War of the Austrian Succession Colonel James Gardiner (11 January 1688 – 21 September 1745) was a Scottish soldier who fought in the British Army, including during the 1745 Jacobite rising, in which he was killed at the Battle of Prestonpans.

During the Battle of Ramillies, he was shot through the mouth and nearly killed by a French soldier who had returned to plunder the dead.

[4] At the Battle of Prestonpans, he was mortally wounded by the Highlanders after his dragoons had fled the field and he was attempting to rally some foot soldiers.

He received a mortal blow whilst wounded on the ground and was stripped to the waist as his possessions were looted by the Highlanders.

The play, Colonel Gardiner: Vice and Virtue, written by playwright Andrew Dallmeyer was performed as part of Prestonpans' 2009 Homecoming celebrations.