HEPBURN, JAMES [SSNE 2657]
- Surname
- HEPBURN, HEPBURNE, HEBHURN, HEBRON
- First name
- JAMES, JAKOB, JACOB
- Title/rank
- COLONEL, SIR
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- WAUGHTON, HADDINGTONSHIRE, LOTHIAN
- Social status
- OFFICER
Text source
James Hepburn served as a captain in James Ramsay's [SSNE 3315] recruited regiment until 1629. In May 1628 Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna supplied a travel pass for Hepburn to go to Konigsburg in order to obtain reinforcements for his company. Then he was a captain in the Green regiment until 1630 and thereafter a captain in William Baillie's [SSNE 1909] recruited regiment, where he became a lieutenant colonel in 1631 and appears to have remained until 1633. He probably left Swedish service at the same time as his brother, Colonel John Hepburn [SSNE 2660], in 1632. These two Hepburns are mentioned twice as such in contemporary French reports and also as such in Scottish ones. James joined Sir John when he entered French service in 1633 and is mentioned both directly and indirectly as being in England recruiting in 1635. The colonelcy of John's regiment devolved upon James Hepburn after John died in July 1636. Recruits, of sixty men each for three companies, were allowed to join it in November and December of 1636 and one thousand more men enlisted in 1637. The Scottish Privy Council records contain a petition by Andrew Hepburn, as the brother German of Colonel Sir John and Lieutenant Colonel Sir James, on 26 July 1636. According to David Parrot, James Hepburn was killed on 16 October 1637 by musket shot through the chest during the siege of Damvilliers in Lorraine. The regiment was eventually taken over by Lord James Douglas, a son of the first Marquis of Douglas, by his first marriage, thereafter, though it kept the Hepburn name for several years thereafter. From 1642 onwards, the regiment was known as the 'Regiment de Douglas'.
Sources: R. Monro, His Expedition with the worthy Scots regiment called Mackeyes (2 vols., London, 1632), II, List of the Scottish Officers in Chief; Swedish Krigsarkiv, Muster Roll, 1626/8,11; 1627/4,5,7,8,12-14; 1628/4-10,13; MR 1628/9,10,12-15; 1629/5-10,14,16,18-20; 1630/22-26,28-31,33; 1631/12-17,19-21; 1632/10-21; 1633/11-18; Rikskansleren Axel Oxenstiernas skrifter och brefvexling, first series, IV, p. 156; J.V. Polisensky et al (eds.), Documenta Bohemica Bellum Tricennale Illustratia: Der Grosse Kampf um die Vormacht in Europa, vol. 4 (Prague, 1978), p.51; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, second series, IV, pp. 140-141 and 157; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, second series, VI, p. 401; David Laing (ed.), A Diary of the Public Correspondence of Sir Thomas Hope of Craighall, 1633-1645 (Edinburgh, 1893), p.21; For James as the brother of John see Bibliothèque Nationale de France [BNF], Recveil des Gazettes, Novvelles, et Relations […] (Paris, 1634), p.375 and ibid., (Paris, 1635) , p.667.
J. Grant, Memoirs and Adventures of Sir John Hepburn (Edinburgh, 1851), pp. 205-211; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p. 100.
Thanks to Dr Parrott for providing us with copies of his research and updating this entry.
Service record
- SWEDEN, VON THURN'S
- Arrived 1626-01-01, as LIEUTENANT
- Departed 1627-12-31, as LIEUTENANT
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, JAMES RAMSAY
- Arrived 1628-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1629-12-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, GREEN REGIMENT
- Arrived 1630-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1630-12-31, as CAPTAIN
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- SWEDEN, WILLIAM BAILLIE
- Arrived 1631-01-01, as CAPTAIN
- Departed 1633-12-31, as LT. COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
- FRANCE, HEPBURN'S REGIMENT
- Arrived 1633-06-01, as LT. COLONEL
- Departed 1637-10-16, as COLONEL
- Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY