Forty-Five, the

Forty-Five, the (1745) A JACOBITE rebellion in England and Scotland. Its aim was the removal of the Hanoverian GEORGE II from the throne and his replacement by James Edward STUART, the Old Pretender. Jacobite hopes centred on the facts that Britain was heavily engaged in the War of the AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION, and that the Hanoverians had never been popular. The Pretender sent his 25-year-old son Charles Edward STUART ( Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender) to represent him. Most of Scotland was soon overrun and the Jacobite victory at Prestonpans was followed by the invasion of England. But the English armies of General Wade and the Duke of CUMBERLAND were closing in and, without any significant numbers of English recruits, Charles was advised by his commanders to return to Scotland. The Jacobites turned back at Derby when barely 160 km (100 miles) from London, where panic at their advance had caused a run on the Bank of England. The decision to retreat meant that the rebellion was doomed. The last Jacobite army was routed at the battle of CULLODEN, which ended any serious Jacobite challenge to the Hanoverian succession.