Sir John Wedderburn, life guard to Bonnie Prince Charlie, executed 1746, excerpts from the Wedderburn Book

Of Sir John, Alexander Wedderburn writes: "On his father's death there can be little doubt that he found himself in very straightened circumstances. I do not find that he ever succeeded him as collector of excise, an office which would have kept him much in Dundee, and it seems more probable that he had little to favour his remaining there, although, as appears from one of his letters, his wife had retained a furnished house there, in which she resided after his death. He thus moved towards the end of 1744, or early in the following year, to a small farm known as the Mains of Nevay by Newtyle, co. Forfar, lying about 11 miles to the north-west of Dundee, and 16 to the north-east of Perth, and here it was that he was living, far from prosperously, when, in July of 1745, Prince Charles Edward set foot in Scotland.... It is unfortunate that no complete account of his proceedings at this interesting time was ever committed to writing either by one of his sons or by anyone who had one of them as a source of information. This is much to be regretted because the evidence which we have, and particularly the line of defence taken on Sir John's trial, leave it open to question whether his part in the rising was altogether due to his loyalty or was prompted by the hope of bettering his circumstances - whether he joined the Prince with willing enthusiasm or was driven to him by poverty and even physical force".

A.W. quotes an account "given by Dr. Doran in a work entitled 'London in the Jacobite Times', and based apparently on the contemporary press, according to which Sir John's condition was one of extreme poverty, but this account is so inaccurate in many particulars that it is not to be relied upon in any way, nor does it say when it was that Sir John actually joined the Prince.....". (Dr. Doran wrote that when Sir John succeeded to the baronetcy there was no estate to inherit [so] "the new baronet and his wife and family took up his residence near Perth in a thatched hut with a clay floor and no light except what came through a doorway. It was placed on a very small piece of land from which Sir John could not be ousted. He tilled his half-acre with ceaseless industry and he made what was described as 'a laborious but starving shift' to support his wife and nine children. They all went barefoot. To the head of this family a proposal was made when the Jacobites occupied Perth that he should collect dues and imports for Prince Charles Edward, Sir John's poverty consented. He collected the taxes but never joinned the Jacobite army. Nevertheless, when the army under the Duke of Cumberland came that way, Sir John was seized and sent South. Put upon trial he pleaded his poverty, his starving family and his light offence.....". - A.W. describes this version of events as 'picturesque' and quite wrong about Sir John not having joined the army.