The many historical errors are all in the name of dramatic licence, and should be taken as such.
After the siege of Carlisle, in 1745, the Jacobites marched further into England before they began to panic and retreated back into Scotland. By this time the British Army had mustered enough troops to defend the country. Carlisle fell under siege once again, this time by the English, who won. The Jacobites in residence there were hung after they surrendered. The uprising eventually ended at the Battle of Culloden with the defeat of the Jacobites. The Jacobite pretenders returned to France in a sulk, and the current “King of Scotland” lives in Nymphenburg Palace, Munich.
I couldn’t have written this without the diaries of William Russell, the real Times correspondent, who is probably tuning in his grave at my romantic rewriting of his life. This man affected history so much it’s kind of unbelievable and I fangirl him so hard. Thanks, dude – you rock!
The possible effects of travel through time are, of course, guesswork, but I have assumed that it would not be possible to survive the radiation poisoning. The symptoms Matthew displays are all medically accurate.