SINCLAIR, HINDRIK [SSNE 4688]
- Surname
- SINCLAIR, SINKLER, SENKLER, SENCKELER
- First name
- HINDRIK, HENRICUS, HENRIK, HENRY, HINRICH
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- GOTHENBURG
- Social status
- BURGESS
Text source
Henry Sinclair has been noted as a burgess of Gothenburg as early as 1625. His daughter (unnamed) was buried in Christina church there on 1 December 1627. He worked as a customs officer and Inspector of the Tolls around Västergötland after 1638, however in the citizens list for 1639 his occupation was not given. In 1638 and 1641 a Henry Sinclair appeared in the Gothenburg shipping registers, sending goods to Stockholm twice, once on a royal ship, and to Danzig in the latter year. This is most likely the same man. He was noted for his struggle with Nils Börjesson, a fellow councillor, over damaging influence to Gothenburg trade (Börjesson claimed that herring imports from Scotland had ceased by 1632), and over who would represent Gothenburg at the Riksdag in Stockholm in February 1633. When the Royalist refugee and pearl fisher, Robert Buchan de Portlethen arrived in Sweden, Sinclair and he certainly spent time in each other's company and Sinclair helped him in his dealings with Admiral Simon Stewart when Buchan tried to sell the admiral a privately constructed warship. He also appears to have sserved as an agent of sorts for the Swedish Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna. Sinclair probably died in 1649 and quite a few letters can be found with information relating to this man. He appears to have had some connection to Hans Carnegie [SSNE 4832], the Gothenburg merchant and burgess, since he crops up in his correspondence to the Swedish Queen. Sinclair's major grief was with illegal trade with Denmark-Norway, especially Udevalla, during the first 14 years of the new Swedish town of Vänersborg.
Sources: Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0073833_00305#?c=&m=&s=&cv=304&xywh=1799%2C1747%2C4244%2C2448 including: undated letter to Queen Christina in Swedish mentioning Customs officer Henrik Sinclair . Three further letters all on the same subject and one dated 19 January 1648 mentioning the late Henrik Sinclair; Swedish Riksarkiv, Brev till Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie a) fran enskilda (1) undated; Swedish Riksarkiv, Stege borgssamlingen, Skrivelser till Johan Casimir och hans gamal, undated; Swedish Riksarkiv, Skokloster samlingen II fol. vol. (32), Brev till per Abrahamson Brahe, 1641; H. Almquist, Göteborgs Historia (Gothenburg, 1929), p.109; E. Långström, Göteborgs Stads Borgarelängd 1621-1864 (Gothenburg, 1926), p.23; C.F. Corin, Vänersborgs Historia I, Tiden till 1834 (Stockholm, 1944), pp.12, 45 and 172-174; W. Berg, Samlingar till Göteborgs Historia Christina Kyrkas böcker, (Gothenburg, 1890), vol.1, p.433; E-B. Grage, 'Scottish merchants in Gothenburg, 1621-1850', in T.C. Smout, ed, Scotland and Europe 1200-1850, p.112; C. Dalhede, Handelsfamiljer på Stormaktstidens Europamarknad (3 vols., Partille, 2001), III, cd rom; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.172, 214.
Service record
- SWEDEN, GOTHENBURG, VASTERGOTLAND, VASTERBOTTEN
- Arrived 1627-01-01
- Departed 1649-01-19
- Capacity BURGESS, CUSTOMS OFFICER, purpose CIVIC, ROYAL SERVICE