PITCAIRN, DAVID [SSNE 8075]

Surname: PITCAIRN, PITCARN, PIDCARN, PITGAERN, PIDTCORN, PIDTCARN, PITKAERNE, PITKEREN, PITKARN
First name: DAVID
Title/rank: CAPTAIN
Nationality: SCOT
Social status: OFFICER

Text source

David Pitcairn was a soldier in the Scots-Dutch brigade between c. 1608-1643. He served as a lieutenant under Captain David Balfour, perhaps coming over with the rest of Lord Buccleuch's [SSNE 5010] regiment as early as 1603. He was in garrison at Bergen-op-Zoom and on 9 November 1608 he married Elizabeth Forbes, the widow of one Captain William Nisbet (Maclean, p. 38, 86). Forbes eventually died, and at an unknown date Pitcairn married one Adlean Loovan (Maclean, p. 184).

By 1621, Pitcairn had raised a company of 120 men in Scotland and on 17 September he petitioned the States General to accept the company into its service. He cited both his lengthy service to the States and his financial ruin if the company was rejected. This was debated at length: Maurice of Nassau was in favor of taking on the company, while Secretary Huygens believed that the country had enough burdens already without a new company of Scots. The Council of State was consulted on the matter, and it was eventually decided that Pitcairn's company would be taken on for three months on the condition that the Council would pay for neither weapons nor transportation. Nonetheless, on 24 September, Holland refused to garrison the troops until it was decided how they would be paid and armed. The soldiers were therefore forced stayed on their ship in Rotterdam in "miserable conditions," until a petition to admit and maintain the company was submitted the following day by the Council of State (RSG, 1621-1622, pp. 286, 291, 293; Ferguson, p. 321).

On 5 January 1622, it was resolved that Pitcairn's company would be kept for two months longer (RSG, 1621-1622, p. 374). By 20 April, Pitcairn's company was retained permanently. Captain Pitcairn's company was listed in the garrison at Rees in July 1622 (Ferguson, p. 321; Maclean, p. 342). Pitcairn, at the very least, stayed in the service of the Republic and moved from garrison to garrison. After being stationed at The Hague in 1624 and 1626, he and a company were back in Rees by 1628. It was there, on 27 May, he made a strongly-worded remonstration to the Council of State in regards to a complaint that had been made against his company. Evidently, it had been said that Pitcairn's company was not properly armed or "the soldiers well clothed." Pitcairn retorted "the complaint [was] too general, and without a vestige of truth in it; and that [his] company [was] as well provided with weapons and men as any private company in these Provinces, which may be said without boasting, as will appear from ocular demonstration at the review.” Furthermore, he said that there could be no complaint of his conduct to his soldiers, and he had always been prompt in distributing their full payment. However, he agreed that they were not well clothed, stating, “it is no wonder that the clothes of my soldiers are not so good as it is desirable they should be, seeing that they have dwelt so long in such an inconvenient, difficult, and objectionable locality, the inconvenience and misery of which are sufficiently known," and suggested that if they were moved elsewhere, their clothes would be perfectly fine. He finished by stating "I have thus far done as much as I could for my company. Pitcairn." (Ferguson, p. 353).

Perhaps the petition was sucessful, for by 1629 he was garrisoned at Zaltbommel. By 1633-1636 he was back in Rees, but he was moved again in 1636 to Heusden. Now twice a widower, Pitcairn married Margareta Mol, the widow of one Captain Christoffel Jackson, on 10 October 1636. By 1636 his company was a part of Colonel James Livingston's [SSNE 8050] regiment, and the company served with the regiment at the disastrous battle of Callo in 1638. 13 men from Pitcairn's company were taken prisoner, including his lieutenant, Robert Doncke, and his sergeant, David Ogewe.

Pitcairn was back in Heusden between 1640-1643 and after that disappears from all record. Presumably he had died after approximately 40 years in the service of the Dutch Republic. It is unknown who, if anyone, replaced him and assumed his company. It is not impossible that the company, despite all of its trials and tribulations, was simply disbanded as the end of the Eighty Years' War drew nearer.

Sources:

Resolutiën der Staten-Generaal, Deel 5, 1621-1622, pp. 286, 289-90, 291, 293, 322, 375, 507-510, 579.

J. Ferguson, Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in theservice of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 321, 325, 353, 453.

MacLean, Dr. Ir. J., De Huwelijksintekeningen Van Schotse Militairen in Nederland: 1574-1665 (Zutphen, 1976), pp. 38, 86, 142, 143, 184, 185, 213, 321, 342.

This entry created by Mr. Jack Abernethy.

Service record

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, BUCCLEUCH: Arrived 1608-11-09, as LIEUTENANT; Departed 1621-09-25, as CAPTAIN; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, UNATTACHED: REES, THE HAGUE, ZALTBOMMEL, HEUSDEN: Arrived 1621-09-25, as CAPTAIN; Departed 1636-01-01, as CAPTAIN; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, ALMOND, BALFOUR: Arrived 1636-01-01, as CAPTAIN; Departed 1643-12-31, as ?; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY