JEFFERYES, JAMES BAVINGTON [SSNE 4902]

Surname: JEFFERYES, JAFFRAY?, JEFFEREYS, JEFFRIES, JEFFREYS
First name: JAMES BAVINGTON
Title/rank: GOVERNOR
Nationality: SCOT and IRISH
Region: STOCKHOLM
Social status: OFFICER

Text source

Captain James Bavington Jeffereys (born in Stockholm and lived c.1679-1739) was the son of Brigadier General Sir James Jeffereys, a soldier in the service of Karl IX and William of Orange, and his Swedish wife Katherine (daughter of William Drokenhellem and Anna Maria). Young James returned to Sweden with his father leaving two brothers in Sweden, Gustav [SSNE 7267] and Charles [SSNE 7268]. James studied for a BA in Dublin 1697-1701, being educated there by Reverend William Young. He returned to Sweden in 1702 after which he served officially as a volunteer in the army of Charles XII in Russia. However, he also remained with the Swedes as a British agent reporting to Dr John Robinson. He was perhaps the same man as ensign Gert Jaffray in the Västermanlan regiment in 1700, but that is speculation. On 18 April 1708 reported to Henry Boyce from Vilnius in Lithuania that the French had designs on Scotland. Jefferey's was captured at Poltava in 1709, but released the same year. His diplomatic dispatches from 1707-1709 still survive. Jefferey's was with Charles XII in Bender c.1712 and was a Minister in St. Petersberg between 1718-1719. George I apparently appointed his as acaptain in 1719, though from 1719-1725 he acted as a resident in Danzig. Thereafter he acted as Governor of Cork in Ireland and lived in Blarney Castle in which he placed a portrait of Charles XII. Eventually James died abroad in 1739. He had a sister called Jane

Swedish Riksarkiv, Anglica vol 523, Memorial Jefferyes 1711-1715; E. Carlsson (ed.), 'Kapten Jefferys bref till Engelska regeringen från Bender och Adrianopel 1711-1714, från Stralsund 1714-15' in Historiska Handlingar 16:2 (Stockholm, 1897); S.A. Nilsson, 'De Svensk-turkiska förbindelserna före Poltava' in Scandia, XXII, 1954, pp.113-163; R. Hatton (ed.), Captain James Jeffery's letters to the Secretary of State, Whitehall, from the Swedish army, 1707-1709 in Historiska Handlingar 35:1 (Stockholm, 1954), pp.2-41; L. Bittner and L. Gross, Reportorium der diplomatischen vertreter aller lander, vol. 1, 1648-1715 (Oldenburg and Berlin, 1936), p.199; J. F. Chance (ed.), 'British Diplomatic Instructions 1689-1789', Vol I, Sweden, 1689-1727(London, RHS/Camden Society, 1922), pp.39-65; P. Englund, The Battle of Poltava: The Birth of the Russian Empire (London, 1992), p.82 and Biographical Appendix, p.269; C. Dalton, George the First's Army, 1714-1727 (London, 1912), pp.85-89; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.326-327. For his mother's and sister's English naturalisation see W. A. Shaw, ed., Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland, 1701-1800 (Huguenot Society, Manchester, 1923), p.47.

Service record

SWEDEN, RUSSIA: Arrived 1707-01-01; Departed 1709-12-31; Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
GREAT BRITAIN, SWEDEN, RUSSIA: Arrived 1707-01-01; Departed 1709-12-31; Capacity AGENT, purpose DIPLOMACY
SWEDEN, BRITAIN, ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA: Arrived 1718-01-01; Departed 1719-12-31; Capacity MINISTER, purpose DIPLOMACY
SWEDEN, BRITAIN, DANZIG: Arrived 1719-01-01; Departed 1725-12-31; Capacity RESIDENT, purpose DIPLOMACY
GREAT BRITAIN, IRELAND, IRELAND, CORK: Arrived 1725-01-01; Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY, CIVIC
SWEDEN, GREAT BRITAIN, VILNIUS, LITHUANIA: Departed 1708-04-18; Capacity AGENT