LINDSAY, GEORGE [SSNE 2086]
- Surname
- LINDSAY, CRAWFORD, CRAFURD, CRAFFORD, KRAFFURDTH, KRAFFWERDT
- First name
- GEORGE
- Title/rank
- 14th EARL of CRAWFORD
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- CRAWFORD, LANARKSHIRE?
- Social status
- NOBILITY
Text source
George Lindsay is generally recorded in Swedish sources as Earl George Crawford. He is also noted as colonel of an "English" regiment in Prussia in 1630, which was the largely English "Gammle Spens". He received permission from the Scottish Privy Council to levy 300 men for Sweden in 1629 and asked help from the Council to transport them to Sweden. Once there, Lindsay became colonel of his own recruited infantry regiment which appeared to have formerly been under James Spens' [SSNE 1642] command. However he had trouble with his men from the start - in mid-July 1630 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna noted how Crawford had disagreed with his lieutenant colonel and in particular Major John Caswell [SSNE 2032] by grabbing his beard. In March 1631 Crawford's regiment was noted amongst those consisting of untried soldiers and the following month the regiment was noted as in a poor condition. Indeed, Oxenstierna had a rather low opinion of Crawford in general, stating that he was no soldier and encouraged "national hatred" between the Scottish and English officers of his regiment:"Men såsom gräffven Kraffverdt ingen soldat ähr, och kommer så därtill nationalhatet, altså haffver han inthet kunnett comportera sig medh dhem, uthan snarare altijdh haft medh dhem careller." De la Gardie put the size of Crawford's regiment at 1400 originally, rising to 2,400 (possibly the new recruits swelling these numbers. The problems of the earl appeared to carry on as Crawford was apparently killed by one of his own lieutenants in 1633. Another source notes that he was taken prisoner at the battle of Steinau in October 1633.
Sources: R. Monro, His Expedition with a worthy Scots Regiment called Mac-Keyes (2 vols., London, 1637), II, The List of the Scottish Officers in Chiefe, list 1; Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd Series, III, 1629-1630, p.313, 18 September 1629; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1630/23,24,27-33, 37; 1631/12-21; 1632/10-14, 22,23; 1633/23,24; Sir James Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage (8 vols., Edinburgh, 1904-1911), III, p.34; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brefvexling, first series, V, p.474; ibid, VI, pp.42, 43, 59, 192, 218-20, 435, 492; P. Wieselgren, DelaGardiska Archive teller Handlingar ur Grefl. DelaGardiska Bibliotheket på Löberöd. Tionde Delen (Lund, 1838), pp.22 and 25.
Service record
- SWEDEN, GEORGE CRAWFORD
- Arrived 1629-09-18, as COLONEL
- Departed 1633-12-31, as COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY