SPALDING, JOHN [SSNE 4941]
Text source
John Spalding was born in Gothenburg in 1632, the son of John Spalding [SSNE 4677] from Milhaugh (South Lanarkshire?) and Johanna Kinnaird [SSNE 2711], also from Dundee, daughter of the Scottish naval captain in Danish service, James Kinnaird.
In 1655 John moved to London after a stint in the Netherlands. He found himself after six weeks giving testimony to the High Court of Admiralty in the case of the ship Magdelena. He drops from the record for a few years and then reappeared in a senior capacity.
John Spalding became the Royal Swedish trade commissioner in Dunkirk from the early 1670s and was ennobled in Sweden in 1678 under no.910. In 1672 a letter was found on board the Swedish ship The Fortune which had been taken prize in Scotland. The letter was directed to John Spalding “A knowne merchand in Dunkirk” from Henrie Browne [SSNE 6642] at Gothenburg who was married to Spalding’s sister Anna [SSNE 6416]. This perhaps helped get the ship released as John was still a Scottish citizen at this point despite having been born and raised in Sweden. On 2 December 1674, Charles II signed a document proving evidence of the Spalding family's noble origins in Scotland which undoubtedly helped his ennoblement. That document in turn resulted from an earlier successful supplication to the Scottish Privy Council which applied both to John Spalding and his brother, Gabriel [SSNE 4816]. That document notes the family relationship and John's position as Swedish Resident in Dunkirk in 1674. In 1677 he corresponded in French with either Stenbock or Bengt Oxenstierna regarding the capture of the White Dove (Colomb Blanc), a Dutch ship, by a French frigate from Dunkirk which led the boat to Marstrand. John argued that the Dutch had no cause for complaint. He also visited the Scottish skipper Robert Jaffray [SSNE 7160] when he was in prison in Dunkirk in August 1693. From Jaffray's letter mentioning the visit, it was clear that Spalding had contact with the network of Andrew Russell [SSNE 143], claiming that he had occassion for money from either Jaffray or his owners. In this letter too we learn that the Swedish secretary in Dunkirk with Spalding is Secretary Palmquist. The reason for the Swedish interest was Jaffray and his ship were operating on Swedish passes which occassioned intervention from Karl XI.John Spalding had numerous other sibblings including Elizabeth [SSNE 6413], Johanna [SSNE 6414], Margareta [SSNE 6415] and Catharina [SSNE 6417]. One of these sisters married the merchant in Gothenburg, Henrie Brown, noted above, who was perhaps Henrik Braunjohan who married Anna. He married a woman called Eva
Sources:
HCA 13/71 f.93v Case: The Claime of Cornelius van Stirht for the shipp Magdelena of which Hendrick van der Berck was Master; Deposition: John Spalding of London Merchant aged 22 yeeres; Date: 22/03/1655(56); Swedish Riksarkiv, Ericsbergsarkivet autografsamlingen, 03/05/1677, letter to Bengt Oxenstierna; For Charles II's evidence of his noble origins see Swedish Riksarkiv, Biographica E01832, 3/12/1674; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 3rd series, IV, 1673-1676, p.306; National Archives of Scotland, Admiralty Court 7/3, Register of Decreets, 1672-1673, ff.202-221. 4 October 1672. Captain Patrick Gordon against Andreas Nielson, The Fortune; National Archives of Scotland, Russell Papers, RH 15/106/802/12. Robert Jaffray to Andrew Russell, 8 August 1693; Eduard Spalding, Geschichtliches, urkunnden, stamm-tafeln der Spalding in Schottland, Deutschland und Schweden: Während der letzten sechs jahrhunderte, speciell der Deutsche zweig der familie (Greifswald, 1898), pp.12-41 and Appendix V, Family tree for Johan Spalding in Gothenburg; Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, vol. 7, pp.371-372; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.225-227.
Service record
- SWEDEN, AMSTERDAM
- Departed 1652-01-05
- Purpose COMMERCE
- SWEDEN, DUNKIRK
- Purpose COMMERCE
- SWEDEN, LONDON
- Purpose COMMERCE
- SWEDEN, GOTHENBURG
- Departed 1696-12-31
- Capacity MERCHANT, purpose COMMERCE, TRADE
- SWEDEN, DUNKIRK, SPANISH NETHERLANDS, FLANDERS
- Departed 1693-12-31
- Capacity TRADE COMMISSIONER, SWEDISH RESIDENT, purpose CIVIC, TRADE, DIPLOMACY