General Wade
General George Wade (1673-1748) was born as the third son of a dragoon officer who had been granted land in Ireland. Wade had joined the army aged 17 in 1690 and made solid progress up the promotional ladder in the war against France in Flanders, Spain and Portugal between 1692 and 1714, becoming a Brigadier General by 1708 and a Major General by 1714.
The man himself was big, burly, rich, affable, open-minded and practical. He was Member of Parliament for Bath and very popular in the city which was in its heyday as the most fashionable holiday resort in the country. An anecdote survives which gives something of Wade’s style. He was in a disreputable gaming house when he found that his valuable snuff box was missing. He exploded with rage and demanded that every man present should submit to being searched. He was approached by a gentleman who asked for a word in private. The man produced half a chicken from his pocket. He had fallen on hard times. He had been given the fowl by a sympathetic waiter and would eat it the following day. He did not wish the shame of his predicament to be exposed in public but the general was welcome to frisk him. Wade gave him a hundred pounds - nearly 10 years wages for a private soldier - and then found the snuff box in another pocket of his own coat.
Commander in Chief of His Majesty's forces, castles, forts and barracks
Commissioned by King George I to report on the growing threat of Highland insurrection in 1724, Wade recommended a number of urgent measures, including the upgrading of forts and the improvement or construction of new roads between them. Within a month, Wade was established as Commander in Chief of His Majesty's forces, castles, forts and barracks in North Britain, and was charged with implementing his recommendations. He occupied this position until 1740.
During these sixteen years in Scotland General Wade also initiated and supervised the construction of two new forts, at Inverness and Kiliwhimen, both based on John Romer's designs. Fort George at Inverness was constructed from 1727, altering the original medieval tower house, and tactically named in honour of George II, who had ascended the throne two months earlier. Due to the problems of the original fortress at Kiliwhimen, a grand new fort, Fort Augustus, was planned and constructed from 1729, although not completed until 1742. This magnificent garrison was named in honour of George II's third son, William Augustus, who in the 1740s became better known as the Duke of Cumberland or 'Butcher' Cumberland. Wade also upgraded several other fortresses, including Perth, Ruthven, Edinburgh and Dumbarton.
Wade realised that the impossibility of communications in the Highlands was the main factor in preserving this last tribal society in Europe. No wheeled vehicle could move in the mountain country. A highway was a track along which a man or a horse in single file could travel in summer. In winter the bridgeless spate rivers prevented even this. A network of all weather roads was needed that would penetrate the remote and lawless parts of the region. Given a hint of trouble soldiers and, above all, artillery could be swiftly dispatched north from the Lowlands to preserve or restore the King’s peace.
250 Miles Of Road And 40 Bridges
Over the next ten years Wade was using as many as 500 troops at a time on road making. Private soldiers received double pay of a shilling a day for this labour and the gulf that existed between officers and men was broken down by the close working relationships forged as they built the 250 miles of road and 40 bridges through the hills. Wade’s highways were designed to get troops quickly up from central Scotland to the fortresses in Great Glen and his first road ran along its length from Inverness to Fort William. South from Fort Augustus his connecting road with the Lowlands snaked over Corryarack Pass to Dalnacardoch where one branch led to Crieff across Taybridge and the other to the Highland Line at Dunkeld. Another road ran south from Inverness to Aviemore, then west to Ruthven where the barracks were rebuilt. There it split to join the main road from Fort Augustus, one branch linking in towards Corryarack, the other south to Dalwhinnie.
He also had plans for further road developments, many of which were carried forward by his successor, William Caulfeild, after 1740.
The various forts' defences were not properly tested until August 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart raised his standard at Glenfinnan, initiating the '45 uprising. Some forts, such as Inversnaid and Fort Augustus, fell quite quickly, whilst others (eg. Ruthven, Edinburgh and Stirling) held out under siege for longer. By the time of the decisive battle of Culloden nine months later many of the forts had been badly damaged and were in need of repair. This in turn required plans and proposals to be drawn up, particularly by the engineers Lewis Marcell and William Skinner.
The Highland Watches
He also organised a militia named Highland Watches, calling on members of the landed gentry. The first six companies were raised in 1725 (three of Campbells and one each of Frasers, Grants, and Munros), with four more in 1739, reorganized as the Black Watch regiment.
In 1742 Wade was promoted to Lieutenant General and made a privy councillor. In 1743 he was made a Field Marshal and appointed to joint command of the Anglo-Austrian force in Flanders against the French, leading the British troops under George II at Dettingen. He resigned from that command in March 1744, returning home to be made commander-in-chief. When the Jacobites rose again in 1745 the speed of their advance was beyond Wade. He failed to counter their march into England and was dismissed, Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland heading the army for the decisive Battle of Culloden.
Today many of the roads are buried beneath tarmac but sometimes one can see the original line leave the modern highway to snake up a hillside or leap a burn across a delicate bridge. Many of their miles still cross the most barren moors and passes and there, in the mist of a summer night, one could quite expect to hear a distant rumble and see the general’s great coach and its straining horses come over the rise.
