuscript was purchased at auction at Forum Auctions, London, on 31 March 2022, lot 340, through Bernard Quaritch Ltd; hammer price: £850.

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The early history of the account is unknown. According to Richard Parkinson (ed.), The Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Byrom (Manchester: Chetham Society, 1857), p. 399, at that time the account was preserved in the library of the antiquary George Ormerod (1785-1873), author of The History of the County Palatine and City of Chester (1816-19), at Sedbury Park, Gloucestershire. Its subsequent custodial history is unknown.

Ernest Axon, The Family of Bayley of Manchester and Hope (Manchester: printed for the author, 1894).

William E. A. Axon, The Annals of Manchester (Manchester: John Heywood, 1886).

Francis Douglas, The history of the Rebellion in 1745 and 1746 extracted from the Scots Magazine (Aberdeen: printed by and for F. Douglas and W. Murray, 1755).

Richard Parkinson (ed.), The Private Journal and Literary Remains of John Byrom, vol. II, part II (Manchester: Chetham Society, 1857).