Claverhouse, John Graham (c. 1649–1689)

Scottish soldier. Appointed by Charles II to suppress the Covenanters from 1677, he was routed at Drumclog in 1679, but three weeks later won the battle of Bothwell Bridge, by which the rebellion was crushed. Until 1688 he was engaged in continued persecution and became known as ‘Bloody Clavers’, regarded by the Scottish people as a figure of evil. His army then joined the first Jacobite rebellion and defeated the loyalist forces at the Battle of Killiecrankie, where he was mortally wounded.