SINCLAIR, JAMES [SSNE 1582]

Surname: SINCLAIR, SINKLAR, SEICHLAR, til SINKLARSHOLM, SNIKER
First name: JAMES, JACOB
Title/rank: LT. COLONEL til SINKLARSHOLM
Nationality: SCOT
Region: SINKLARSHOLM AND RAVENSCRAIG, FIFE
Social status: NOBILITY

Text source

James Sinclair til Sinklarsholm was the son of Andrew Sinclair of Ravenscraig and Sinklarsholm and Kirsten Kaas. Born c.1604, Sinclair attended Duke Ulrik's funeral at Butzow 1624. He served James VI/I, and was abroad at his father's death 1625. During his absence, Hendrik Gyldenstjerne was ordered by Christian IV to look after James Sinclair's affairs and ensure that he did not lose anything by being abroad. Sinclair returned to Denmark to serve in the "hoffane", or Royal Horse, with two horses from 17/4/1629 during the Danish phase of the Thirty Years' War (1625-1629). After Denmark made peace with the Emperor, Sinclair went to Britain sometime between 1630-1 on Christian IV's behalf, and also to collect his remaining wages due to him from the Stuart Court. These were not promptly paid and he found himself retained for debt in London. In 1639 Captain James Sinclair petitioned the Privy Council of England about a slander made against the Kings of Denmark, Sweden, France and Spain by one George Bland. In particular he argued that, as a Danish subject, he was forced to take this action. He was eventually locked up for a week during which time he "endured very much extremity far unworthy [of] a gentleman of his rank". He was eventually released from jail, and from his debts about 1640 when Charles I, after repeated interventions by Christian IV, agreed to pay them. On his return to Scandinavia, Sinclair was appointed as a naval lieutenant between 1/12/1642 and 1/3/1643. Thereafter he transferred to the Akershus infantry. In 1649 he re enlisted into the Trondheim regiment, serving as a captain, but eventually becoming lieutenant-colonel. He requested of Sehested that he receive the remainder of his captain's salary in March and Sehested ordered a final account of his wages since January. In January 1650 Sinclair solicited to be retained as he had been paid off in the reduction. Sehesyed could not help him as the reduction was a royal command, but did offer to help him contact the Marquis of Montrose if that would be of any help. Thereafter he asked for a recommendation for a commission in Charles II's army which Frederik III gave him on 10/9/1651 in which his wartime service to Christian IV was mentioned. After the defeat of Charles II's forces, Sinclair returned to Norway in 1652. On 9/2/1652 Frederik III wrote to Gregers Krabbe on Sinclair's behalf and requested that Sinclair be placed in the first available position in a company of the Akershus, or some other regiment. On 6/3/1653 the king commanded Frederik Urne to place Jacob Sinclair in the first available company of the Trondheim regiment. This request was repeated in November that year when Frederik III suggested that Sinclair be appointed a land company, or to exercise the men of Almuen. He later is also reported to have reached the rank of lieutenant colonel in Denmark. Thomas Riis notes that he died "after 1655". However in January 1655 King Frederik granted Sinclair the farm at Kuroen in Nordland, and compensated the farmer who had previously lived there. Another possibility is that he simply left Denmark. Mention is made of a Colonel Sinclair in 1658 who, according to the treaty of Roskilde, took 1,500 troops into Swedish service in Prussia. It is possibly the same man since that treaty saw the transfer of the Sinclair lands in Skaane to Sweden along with the rest of the province. James Sinclair married Francisca Beaumont, a daughter of Henry Beaumont of 'Slanglaun'. His second marriage was to Elizabeth Turpin. He had the following children: Anders [landsommer of Lolland and Falster 1670] and Kirsten who married major Frederik Schroder [later executed in Ditmarsken in 1688].

J.C.W. Hirsch and K. Hirsch, (eds.), 'Fortegnelse over Dansk og Norske officerer med flere fra 1648 til 1814', (12 vols. Copenhagen, compiled 1888-1907), X, p.399; Norske Rigsregistranter, ed. Y. Nielsen and E.A. Thomle, vol.10, (Christiania, 1887), p.362 and pp. 599-600; Norske Rigsregistranter, vol.11, (Christiania, 1890), p.90 and p.274; Statholderskabets Extraktprotokol af Supplicationer og Resolutioner 1642-1652 (2.vols, Cristiania, 1896-1901), II, pp.185 and 257, March 1649 and January 1650; T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), II, pp.75-76 and 147; O. Ovenstad, Militaerbiografier: Den Norske Haers Officerer (Oslo, 1948), p.411; G. Lind, Danish Data Archive 1573; Tagbuch des Generals Patrick Gordon I, p.119; Calendar of State Papers Domestic, 1639, p.130. 7 May 1639.

Service record

SCOTLAND, STUART KINGDOMS: Arrived 1620-01-01; Departed 1629-04-17; Purpose ROYAL SERVANT
DENMARK-NORWAY, JOACHIM ERNST OF SAXONY'S FIRST: Arrived 1629-04-17, as NCO; Departed 1629-12-31, as CAPTAIN; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
DENMARK-NORWAY, STUART KINGDOMS: Arrived 1630-01-01, as CAPTAIN; Departed 1640-12-31, as CAPTAIN; Capacity DANISH AGENT, PRISONER, purpose ROYAL SERVANT
DENMARK-NORWAY, NAVY: Arrived 1642-12-01, as LIEUTENANT; Departed 1644-03-01, as CAPTAIN; Capacity OFFICER, purpose NAVAL
DENMARK-NORWAY, AKERSHUS REGIMENT, NORWAY: Arrived 1644-03-01, as CAPTAIN; Departed 1645-10-01, as CAPTAIN; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
DENMARK-NORWAY, TRONDHEIM INFANTRY, NORWAY: Arrived 1649-01-01, as CAPTAIN; Departed 1650-01-01, as LT. COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, STUART ARMY: Arrived 1651-09-10, as OFFICER; Departed 1651-12-31, as LT. COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
DENMARK-NORWAY, NORWAY: Arrived 1652-02-09, as OFFICER; Departed 1658-12-31, as LT. COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
SWEDEN, PRUSSIA (Preussen): Arrived 1658-01-01, as COLONEL; Departed 1658-12-31, as COLONEL; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY