Theodore Napier : A Victorian Jacobite in King Edward’s Court

Abstract

Theodore Napier was no stranger to readers of newspapers in Britain and Australia in the last decade of the nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. His fervent Scottish nationalism saw him involved in an annual round of commemorations of events such as the Massacre at Glencoe, the Battle of Bannockburn, the Battle of Culloden, the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, and others. He espoused Legitimism, which took the fundamental view that it was God, not the people, who chose monarchs. He also understood the importance of the spectacle in drawing attention to a cause, even if some of the attention was negative.So who was Theodore Napier, and why would he be of particular interest to Australians of Scottish heritage or with interest in Scottish matters?