About this Event
Conference Information
Speakers on the day include:
- Dr Ralph McLean - Jacobites in the Archives
- Neale Dewar - The Independent Highland Companies of the 17th & 18th Centuries
- Geoff Bailey - Skirmishes round the Forth before the battle of Falkirk Muir
- Andrew Colquhoun - "To be of some use to my Native Country": the Jacobite Scottish Constitution of John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar
- Professor Edward Corp - Bonnie Prince Charlie’s Governor: The Jacobite Earl of Dunbar
- Count Peter Pininski - Exceptional Works of Art in the Sobieski and Stuart Exhibition at Wilanów Palace in Warsaw
In addition to the speakers, on the day there will also be:
Exhibition of some major works of art from the Battle of Falkirk Muir Trust collection including:
- Alexis Simon Belle - James Francis Stuart, King James VIII - oil on canvas
- Cosmo Alexander - Charles Edward Stuart - Oil on canvas
- Pierre Parrocel - George Leith, 10th Earl Marischal - Oil on canvas
- Unknown artist - HRH Duke Cumberland at the Battle of Culloden - oil on canvas
- Chris Collingwood - Battle of Falkirk Muir
- Unknown artist - James Drummond, 2nd Duke of Perth - oil on canvas
- Hugh Douglas Hamilton - King Charles III - Oil on canvas
Previews of these can be seen in our virtual art gallery: ww.falkirkmuir1746.scot/artgaller
Also on display:
- Duke of Perth’s pistol made by Thomas Caddell, Doune
- Plaster Death mask of King Charles III
- Bronze bust of Prince Charles Edward Stuart copied from the original clay bust created by Lemoyne in 1747.
- Prince Charles Edward Stuart will also be at the door to greet you as you come in (in the form of a life-sized mannequin)
Trust Sales: for example we will have Falkirk Muir large & small battle prints, mugs, miniature copies of Bonnie Prince Charlie's Lemyone bust, death mask and Clemetina Sobieska bust and Culloden battle prints for sale.
To conicide with the 280 anniversary of the Battle the Trust has published an updated history of the battle entitled 'Falkirk or Paradise' written by Geoff Bailley. The book is now a hardback with dust jacket it is in full colour comprising 358 pages. Geoff has generously dontated all proceeds to the Trust. The book can be bought through the Trust's shop.
Speakers Information
Dr Ralph McLean
Dr Ralph McLean is the curator of long 18th-century manuscript collections at the National Library of Scotland where he has curatorial responsibility for the Library’s extensive holdings of Jacobite manuscripts. His recent work in the field of Jacobite studies has involved a partnership with Simon Fraser University in Canada to digitise the Lyon in Mourning manuscripts of Robert Forbes.
Gp Capt Neale Dewar MA RAF
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Neale is an ex-RAAF and serving RAF officer with a life-long interest in military history. He has travelled extensively through a lengthy military career, which has offered many opportunities to indulge and broaden his awareness and knowledge of a wide span of European history, particularly in the seven years spent in Belgium. He and his wife have now settled in Scotland, where he's endeavouring to learn more about the history of his adopted home. He has an MA from King's College London, is a volunteer guide at The Black Watch Museum at Perth, a member of the International Guild of Battlefield Guides and joined the Scottish Battlefields Trust in 2022.
Geoff Bailey
Geoff is from Lancashire but has been the Keeper of Archaeology & Local History at Falkirk Museum since October 1984 and so covers every period of occupation in the area from the Mesolithic to the present day! To that end, Geoff has excavated everything from a Neolithic roundhouse to a Second World War air raid shelter. Geoff has also published several books and many articles. The book on the Battle of Falkirk was published by John Donald in 1996 for the 250th anniversary. Geoff has also recently worked with the Battle of Falkirk Muir (1746) Trust to republish his book "Falkirk or Paradise!".
Andrew Colquhoun
Andrew completed a masters’ degree in history at the University of Glasgow in 2025, and is now pursuing a PhD at the same institution. His main interest is Court-aligned, royalist, and Jacobite political thought and behaviour in early modern Scotland and Britain, which he is exploring through research on the career of John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar (1675-1732). Andrew has returned to academia after a 27-year career as an economist in the UK, the Asia-Pacific region, and the Middle East.
Professor Edward Corp
Edward Corp was Professor of British History at the University of Toulouse. He has written a history of the Stuart court in exile (1689-1766) in three volumes, a biography of Sir David Nairne (of Sandford in Fife) and about eighty articles in books and peer reviewed academic journals. He has curated and written the catalogues of two major exhibitions on the exiled Stuarts, at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. In 2022 he was co-author (with Peter Pininski) of the catalogue of the centenary exhibition at the West Highland Museum.
Count Peter Pininski
Peter Pininski is a graduate of Sotheby’s Institute of Art, the president of The Lanckoronski Foundation of Liechtenstein, a member of the advisory board of the Lviv National Art Gallery of Ukraine, an advisor to the director of the Wawel Royal Castle in Cracow, to the Ossolineum National Institute in Wroclaw, both in Poland, and a member of the Biography Committee of the Polish Academy of Learning. He has lectured on the Stuarts for institutions such as the National Trust for Scotland and been a guest speaker at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. He is the author of various publications on the Stuarts, his most recent being Bonnie Prince Charlie – His Life, Family, Legend, published by National Museums Scotland in 2022. With Professor Edward Corp he was a consultant to the 2025 exhibition in Warsaw entitled The Sobieskis and Stuarts.
Additional Details
The event is on Saturday 17 January 2026 from 10am to 4pm (arrival from 9:30am).
Tickets costs - Adult: £30 or Concession: £25 (please note eventbrite will add a processing fee). Any profits go towards the Battle of Falkirk Muir Trust.
Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
The conference will be held at Falkirk Forth Valley College Campus, Grangemouth Road, Falkirk, FK2 9AD. We are delighted to be working with Forth Valley College this year to provide us with great conference facilities.
There is plenty of free parking at the venue and it is also accessible via public transport being located within 1 mile (20minute walk) of Falkirk Grahamston train station and a bus stop located across the road (see www.forthvalley.ac.uk/getting-here).
The venue is disabled friendly.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Forth Valley College, Falkirk, United Kingdom
GBP 27.80 to GBP 33.22
