John Porteous (soldier) - Aftermath

Aftermath

The events in Edinburgh heightened the sense of alarm in London, where the government was concerned about the threat to its management of Scotland. It was thought by Walpole, Queen Caroline and the Duke of Newcastle that Porteous had been unnecessarily sacrificed and there were even rumours that the conspiracy had involved the local city magistrates.

Various Opposition proposals to disband the city guard and debar the Lord Provost were put forward, and these were the subject of much debate - the Scottish MPs and the government strongly opposed these proposals for constitutional reasons and nothing was ever done.

It was variously thought that Porteous' murder was carried out by friends of those who had been shot and killed, revenge by the smugglers, a Jacobite plot, or even a conspiracy by Presbyterian extremists. However, the organisation of events seems to imply a degree of planning, thought to be the work of James Maxwell, an Edinburgh journeyman carpenter, together with a small group of city tradesmen and journeymen.

Despite a reward of £200 being made available by the government for information, those responsible for the murder of Porteous were never brought to justice.

The events surrounding the Porteous Riots form part of the early chapters of the novel The Heart of Mid-Lothian by Sir Walter Scott (1818), where they are recorded in graphic detail.

Porteous was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, his grave marked by a post inscribed P.1736. In 1973, a biographer paid for a new headstone with the words, John Porteous, a Captain of the Edinburgh City Guard, murdered 7 September 1736 - All passion spent.