Cumberland Tankard, 1746-1747 (silver)

The Cumberland Tankard, 1746-1747. Silver tankard made by Gabriel Sleath (d 1756), hallmarked London 1746-1747. This silver tankard commemorates William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland’s victory over Charles Edward Stuart, ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’, grandson of the exiled King James II, and his Jacobite army at Culloden in Scotland on 16 April 1746. Culloden ended the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-1746. Convinced that harsh measures were required to suppress the uprising, Cumberland’s treatment of his beaten enemy was ruthless. His men searched cottages for rebels, seized livestock and burned homesteads, earning their commander the nickname ‘Butcher’. Culloden was the last pitched battle fought on British soil and a key moment in the ‘Making of Britain’. It brought long-lasting stability to British politics and, by depriving the French of the opportunity of causing trouble for the Government in its own back yard, paved the way for global conquest. It also safeguarded the succession of the Protestant House of Hanover, the ancestors of our present Queen.