SPENS till ÅNGELSHOLMS, AXEL [SSNE 4075]

Surname

SPENS till ÅNGELSHOLMS

First name

AXEL

Title/rank

LT. GENERAL

Nationality

SWEDISH

Region

STOCKHOLM

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

Axel Spens was the son of Jacob Axel Spens [SSNE 3550], and great-grandson of James Spens of Wormiston [SSNE 1642]. He was born in February 1681 in Stockholm. On 3rd April 1700 he joined the Livdrabant and thereafter became a major with an Upplands Cavalry regiment. He was wounded in the thigh at the battle of Narva. He became lieutenant colonel in 1708 but was taken prisoner at Poltava in 1709 and spent some years in Russian captivity. He was not released until 1722. He was promoted to major-general in 1730, and the following year he was colonel and chief of the Vastgota cavalry. In 1737 he was colonel of the lifecavalry regiment. He became lieutenant-general and chief military commander in Skåne in 1743. He died on 6 February 1745

Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser; A. Lewenhaupt, Karl XII:s Officerare Biografiska anteckningar (2 vols., Stockholm, 1920), II, p.645; Swedish Riksarkiv, RA/720290.007, Esplunda Arkiv. Axel Spens (1681-1745); Register öfver Krigsfångar i stora nordiska kriget, II (M-Ö); Svenska Adelns Ättartavlor, VII, p.430; D. Fedosov, The Caledonian Connection (Aberdeen, 1996); P. Wieselgren, Dela Gardiska Archivet, part 8 (Lund, 1836), p.142.

Service record

SWEDEN, UPPLAND'S CAVALRY, GENERAL MAJOR CRUSER'S CAVALRY

Arrived 1700-04-03, as OFFICER

Departed 1709-12-31, as LIEUTENANT COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

SWEDEN, POLTAVA, RUSSIA, PEREVOLTJNA

Arrived 1709-07-01, as PRISONER

Departed 1722-05-01, as PRISONER

Capacity PRISONER, OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

SWEDEN, LIVREGIMENT TILL HÄST

Arrived 1722-08-11, as COLONEL

Departed 1745-02-06, as LIEUTENANT GENERAL

Capacity OFFICER, GOVERNOR (SKÅNE), purpose MILITARY