BUTCHER CUMBERLAND
“CUMBERLAND POSSESSED A SOLDIERLY SWAGGER, AND AN OBSERVER NOTED HIS ‘OPENNESS OF TEMPER AND CARELESS AIR, WHICH IS QUITE À LA MILITAIRE’. THIS OVERCONFIDENCE WOULD COST HIM DEAR IN HIS FIRST MAJOR COMMAND”
On a bleak moor in northern Scotland two royal cousins met in battle to decide the fate of Britain. Both were fighting for their fathers: Prince Charles Edward Stuart was attempting to reclaim the throne for his exiled father, while Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland was fighting to save the crown of the reigning King George II. There was everything to lose on both sides, and neither man would compromise in what became known as the Battle of Culloden.
Charles is better known to history as the semi-romantic figure ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, but his nemesis at Culloden was infamously nicknamed ‘Butcher Cumberland’. This ill-starred Hanoverian became notorious for his relentlessly harsh destruction of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion, but the rest of his military career has been relatively forgotten. What emerges is a ruthless and unpleasant blunderer who presided over a series of large defeats and ruined the reputation of Britain’s army in Europe.
A privileged upbringing
William’s childhood was a startling example of royal privilege. Born at Leicester House, London on 15 April 1721, the prince was the second surviving son of King George II and Queen Caroline of Ansbach. The royal couple despised their eldest son Frederick, Prince of Wales, but their younger son was showered with honours from an early age. William was made a companion knight of the Bath at the age of four, ennobled as the Duke of Cumberland the following year and walked at the head of the knights of the Bath at his parents’ coronation. Cumberland was then made a knight of the Garter, and at the age of only ten he received an annual allowance of £6,000.
By the age of 18 Cumberland was devoting much of his time to hunting and chasing actresses, but he also clamoured for a military career. His father gave him a commission as a colonel in the Coldstream Guards in 1740, but Cumberland initially volunteered to serve in the Royal Navy. His time at sea was short-lived however, and he soon returned to the army. The duke was made a major general at the age of only 21