The Saber and Scroll Journal Volume 8, Number 3, Spring 2020 | Page 103

and Scroll
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er, their children would support Prince
Charles, son of James III, in the Jacobite
Rising of 1745. Lady Nithsdale’s actions
in England made her famous and
a great heroine of the ‘15 rebellion, but
it was the consequences of her decisions
and exile at Rome that led to her most
significant contribution to the cause.
In Rome, Lady Nithsdale witnessed
the birth of Prince Charles Stuart
and given charge over the young
Prince Charles, and his brother Henry
when he was born in 1725. 55 Charles’s
upbringing included the belief in the
divine rights of kings, meaning that the
Stuarts were the rightful heirs to the
throne. By age six, he could read, write,
and speak several languages. With expectations
of succeeding his father,
Charles’s upbringing was full of masculine
contact from the age of four. As
his governess, Lady Nithsdale was the
only female contact in Charles’s life. 56
Lord Nithsdale managed Clementina’s
household, James III’s wife. The two
young princes’ households were kept
separate. 57 As such, Queen Clementina
did not have any control over her older
son’s upbringing or any contact with
him. Lady Nithsdale raised the future
heir and leader in the final campaign
of the Jacobite Rebellions to restore the
exiled Stuart Dynasty.
Lady Nithsdale and Lady Nairne
are a limited example of women’s contributions
to the Jacobite uprising of 1715.
What these two ladies represented was
a change from traditional roles or expectations
of women to a more modern
approach to equality within boundaries.
Except Jacobite, women needed no