PHILP, WILLIAM [SSNE 4803]

Surname: PHILP, PHILIP, PHILUP, [aka PHILLIP, PHILLIPS]
First name: WILLIAM, WELLAM
Title/rank: COLONEL, LAIRD OF FINGASK AND LARGO
Nationality: SCOT
Region: LARGO & St Andrews FIFE and FINGASK, PERTH AND KINROSS
Social status: NOBILITY

Text source

William Philip was the son of Steven Philip, the baillie of St. Andrews and his wife Elisabeth Forrat of Fingask. He was born in 1593 in Scotland and emigrated to Sweden in 1624. Philip served as a lieutenant in the Uppland regiment in 1625 and was a captain the following year. In November 1626 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna authorised a travel pass for Philip, noted as a captain in Seaton's [SSNE 3476] regiment, to travel alone to Sweden. Philip again travelled to Sweden in October 1628, now serving in Colonel Bengt Bagge's regiment. Between February and May 1629 Captain Philip again returned to Sweden, allegedly seeking promotion and appointment to major (during which time Captain William Moody [SSNE 3149] took over his company). In 1632 he became the regimental quartermaster, and was promoted to major by 1636 and later to lieutenant colonel.

According to the records of the Swedish nobility Philip was already a lieutenant colonel by June 1636 as that month he was present at session of the house of nobility seeking ennoblement in Sweden through his Scottish noble lineage. King Charles I supplied a letter of authenticity for Philip's claims regarding his origins, dated Edinburgh 24 March 1636. It was not until 1638, however, that Philip was ennobled and introduced into the Swedish House of Nobility under the name Philp.

In 1639 the military muster rolls recorded him as in charge of a squadron in Pomerania. During the Torstensson War Philip served as second in command to Colonel Hugh Hamilton [SSNE 2582] and as part of this he was placed in charge of Swedish troops on board the Göta Ark, and was shot in the back on 4 July. He recovered and was appointed colonel of the Västmanland regiment in December 1644. A year later, in December 1645 Philip was deployed in Gothenburg with that regiment, albeit the men were dispersed across several garrisons rather than fighting as a single unit.

The military college in Stockholm corresponded with him in 1650 regarding levies for French service. In 1656 he was a commandant at Demmin in January and then in Stettin in September and the following year at Narva. He departed from service in 1658. That year he was also working for the governor of Landskrona and one source notes him as acting governor there. He died in August 1668. At some point he donated a bell, cast in Stettin in 1641, to Almunge church. Philp had been married to Marta Christersdotter Manesköld of Seglinge and had four sons. Marta Philp [SSNE 8303] was his grand-daughter and was married to the ethnic Scot Albrecht Duwall. He also had a son, Carl Philp [SSNE 4805].

Sources:

Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070048_00085#?c=&m=&s=&cv=84&xywh=-354%2C2039%2C5456%2C3147

William is mentioned in his son Carl's correspondence in https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070048_00082#?c=&m=&s=&cv=81&xywh=2994%2C1965%2C3158%2C1821

Sveriges Rikes Ridderskaps och Adels Riksdags Protokoll, andra delen, 1633-1636, (Stockholm, 1856) p. 208; Swedish Riksarkiv, Riksdagsprotokoll 1638, vol. R 9 (this is a copy of the birth brieve from Scotland and comes with an English translation by Robert D. Roady, authorised translator to the Swedish Board of Commerce - translated 26 June 1978); Swedish Riksarkiv, Generalguvernörer, riksståthållare, guvernörer, landshövdingar och ordningsmän i Sverige och dess besittningar.

Swedish Krigsarkiv Kra MR 1639/12-20. Several letters can be found in 'Krigskollegium Kancelliet; Adressatregistratur till Krigskollegiets Registratur 1631-1654' between 16/6/1635 to 10/10/1654, including "15/6/1648 angående kapt Alexander Hamiltons stora motvillighet" and "om vissa rullor pa värvningsfolket åt kronan Frankrike jamte underskrivna och förseglade rullor på hela sitt reg hit med forderligaste att förskicka 23/4/1650".

Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, vol. 5, p.702; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brefvexling, first series, III, p.762 and IV, pp. 377, 502 and 742, and RAOSB, second series, VIII, p.434 ; A. Grosjean and S. Murdoch, Alexander Leslie and the Scottish Generals of the Thirty Years' War 1618-1648, (Pickering and Chatto, 2014), pp. 146, 157-60, 179; H. Marryat, One Year in Sweden, including a visit to the isle of Gotland (London, 1862), pp.494-5; I. Wilcke-Lindqvist, Almunge Kyrka (1954, 1970, 1990); H.O. Prytz, Historiska Upplysningar om svenska och norska armeernas regementer och kårer jemte flottorna, II, (Stockholm, 1868), p.552; Hans Landberg, Lars Ekholm, Roland Nordlund and Sven A. Nilsson, Det kontinentala krigets ekonomi: Studier i krigsfinansiering under svensk stormaktstid (Uppsala, 1971), p. 131; O. Bergström, Bidrag till Kongl. Uplands Regementes Historia, (Stockholm, 1882), p.46, p.51; S. Gillgren, Kungl. Upplands Regementes Officerare, (Enköping, 2008), p.97, p.120, p.155.

Service record

SWEDEN, UPPLAND REGIMENT: Arrived 1625-01-01, as LIEUTENANT; Departed 1644-12-31, as LIEUTENANT COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, VASTMANLAND: Arrived 1644-12-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1658-12-30, as COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, DEMMIN AND STETTIN (Szczecin): Arrived 1656-01-01; Departed 1656-12-31; Capacity COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, NARVA: Arrived 1657-01-01; Departed 1658-12-31; Capacity COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, LANDSKRONA: Arrived 1658-01-01, as COMMANDANT; Departed 1658-12-31, as COMMANDANT; Capacity OFFICER AND COMMANDANT, purpose MILITARY