James Ray ( 1745 – 1746) was a British soldier and writer best known for his written accounts of the

Jacobite rising of 1745 The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the Monarchy of Great Britain, British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of t ...

. Ray was born in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and civil parish in the Cumberland (unitary authority), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. It is a port on the north-west coast, and lies outside the Lake District National parks of England and Wales, National Park. ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

. During the rebellion, he went to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from ) is a city in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. Carlisle's early history is marked by the establishment of a settlement called Luguvalium to serve forts along Hadrian's Wall in Roman Britain. Due to its pro ...

in autumn 1745 as the Jacobite army under

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (31 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, making him the grandson of James VII and II, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, ...

was marching south from

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

to invade England. However, Jacobite forces captured Carlisle on 15 November before Ray arrived to the city, and he proceeded to follow Stuart's 9,000-strong army as it marched south and reached

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

on 4 December. Stuart decided to retreat back to Scotland on 5 December after calling a

council of war A council of war Prince William, Duke of Cumberland Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (15 April 1721 Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S./nowiki> – 31 October 1765) was the third and youngest son of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ire ...

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

a month later on 5 January 1746. Ray reported all the information he had collected on the Jacobites to Cumberland and joined the British army, marching north with them to Scotland and participating in the decisive

battle of Culloden The Battle of Culloden took place on 16 April 1746, near Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. A Jacobite army under Charles Edward Stuart was decisively defeated by a British government force commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, thereby endi ...

on 16 April, which saw Cumberland's troops conclusively defeat the Jacobite army. He then left the British army and proceeded to publish ''The acts of the rebels, written by an Egyptian'', a first-hand account of the rebellion. In 1749, Ray published ''A Compleat History of the Rebellion: From Its First Rise in 1745, to Its Total Suppression at the Glorious Battle of Culloden, in April 1746'', which was printed by John Jackson of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

.Albert Nicholson, �
Ray, James (fl. 1745–1746)
��, rev. Eirwen E. C. Nicholson, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 July 2009.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ray, James 18th-century English male writers British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 English male non-fiction writers Military personnel from Cumbria People from Whitehaven