FORBES till WECKEBYLUND, JOHAN PETERSON [SSNE 2242]

Surname

FORBES till WECKEBYLUND, SCHONEWALDE AND BARNEHOFF

First name

JOHAN PETERSON

Title/rank

CITY COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

OFFICER, NOBILITY

Text source

Johan Forbes was probably the son of Peter Forbes [SSNE 1671]. If so he married Catherine Laurelius, daughter of the bishop Olaus. He became master of horse for the noblemen's and knights' corps (Ridderskapets and Adelnsrusttjanst) on 10 July 1666 (Krigskoll.diarium). Forbes became a lieutenant colonel in 1673 and then city colonel of Stockholm and commander of all horse and infantry amongst the city burgesses in 1678. With the support of Riksråd and Överståthållare Claes Rålamb, Forbes got the royal brief to become stadsöverste on 20 Aug. 1678. But soon after the Council decided it did not want him. In early February 1679, Forbes reported to Göran Gyllenstierna still claiming to be stadsöversten. Gyllenstierna tried to find out what was actually going on, and the Council tried to convince him that in actual fact they had never really wanted to have a stadsöverste, and they could show that after William Barclay´s death they had received royal assurance that they would not be burdened with such an office-holder again. Gyllenstierna wrote to the king about the contested appointments and advised freeing the citizenry from maintaining such an expensive and generally un-needed officer. The King decided to eliminate the office, though Forbes appears to have kept his colonelcy thereafter until his death on 4 March 1697. This in turn may be the same Johan Forbes who appeared as a cargo-owner on Jacob Mordets ship which was going to Aberdeen in April 1678.

 

Sources: Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1668/3; 1669/3,8; 1670/3; 1671/1; 1672/3,4; 1674/3; 1676/4; C. Dalhede, Handelsfamiljer på Stormaktstidens Europamarknad (3 vols., Partille, 2001)III, cdrom; T. Wennerstrom, Stockholm Borgargarde, (Stockholm, 1937), p.239; C.F. Corin, Självstyre och kunglig maktpolitik inom Stockholms stadsförvaltning, 1668-1697 (Stockholm, 1958), pp.211-212.

 

See also letters concerning Forbes including his commission in Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0069635_00345#?c=&m=&s=&cv=344&xywh=2939%2C1996%2C4077%2C2235

Service record

SWEDEN, LIFEREGIMENT

Arrived 1668-01-01, as CAPT OF HORSE

Departed 1676-12-31, as CAPT OF HORSE

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM

Arrived 1678-01-01, as CITY COLONEL

Departed 1679-12-31, as CITY COLONEL

Capacity CITY COLONEL, OFFICER, purpose MILITARY