Who is he?

The theories put forward are just that,  theories, we have nothing concrete to back them up. The identities of the little lass who stitched this sampler, the building and man she stitched have been lost in time.
Whilst no mention is made of the man’s identity in reference books about Scottish samplers we wonder if he could be James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender or his son Bonnie Prince Charlie.  It is possible that the girl’s family were Jacobites and this was her way of showing support for the “Stuart Cause”. To be a Jacobite supporter was a very dangerous game. The stakes were high and if discovered you would be guilty of treason, and prison, transportation or even the death penalty would undoubtedly await you.
As a result of the need for absolute secrecy expressing allegiance had to be done covertly so Jacobites established an intricate set of symbols, coded phrases and rituals.  They signalled their support with objects that were either small and easy to conceal, or decorated with intentionally obscure symbolic designs and inscriptions alluding to the cause.
The most common was the rose, depicted fully open and often with two closed buds on the stem. The open flower is thought to represent the throne of England, and the two buds the two Stuart sons: Prince Charles Edward Stuart, The Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie; and Prince Henry, the Cardinal Duke of York. Such symbols were used on fans, glassware and snuff boxes, and can also be seen in Jacobite portraiture.
Jacobites would drink a toast to the King ‘over the water’ in “Amen” glasses encoded with secret symbols. A glass of wine would be held above a bowl or a glass of water as a toast to the health of the King was offered; thus literally toasting the King over the water.
Some believe that the popular Christmas carol “O Come All Ye Faithful” is actually a Jacobite call to arms. The Latin version of the carol, Adeste Fideles, celebrated not the birth of Jesus but the birth of Prince Charles Edward Stuart. It was written by John Francis Wade an English Jacobite who fled the country after the failed 1745 Rebellion. Fideles is Faithful Catholic Jacobites. Bethlehem is a common Jacobite cipher for England, and Regem Angelorum is a well-known pun on Angelorum (angels) and Anglorum (English). So “Come and Behold Him, Born the King of Angels” really means, “Come and Behold Him, Born the King of the English” – Bonnie Prince Charlie.
From its religious roots, Jacobite ideology was passed  on  through  committed families and it was not uncommon for household and personal items to have hidden symbols.
Whilst the identity of the man in the sampler is only a theory on our part, the sampler was stitched during a time of great upheaval and suppression for the Scottish people.
James, The Old Pretender was the son of James II, the last English Catholic King who had been deposed by  his  Protestant  daughter Mary and her husband William of Orange.
On the death of his father in 1701 The Old Pretender claimed the English, Scottish and Irish Thrones as James III of England, Ireland and James VIII of Scotland.  He was recognised as King by: his cousin Louis XIV of France, The King of Spain, the Papal States and Modena, but not by the English Parliament.
This caused huge dissatisfaction especially in Scotland where the Jacobite Cause was created.  The “Jacobite   Rebellions” were   a   series   of   uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746.  The aim was to return James II and later his descendants to the throne of Great Britain. The series of conflicts takes its name Jacobitism, from Jacobus, the Latin form of James.
After the House of Hanover succeeded to the British throne in 1714, the risings continued and intensified until the last Jacobite rebellion of 1745 led by Bonnie Prince Charlie.
On a bitterly cold April afternoon in 1746, on moorland just east of the town of Inverness, the power of Scotland’s Highland clans was forever broken. The Prince chose to give battle on the most unsuitable terrain possible for a Highland charge. Hanoverian artillery cut the Jacobite troops to pieces, and Culloden was a slaughter.
The Prince fled the field before the battle was over and spent five months in hiding in the Western Highlands and Islands with The Duke of Cumberland’s (the Butcher of Culloden and son of George II) men in relentless pursuit. He eventually escaped to France, with the selfless assistance of the heroic Flora MacDonald. He never returned to Scotland. The Bonnie Prince died in Italy, a sad and embittered old drunkard in 1788.
Of the officers and chiefs who escaped the battle, many fled to Europe and served in foreign armies. Some were in due course permitted to return. Many of the Jacobite rank and file fled to the American colonies. The prisoners were tried at Berwick, York and London and around 80 were executed, the last in 1754.
The Battle of Culloden Moor was the last battle fought on the British mainland and marked not only the final defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite followers, but the systematic dismantling of the ancient social and military culture of the Highland clans.
The brutal battle was followed by a lengthy period of suppression in the Highlands marked by massacre and despoiling. In an effort to prevent further trouble in the Scottish Highlands, the English Parliament outlawed  many  cultural  practices  to  destroy  the clan  system. The Dress Act prohibited the wearing of tartans or kilts, and amongst other things the playing of bagpipes was banned. Prayers for the Hanoverian monarch and his family were imposed before school lessons every day. Fines, imprisonment, and exile awaited those who dared defy the new laws.
The history of the exiled Stuart dynasty and their supporters, has held an enduring and romantic fascination for generations. Jacobitism is celebrated in romantic poetry, literature and folk songs.  From the writings of Sir Walter Scott and his first novel Waverley to the current Outlander books and television series.
One of the most famous stories concerning the Prince’s five months as a fugitive is his escape by sea, dressed as the maid “Betty Burke”, accompanied by Flora MacDonald. Many of us will know the wistful “Skye Boat Song” and its promise of “the lad that’s born to be king” as he is rowed away to Skye from whence, like King Arthur before him, he “will come again”. The song is a traditional expression of Jacobitism and its story has also entered Scotland as a national legend.
Its form is a traditional Gaelic rowing song and the lyrics, establishing the association with Bonnie Prince Charlie and the 1745 rebellion, were actually written by an Englishman named Sir Harold Edwin Boulton in 1884. In 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of the post-Culloden adventure, Kidnapped, wrote his own version of the “Skye Boat Song” with the first line “Sing me a song of a lad that is gone”.