POLEY, EDMUND [SSNE 1130]
Text source
Edmund Poley worked as an English diplomat in Germany in 1680, working in Berlin and London on negotiations between the British and the duke of Brandenburg-Prussia. He also served in Sweden between 1686-89. In May 1687 the Stockholm magistrates published an exhortation to all foreign merchants in Sweden to quit the country within 2 months. In addition to this, they would no longer be able to sell their goods in Sweden after this period. Poley was understandably concerned for British merchants in Sweden, and much of his correspondence with the Swedish king Karl XI and his government consequently revolved around this issue, particularly of British merchants obtaining their reimbursements for outstanding debts. Indeed when the magistrates of Narva began to cause problems for British merchants based there Poley approached the Swedes for support. In 1688 Poley was also engaged on behalf of the poor fund for Scots and English living in Copenhagen. This fund had, in 1645, supplied a loan to a certain Joachim Beck of Skåne (at the time Danish territory, but now Swedish) which they were still waiting to be repaid and Poley beseeched the King to ensure this would be done. Poley undertook a further role in negotiations with the representatives of Hannover in London in 1703.
Sources:Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070064_00109#?c=&m=&s=&cv=108&xywh=2292%2C2012%2C3321%2C1915
Swedish Riksarkiv, Kommerskollegii Underdåniga Skrivelser 1651-1840 - Edmond Poley, English Envoy, 05/09/1687; Swedish Riksarkiv, Anglica 522; PRO, SP/81/83-6, SP/95/12, SP/104/153; British Museum, Add. MSS. 45731; L. Bittner and L. Gross, Reportorium der diplomatischen vertreter aller lander, vol. 1, 1648-1715 (Oldenburg and Berlin, 1936), pp.181, 199; Swedish Riksarkiv, Svenske Sändebuds till Utländske Hof och Deras Sändebud till Sverige, 1841, p.85; G. M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives 1509-1688 (London, 1990).
Service record
- STUART KINGDOMS, BRANDENBURG-PRUSSIA (Preussen), BERLIN
- Arrived 1679-10-30
- Departed 1682-01-23
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, REGENSBURG [IMPERIAL COURT]
- Arrived 1682-02-07
- Departed 1685-04-15
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM
- Arrived 1686-10-27
- Departed 1689-07-03
- Capacity ENVOY, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, LONDON, [BRUNSWICK-LUNEBURG]
- Arrived 1703-12-17
- Departed 1705-09-12
- Capacity DIPLOMAT, purpose DIPLOMACY