CUNNINGHAM, THOMAS [SSNE 6033]

Surname

CUNNINGHAM, CUNINGHAM

First name

THOMAS

Nationality

SCOT

Region

CAMPVERE

Text source

The editor of Thomas Cunningham's journal noted that Thomas Cunningham senior, father of the journalist, was the first of the Cunningham family to arrive in Veere where he had made a successful career for himself as a merchant factor by the early 1590s. He also had 'five wives and an enormous number of children'. One of the staunchest supporters and leading arms suppliers of the Scottish National Covenant of 1638 was the Dutch born Scot, Thomas Cunningham of Campveere. He and his brother James both held the position of Conservator of the Scottish staple. Thomas became a factor at Veere in 1621 and conservator by an act of the parliament of Scotland in 1644, a position he held until 1660 when Patrick Drummond was reinstated. In 1634, Thomas and his friend James Weir registered themselves as native Scots under the Great Seal of Scotland in reaction to their goods being siezed by Flemish privateers during the Dutch-Flemish war. He married Apollonia de Mysters in 1625 and had a large family who all settled in or around Veere. He died in 1669 or 1670. Cunningham visited both Scotland and England on several occassions.

E. J. Courthope (ed.), The Journal of Thomas Cuningham of Campvere 1640-1654 (Edinburgh, 1928); M. P. Rosenboom, The Scottish Staple in The Netherlands (The Hague, 1910); Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), pp.58-59, 61, 78.

Service record

SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTTISH STAPLE, CAMPVERE

Arrived 1621-07-01

Departed 1660-12-31

Capacity FACTOR, MERCHANT CONSUL, purpose MERCANTILE, TRADE