He returned home to attempt politics before becoming involved in the suppression of the Jacobite rebellion of 1715. Wade was sent to inspect Scotland in 1724 by George I. He recommended the construction of barracks, bridges, and proper roads to assist in the control of the region. Between 1725 and 1737 Wade directed the construction of some 250 miles of road, plus 40 bridges (including the Taybridge at Aberfeldy). The roads linked the garrisons at Ruthven, Fort George, Fort Augustus, and Fort William. He also organised a militia named Highland Watches, calling on members of the landed gentry. The first six companies were raised in 1725 (three of Campbells and one each of Frasers, Grants, and Munros), with four more in 1739, reorganized as the Black Watch regiment.
In 1742 Wade was promoted to Lieutenant General and made a privy councillor. In 1743 he was made a Field Marshal and appointed to joint command of the Anglo-Austrian force in Flanders against the French, leading the British troops under George II at Dettingen. He resigned from that command in March 1744, returning home to be made commander-in-chief. When the Jacobites rose again in 1745 the speed of their advance was beyond Wade. He failed to counter their march into England and was dismissed, the Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland heading the army for the decisive Battle of Culloden.
GEORGEWADE (1673-1748), British field marshal, was the son of Jerome Wade of Kilavally, Westmeath, and entered the British army in 1690.
Wade distinguished himself at the siege of Alcantara in 1706, in a rearguard action at Villa Nova in the same autumn (in which, according to Galway, his two battalions repulsed twenty-two allied squadrons), and at the disastrous battle of Almanza on the 25th of April 1707.
On the appointment of the duke of Cumberland as commander-in-chief of the forces, Wade retired.
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