battle, notable, early modern

Battle of Prestonpans

Name: Battle of Prestonpans
Start: 1745-09-21
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Battle of Prestonpans was a battle fought on 21 September 1745 at Edinburgh, in what is now United Kingdom. It was part of Jacobite risings, which ran from 1688 to 1746. The recorded result: Jacobite victory. Recorded strength: 2,400–2,500 against 2,190.

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Cairn in memory of Battle of Prestonpans 1745. Renata Edge, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Fought21 September 1745

WhereEdinburgh, United Kingdom55.955N, 2.960W

OutcomeJacobite victory

BelligerentsJacobitesagainstBritish Government

Casualties and losses105–120 killed and woundedand300–500 killed and wounded

Battlefield todayBattle of Prestonpans battlefieldHistoric Environment Scotland entry BTL16, 1,111 ha

Part ofJacobite risings1688 to 1746

Where it sits in Jacobite risings

6 placed engagements of Jacobite risings in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date	21 September 1745
Place	Edinburgh, United Kingdom 55.955N, 2.960W
Kind	Battle, early modern
Strength	2,400–2,500	2,190
Casualties and losses	105–120 killed and wounded	300–500 killed and wounded
Commanders	Charles Edward Stuart George Murray (general) Donald Cameron of Lochiel John O'Sullivan (soldier)	Thomas Fowke Peregrine Lascelles

The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the registered battlefield area (Historic Environment Scotland). Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

Battle of Pinkie 1547, 4.9 km SW
Siege of Haddington 1548, 11 km E
Siege of Leith 1559, 13 km W
Battle of Boroughmuir 1335, 14 km W
Cleanse the Causeway 1520, 14 km W

In the same war

Before: Battle of Cromdale 30 April 1690
After: Battle of Falkirk Muir 28 January 1746
All 6 engagements of Jacobite risings

Elsewhere in 1745

Combat data (CDB90)

	Attacker: SCOT REB ARMY	Defender: BR ARMY
Strength	2,400	2,200
Casualties	110 (4.6%)	1,800 (81.8%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 10	9	3
Outcome	attacker won
Duration	1 day
Front width	0.6 km	0.8 km
Attacker advanced	1 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 62), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Historic Environment Scotland registers this as the Battle of Prestonpans battlefield (entry BTL16), 1,111 hectares, under the Open Government Licence.

Battle of Prestonpans is one of 2,009 engagements of the 18th century in the atlas and one of 695 in present-day United Kingdom.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q546317, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Prestonpans, revision 1370586631, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from Historic Environment Scotland (Open Government Licence). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.