1744.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart passed several weeks in the summer of this year at Ancoats Hall, in privacy. Sir Oswald Mosley was not himself at Ancoats during the concealment of the prince there: he remained at Rolleston, in Staffordshire, during the rebellion of 1745.

1745.
Corporal Dickson and a drummer, belonging to the Pretender’s army, took military possession of Manchester, November 28. A party of the inhabitants resolved upon “taking him prisoner, dead or alive.” A fight ensued, the issue of which was that, the Jacobite party defending Dickson and the drummer, the assailants were repulsed, and during the rest of the day they paraded the streets in triumph, and obtained about one hundred and eighty recruits, who were remarkable by their white cockades. In the evening the vanguard of the army entered the town.
— The main body of the army, under the command of Prince Charles Edward (the Pretender), entered Manchester about ten o’clock in the morning, November 29. The troops marched into St. Ann’s Square, at the time the last obsequies were being paid over the grave of the Rev. Joseph Hoole. Some of the officers joined decorously in the service. The Prince arrived about two in the afternoon, and, took up his residence at the house of Mr. Dickenson, in Market Street Lane, afterwards known as the Palace Inn, and now the Palace Buildings. The Prince had marched through Salford, where he was met by the Rev. John Clayton, who, falling on his knees, prayed for the divine blessing upon him.
— Prince Charles Edward proclaimed as James III., in Manchester, upon which, there were public illuminations, &c. November 29. Some of the adherents of the Prince went to the printing office of Mr. Whitworth, proprietor of the Magazine and compelled Thomas Bradbury, a journeyman (in the absence of his master), to print several manifestoes and other papers, which were produced on their trial, and, led to their condemnation.
— Prince Charles Edward observed the religious duties of the Sabbath at the Collegiate Church. The sermon was preached by Thomas Cappock, whom the Prince had appointed his chaplain, November 30.
— The Manchester Regiment at 300 men was reviewed, by Prince Charles Edward in the Collegiate Church-yard. previous to entering upon their campaign.
— The Pretender’s army quits Manchester for the South, in which was a regiment of 300 Manchester men. December 1.
— The Pretender’s army re-enters Manchester on their retreat to the North, December 8;. and finally left the town on the following day. Manchester Regiment Consists of 114.
— The Pretender, with the advice of his council levied a contribution of £5,000 upon the inhabitants of Manchester, and compelled some of the wealthiest of the Whig party to become sureties, but as the money could not be raised before he left for the South, he took with him as hostage Mr. James Bayley, a gentleman between seventy and eighty years of age, and did not liberate him, even upon his return from thence, until the rest of the money had been raised, a part of which Mr. Bayley was obliged to provide out of his own private fortune. The parties implicated in the rebellion of this year in Manchester, were: first, certain leading gentlemen of the town; second, the clergy of the. Collegiate Church, all of whom, except Dr. Peploe. (who laboured singly and unceasingly in defence of George II.), were among the most zealous Jacobites, taking every occasion to promote disaffection from the pulpit, and to influence the particular feelings of their hearers on behalf of the Pretender; third, Dr. Deacon (and his band of Nonjurors), who was decidedly the most active in the insurrection, and whose three sons joined the Pretender.

1745.
The first boroughreeve for this year was Mr. James Waller, of Ridgefield, who was made the reluctant organ for communicating the proclamation of the rebel army.
— The adherents of the Stuarts were very numerous in Manchester, and it was the custom of the most select to dine together, at a small public-house near Didsbury. After the cloth was removed, a large bowl of water was placed upon the table, when every gentleman rose, and holding’ his glass over the water, drank “The King.” “This is not a toast I should have expected to be drank here,” said a new guest. “Tush,” said his friend, “are we not drinking ‘The King over
the water’.”
— At the surrender of Carlisle to the Duke of Cumberland, December 24, the following officers of the Manchester Regiment fell into the hands of the Royalists: Colonel Francis Townley; Captains James Dawson, George Fletcher, John Sanderson, Peter Moss, Andrew Blood, T. D. Morgan; Lieutenants T. Deacon, Robert Deacon, Thomas Chadwick, John Berwick, John Holker, Thomas Furnival; Ensigns Charles Deacon, Samuel Maddock, Charles Gaylor, James Wilding, John Hunter, John Brettagh; Adjutant Syddall, and Quartermaster Cappock, who had deserted the pulpit for the avocation of war. Of non-commissioned officers and privates there were only ninety-three remaining. The officers were sent in wagons to London, and the subordinates were thrown into the prisons of Carlisle, Penrith, and Kendal. Before they were. marched to the metropolis the former were confined in the town gaol, and the privates in the cathedral of the first-named place.

