Martin Margulies enjoys a reappraisal of the 1745 Battle of Prestonpans

On Gladsmuir Shall the Battle Be: The Battle of Prestonpans 1745

Arran Johnston. Helion, 2017 226 pages, hardback, £25.00

ISBN: 0781911512837, scot.sh/hsglads

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It is wrenching to praise the competition – recall Andy Murray’s tearful encomium to Roger Federer after losing the 2012 Wimbledon men’s tennis final. When I finished reading Arran Johnston’s account of the battle of Prestonpans – the subject of a book I wrote a decade ago – I understood exactly how Andy felt.

For those who are new to the tale: Prestonpans, sometimes called Gladsmuir, was the first set-piece engagement of the 1745 Jacobite rising. It resulted in a resounding Jacobite victory, as Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s forces routed the mostly-raw troops of the official British army. The remnants of that army skulked in a few castles and forts, leaving the rest of Scotland to the Jacobites, who then headed confidently south along roads that they were certain would lead them to London.