Arthur Elphinstone was executed - On this day in history

Jacobite noble Arthur Elphinstone, Lord Balmerino, was executed for treason on 18 August 1746 at the Tower of London. Elphinstone was the son of John Elphinstone, the 4th Lord Balmerino, who had resigned his commission in the British army to join the Jacobite cause when King George I ascended the throne.

After his capture at the Battle of Culloden, Elphinstone was taken to London and was beheaded alongside the Earl of Kilmarnock. During the trial, the two men's attitudes differed greatly - whilst Kilmarnock claimed to have only joined the Jacobite cause because 'I cared not a farthing which (king) prevailed but I was starving', Elphinstone declared:

If I had a thousand lives, I would lay them down in the same cause.