James Lockhart

James Lockhart of Lee and Carnwath, Count Lockhart-Wishart (Wischeart) of the Holy Roman Empire (1727 – 6 February 1790) was a Scottish aristocrat with a successful military career. Early years James Lockhart was born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, the second son of a prominent Jacobite family, the Lockharts of Carnwath. His grandfather, George Lockhart, was the Scottish agent of James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender', and the author of the posthumously published 'Lockhart Papers'. These documents, including letters and George Lockhart's journal, comprise probably the most important primary source of information on the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Lockhart's elder brother, also named George, was the personal aide-de-camp to Charles Edward Stuart, the 'Young Pretender', during the Jacobite rising of 1745. Upon the defeat of the rebellion at the Battle of Culloden, George Lockhart accompanied Prince Charles into exile in Paris. James Lockhart, his younger brother, was 18 years old at the time. As the son of a known Jacobite family—and a second son at that—James's prospects in Britain were bleak. He therefore left Scotland, aged 18, to make his way in the world as a soldier of fortune. His first service was as a common soldier in the army of Nadir Shah, the Shah of Persia. How James found his way to Persia is not known for certain. In A Memoir of the 'Forty-Five''', (Chevalier de Johnstone, 1958), a Lockhart is mentioned who is probably James (p. 244). The passage is worth quoting in full: We were scarcely a musket-shot from the shore, when the captain pointed out to me one of the midshipmen in the boat, of the name of Lockhart, asking me if I knew his family in Scotland. I answered in the negative, telling him that I had never been in any other service than that of Mrs. Gray. I was uneasy lest Mr. Lockhart should have recognized me for, as I had been a schoolfellow of his elder brother and frequently in the house of his father, Mr. Lockhart of Carnwath, he might very possibly have known me. He was about eighteen years of age and had been four years in the navy. His eldest brother, the heir to a considerable estate, had been foolish enough, like so many others, to join the standard of Prince Charles.