1746.
The trial of the officers of the Manchester Regiment commenced. at London, July 16. Captain Fletcher had been urged to turn king’s evidence, but he spurned the base offer. Ensign Maddock was less unbending; he betrayed his associates. Evidence the least satisfactory was adduced, and the prisoners were allowed very little consideration in meeting their accusers. The inquiry, though hurried on, lasted three days, terminating in the conviction of all the prisoners. Captains
Moss and Holker effected their escape.
— Colonel Francis Townley, Captains Thomas Theodorus Deacon, James Dawson, John Beswick, George Fletcher, and Andrew Blood; and Lieutenant Thomas Chadwick and Adjutant Thomas Syddall, officers in the Manchester Regiment of rebels, were executed on Kensington Common with all the cruel inflictions to which persons guilty of high treason were subject, July30. After the execution, the heads of Captain Deacon, Adjutant Syddall, and Lieut. Chadwick, were brought down to Manchester, and stuck upon the Exchange, August 3. Dr. Deacon was the first to gaze upon the remains of his son; though bowed with age and adversity, he subdued his parental sorrow so far as to salute the unbodied head, and to express his rejoicing that he had possessed a son who could firmly suffer martyrdom in such a cause. On the other hand, they were scoffed at as “the Gods spiked upon the Exchange,” as “Tyburn Gods” gone to sulphurous and tormenting flames.
— Sermons, rejoicings, and illuminations at Manchester, in honour of the “deliverance” (overthrow of the Pretender); October 9. The houses of Dr. Deacon, the hapless widow of Syddall, and others were roughly used by a mob.
— James Miller, a Manchester man who was in the Pretender’s army, and taken prisoner at Carlisle, left behind him a history of his misfortunes and those of his comrades, which may be found in Chetham’s library, among the manuscripts of Mr. Barratt. After the battle of Carlisle, of non-commissioned officers and privates of the Manchester Regiment, only ninety-three remained.
— During the greater part of this year the magistrates held regular sittings at “The Dangerous Corner,” and compelled ‘the disaffected or the doubtful to take oaths of allegiance to the reigning monarch. The Jacobites were the butt of much persecution. The assembly-room, the private ball, the Exchange, the place of worship, were made arenas for exhibition of party rancour. At church they did offer negative worship to James III. by refusing to join in the church prayers for his antagonist, George II. The following stanza, since so famed, was penned by Dr. John Byrom at this time: —

— The Rev. Thomas Cappock, the reputed Bishop of Carlisle, was brought to trial in that city; and with so little ceremony was this dignitary treated, that he was taken into court robed in his gown and cassock; and being found guilty of high treason, he was drawn, hanged, and quartered, October18. He was a native of Manchester, and received his education at the Free Grammar School and at one of the universities. He received the appointment of chaplain to Prince Charles at Manchester; he afterwards turned quartermaster, but again assuming the priestly garb, he was preferred to the see of Carlisle.
— James Bradshaw, Lieutenant of the Manchester Regiment of rebels, executed at Kensington
Common, November 28:

1747.
— Mr. Bowden, the suspected constable of Manchester, and Mr. Ogden, the younger, were tried at Lancaster for high treason, but acquitted. April.
— “Jacobite and Nonjuring Principles Examined. In a Letter to the Master Tool of the Faction in Manchester.” By J. Owen, &c., Manchester, 1748. The writer was a Dissenting minister at Rochdale; it was addressed to John Byrom, and ran through two editions.

1749.
Many of the unfortunate Manchester Regiment removed from Southwark Gaol for transportation, January 11.
— The heads of Deacon, Syddall, and Chadwick stolen from the top of the Exchange. January.