CUNNINGHAM, WILLIAM [SSNE 2136]

Surname

CUNNINGHAM

First name

WILLIAM

Title/rank

COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

William Cunningham served as an ensign in Alexander Leslie's [SSNE 1] recruited regiment in Swedish service in 1626. He appears thereafter in muster-rolls for James Seaton's regiment and also briefly (May 1630) in the Karl Viggo Key archive, as a captain in George Crawford's regiment of foot when he signed a receipt for 370 rdl on 11 May 1630. He is the most likely candidate for the Scottish colonel of a German regiment stationed in Prussia in 1632 mentioned by Robert Monro [SSNE 94].

Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1626/8,10; 1630/29-32; 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; Swedish Krigsarkiv, 0035:0418 Karl Viggo Key Samlingen. Caution should be taken with the Viggo Key source as he believes the Earl of Crawford is Alexander Crawford. It is not, it was actually George Lindsay, Earl of Crawford.

Service record

SWEDEN, ALEXANDER LESLIE, JAMES SEATON, GEORGE CRAWFORD, WILLIAM CUNNINGHAM'S SPRUCE

Arrived 1626-01-01, as ENSIGN

Departed 1632-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY