page_title: Independent Highland Companies
section_title: Jacobite rising of 1745
hierarchical_section_title: Independent Highland Companies / 18th century / Jacobite rising of 1745
caption_attribution_description: Duncan Forbes (1685-1747)
context_page_description: The Independent Highland Companies were irregular militia raised from the Scottish clans of the Scottish Highlands by order of the Government between 1603 and 1760 in order to help keep the peace and enforce the law in the Highlands, and were officially recognized as such by the Government. The officers of the Independent Highland Companies were commissioned as officers of the British Army, but the companies themselves were not recognized as official regiments of the line of the army. The Independent Highland Companies were the progenitors of the world-famous Highland Regiments of the British Army that began when ten Independent Highland Companies were embodied to form the 43rd Regiment of Foot in 1739.
context_section_description: In September 1745, Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden, a staunch "whig", was given a commission to raise twenty new Independent Highland Companies to oppose the Jacobite rising of 1745. He succeeded in raising a total of eighteen Independent Highland Companies. The men were drawn from the respective clans of their commanders. Many clansmen although not related to their chief adopted the chief’s surname as their own. For example, 59 out of 93 men listed by David Dobson in George Munro of Culcairn’s company in 1745, had the surname Munro. The commanders of each of the 18 Independent Highland Companies are given in the table below in order of the company’s completion. In some of the companies not all of the officers are of the clan name of their company. This table does not include regular regiments of the line who were also drawn from the Highlands at this time such as Loudon's Highlanders and the 43rd Highland Regiment.
caption: Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden raised the 18 Independent Highland Companies in 1745 - 1746.
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