TRACKING A LEGEND: A North Country Legacy of Jacobite Times

Author Frances Dickinson

TRACKING A LEGEND is an extended edition of Frances Dickinson’s earlier book The Reluctant Rebel, published in 1996. In this later publication the poignant story of the Radcliffes, Earls of Derwentwater - a Northumbrian Jacobite family - is complemented by a jigsaw of colourful anecdotes relating to the many men and women of the north of England who supported the exiled Stuarts in the ill-fated Risings of 1715 and 1745. The book is profusely illustrated, featuring numerous Jacobite sites throughout the country and recording a vast array of Derwentwater portraits, relics and memorabilia.

PAPERBACK, MATT COLOUR COVER, 160 pages; over 100 illustrations (17 colour plates); 4 Maps; 3 Genealogical Trees

Cresset Books (2001) ISBN 0 9529113 2 9

TRACKING A LEGEND is now out of print but second-hand copies can sometimes be obtained online or from Friends of Historic Dilston.

The Northumbrian Jacobite Trail

Author Frances Dickinson

This attractive and informative publication is produced in full colour and designed to open up/fold down to the format of a map. It gives a synopsis of the Jacobite Cause with particular reference to the Northumbrian Jacobites and contains a pull-out map featuring photographs and information on 26 places which have factual and legendary associations with the Risings of 1715 and 1745. It was conceived and planned by Frances Dickinson to complement her book Tracking a Legend, published 2001 – the idea arising from her numerous walks and visits whilst researching the fact and folklore of the period. The Trail Guide would be of interest to individuals and Local History Societies planning an outing around Jacobite Northumberland.

Please click here for more information.

THE DESPERATE FACTION? The Jacobites of North-East England 1688-1745

Author Dr. Leo Gooch

Using a great deal of unpublished material, this book tells the real story of Northumbrian Jacobitism and dispels some remarkably persistent romantic myths about the leaders of the movement and their actions in the rising of 1715.

The author brings out the central importance of the Northumbrians in Jacobite strategy: an Anglo-Franco-Scottish army was to be assembled in Northumberland, seize Tyneside to gain control of London's fuel supplies then sweep south to take the capital and place Prince James on the throne usurped from his father in 1688. The proceedings of the Northumbrians, have, however, been universally disparaged and their leaders, Thomas Forster, Lord Widdrington and the Earl of Derwentwater have been made scapegoats for the failure of the rising. This book reveals the truth about the matter.

Moreover, Northumbrian Jacobitism survived the 'Fifteen to remain a thorn in the side of the government for many years. Jacobite adherents at home and abroad remained so incorrigibly vexatious that the House of Hanover was not yet secure on the throne when the north once again figured in the 'Forty-five. Northumbrian Jacobitism therefore had a much greater significance than has been understood hitherto.

The Desperate Faction? was first published in 1995 to critical acclaim and reissued due to popular demand.

Price: £7.50

The Dilston Papers No.2: ‘WEEP NOT AROUND THIS BIER’, The Petre Family and the Earls of Derwentwater

Author Stewart Foster Phd, FRHistS

The author Father Stewart Foster grew up in Ingatestone in Essex, close to the original and present ancestral home of the Petre Family, Ingatestone Hall, and not far from their once far grander residence at Thorndon Hall, near Brentwood.  He began researching the history of the Petre and Derwentwater families upon discovering their connection, when a house in the village of Ingatestone, named ‘Dilston’, belonging to a Mrs Petre was sold in 1974.  

In his paper he surveys the relationship between the two venerable Catholic aristocratic dynasties referring, in particular, to the Derwentwater/Radcliffe material that forms part of the Petre deposit in the Essex Record Office as well as drawing upon items from the Archives of the Archbishop of Westminster.  The chief focus of the paper is the chaplaincy to Lord Derwentwater of Benjamin Petre, the fate of the Countess, widow of the third Earl, and the re-enterment of the remains of Lord Derwentwater at Thorndon in 1874.

The paper, which was the subject of a talk given to the Friends of Historic Dilston on 24 October 2009, is now available as an attractive 23 page-booklet.  Price: £3.50 to include postage & packing.  Payment please to: Friends of Historic Dilston.