On Tuesday the Special Collections Centre was the scene of a journey back through time to the Jacobite era. P4 from Mile End Primary School came to visit us as part of their Jacobites term topic.
The children saw a letter written by Bonnie Prince Charlie himself, portraits of prominent figures of the time such as the intrepid Lady Anne Mackintosh (known affectionately by the Jacobites as “Colonel Anne”), and some early comic book re-tellings of Jacobite stories. They then learned about the art of making a tableau, or freeze-frame picture, by recreating the famous image The White Cockade.
Then it was on to the Rout of Moy itself, and the children listened to the true story of how Lady Anne Mackintosh and her five men outwitted 1500 soldiers of the Hanoverian Army and “routed” them, thus saving Charles Edward Stuart from capture. The children made props for the story out of newspaper and in groups they portrayed the scenes in tableaux form.
After all the excitement of enacting the drama, the pupils made white cockades, symbols of the Jacobite cause, to take back to school with them. In the 18th century wearing a cockade would have been a subversive statement and could have got you into a lot of trouble!
If you would like to bring your class to do the Jacobites: The Rout of Moy workshop, email us at scc.learning@abdn.ac.uk.
Posted by: Sarah
UoA Collections 