James Ray was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

volunteer in the Hanovarian army, most notable for his chronicle of the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, ''A Complete History of the Rebellion in 1745: From its first rise, in 1745, to its total suppression at the glorious battle of Culloden, in April 1746'' (1749, printed by John Jackson, Petergate,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

). Ray was born in

Whitehaven Whitehaven is a town and port on the English north west coast and near to the Lake District National Park in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it lies by road south-west of Carlisle and to the north of Barrow-in-Furness. It is th ...

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

. He marched to join the royal garrison at

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

in the autumn of 1745 at the time when

Charles Edward Stuart Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...

's army was marching from

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. However Carlisle surrendered to the Jacobites before Ray reached the city, and Ray followed the Jacobite army to

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

. The information he gleaned from this expedition he reported to the

Duke of Cumberland Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland. History The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedo ...

, whose forces he met at

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

on 5 January 1746 and with whom he stayed until the Jacobite forces were finally defeated at Culloden in April. Ray published ''The acts of the rebels, written by an Egyptian'' in 1746 and his history of the Jacobite rebellion in 1749.Albert Nicholson, �
Ray, James (fl. 1745–1746)
��, rev. Eirwen E. C. Nicholson, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 5 July 2009.

Notes

18th-century English historians British Army personnel of the Jacobite rising of 1745 English male non-fiction writers People from Whitehaven {{UK-historian-stub