FORREST, ROBERT [SSNE 4889]
Text source
Robert Forrest, merchant in Stockholm, served as factor for representatives of the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies (James Gibson and Alexander Stevenson) in the winter of 1696/7. In Sweden, Forrest purchased 1100 pounds of ordnance ('iron guns') for the company and shipped them to Lübeck. Ninety-seven pieces (688 pounds) arrived in January 1697 and the rest was to arrive the following spring.
The following year, 1698, Forrest became a merchant and guild brother of Ayr, but he maintained his Swedish-Baltic connections.
In Swedish sources he is listed as a trader dealing in herring from Glasgow in 1701. There was a discussion in a letter from the commercial college to the king anent the price of Scottish, Norwegian and Dutch herring and as to why the Scots were getting a lower price. There was also a discussion as to the quality of the herring from the Glasgow side of Scotland being of better quality and bigger than that from Montrose or Bergen. At that time Forrest is mentioned as an associate of one John Charters [SSNE 4952].
Sources: National Library of Scotland, MS.1914, Alexaner Stevenson to the Committee of Foreign Trade, 26 January 1697, fols. 41r-41v; Swedish Riksarkiv, Kommerskollegium till Kungl. Maj:t. 6 December 1701; Swedish Riksarkiv, Kommerskollegii Underdåniga Skrivelser 1651-1840 - Robert Forrest, 27/06/1701; National Archive of Scotland, GD 24, Abercairney Muniments, GD 24/1/464 D/5: Edinburgh, 8 May 1705: William Drummond to John Drummond: "Forrest that lived in Stockhlom is got in with the Marjoribanks and Robert Watson and dealls in wine and to the Baltick, he is a sober and discreet lad and is thought to be worth three or four thousand pounds".
We thank Dr Joseph Wagner for updating this entry with sources from the National Library of Scotland.
Service record
- SCOTLAND, SWEDEN, SCOTLAND, SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM
- Arrived 1697-01-26
- Departed 1707-12-31
- Capacity WINE MERCHANT, purpose CIVIC, COMMERCIAL