STRACHAN, ALEXANDER [SSNE 534]

Surname
STRACHAN, STRAUCHAN
First name
ALEXANDER
Title/rank
LIEUTENANT COLONEL SIR
Nationality
SCOT
Region
THORNTON, KINCARDINESHIRE [NOW ABERDEENSHIRE]
Social status
NOBILITY

Text source

Sir Alexander Strachan, Baronet of Thornton, Kincardineshire, served in the Danish-Norwegian army as a lieutenant-colonel between 1628-1629. He may have known Sir Alexander Hamilton [SSNE 380] from there, but certainly would have known him once both became Freemasons in Mary's Chapel Lodge in Edinburgh in the 1630s. Strachan was initiated in July 1634. Another former veteran from Strachan's own regiment in Danish service, David Ramsay [SSNE 3307] joined the same Lodge in 1637. Strachan married Lady Margaret Ogilvie daughter of James 6th Lord Ogilvie of Airly, founder of Marishal College, Aberdeen. In 1633 Strachan was made the third baronet of Nova Scotia. He is, fairly or otherwise, described by David Stevenson as being a 'distinctly shady character who nonetheless managed to hang on to royal favour' through his friendship with the sons of Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling. Given his later service, this seems harsh as  Strachan served as lieutenant colonel in the Earl of Baclarres Horse in the Army of the Solemn League and Covenant in 1644.

D. Murray-Lyon, The History of Freemasonry in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1873), p.87; T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), II, p.133; J.A. Fallon, 'Scottish Mercenaries in the service of Denmark and Sweden 1626-1632' unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Glasgow, 1972, pp. 129-30; D. Stevenson, The First Freemasons; Scotland's Early Lodges and their Members (Aberdeen, 1988), p.27; A list of the Several Regiments and Chief Officers of the Scottish Army quartered neer Newcastle (London 1644); Ed. Furgol, A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies, 1639-1641 (Edinburgh, 1990), 114-115.

English Civil War

Service record

DENMARK-NORWAY, NITHSDALE'S
Arrived 1628-01-01, as LT. COLONEL
Departed 1629-12-31, as LT. COLONEL
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
STUART KINGDOMS, SCOTLAND, LORD BACLARRES HORSE, ARMY OF THE SOLEMN LEAGUE AND COVENANT
Arrived 1644-01-01
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY