DOUGLAS, GUSTAV OTTO [SSNE 3861]

Surname

DOUGLAS

First name

GUSTAV OTTO, GUSTAF

Title/rank

COUNT DOUGLAS

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

NOBILITY

Text source

Gustaf Otto Douglas was born in 1687 of the Scottish Douglas-Whittinghame line. He served as a Swedish officer (lif-drabant) Captured by Russians at Poltava in 1709, he then chose to serve Peter the Great , becoming the first Russian Governor of Finland in 1717, then of Reval in 1737-40. In 1719 he piloted the Russian fleet into Norrköping and stole the relics of St. Henry from the cathedral in Åbo. His turbulent career featured imprisonment for the murder of a Russian captain, cruelties of war against the Turks, and a treason charge. He was still considered "an able general and good administrator". In 1751 he retired after whipping a Livonian nobleman to death. He was still alive in 1763. His son was a page at the Russian court, but the line died out.

A. Lewenhaupt, Karl XII:s Officerare Biografiska anteckningar (2 vols., Stockholm, 1920), I, p.148; D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection (Aberdeen, 1996); H.Marryat, One Year in Sweden, including a visit to the isle of Gotland (London, 1862), p.463.

Service record

SWEDEN, UPPLANDS REGIMENT

Arrived 1703-12-30, as CAPTAIN LIEUTENANT

Departed 1709-06-28, as LIVREGIMENT

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

RUSSIA, FINLAND

Arrived 1717-01-01, as OFFICER

Departed 1751-12-31, as GOVERNOR

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY