DONOWAY, JOHN [SSNE 6353]

Surname

DONOWAY, DUNNAWAY, DUNOWAI, DONAWAY

First name

JOHN, JOHAN, HANS

Title/rank

COLONEL?

Nationality

ENGLISH

Text source

A John (Hans) Donoway was in Swedish service in 1615. He was a captain in Samuel Cockburn's [SSNE 4219] regiment and had 90 men in his company. In 1617 he along with several other Scottish officer in Swedish service occupied various strongholds in Finland. A John Dunnaway served in the Polish-Lithuanian army between 1619 and October 1628. In August 1621 Donoway held the rank of captain of foreign infantry or dragoons ‘rota’ (between 120 and 200 men) and served until August 1622 (when his unit was disbanded) in Livonia. In this role he served against the Swedes. In 1625 he raised a new unit of foreing infantry in the Lithuanian army and fought under the command of hetman Krzysztof Radziwill and colonel Mikolaj Abrahamowicz. In the summer of 1626 Donoway’s unit had a ‘paper strength’ of 207 persons but in reality it was much smaller. They took part in the battle of Zelbork (Selbork) on 30 of September 1626. Donoway was probably in charge of an infantry ‘rota’ during the whole war as in the summer of 1629 his unit is mentioned on an army muster with a ‘paper strength’ of 300 men. Afterwards Donoway still served in the Lithuanian army with the rank of infantry colonel. He acquired some land and wealth, and in 1654 he received ‘indygenat’ (Indygenat in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was a recognition of foreign status as a noble). A Johan Donaway was noted in Swedish service as a colonel in the mid-1600s (during the Sweden-Lithuania period?). These may all be the same man, or perhaps the first and last man are the same, whilst the second was a separate individual.

T. Fischer, The Scots in Sweden, (Edinburgh, 1907), p.225; Swedish Riksarkiv, Extranea 80, IX, Polen. Polish-Livonian Army 1628 (foreign foot), 4th quarter pay for period 17/10/1627-17/10/1628; Swedish Riksarkiv, P. Sondén, Militärachefer i svenska arméen och deras skrivelser. Michal Paradowski provided the following sources and the main text of this entry: Andrzej Rachuba, Oficerowie armii litewskiej z armii szwedzkiej i oficerowie armii szwedzkiej z armii litewskiej w latach 1655-1660 [in:] Wojny Polnocne w XVI-XVII wieku, Boguslaw Dybas (ed.), Torun 2007, p. 154; Wisner Henryk, Wojna inflancka 1625-1629 [in:] Studia i Materia?y do Historii Wojskowo?ci, tom XVI, cz.1, Warszawa 1970, p.58, 73, 75, 92; Wisner Henryk, Kampania inflancka Krzysztofa Radziwilla w latach 1617-1618 [in:] Zapiski Historyczne nr 1, Warszawa 1970, p.14; Wisner Henryk, Wojsko litewskie I po?owy XVII wieku [in:] Studia i Materia?y do Historii Wojskowo?ci, tom XXI, Warszawa 1978, p.117

Service record

SWEDEN, SAMUEL COCKBURN, REVAL, ESTONIA

Arrived 1615-01-01, as CAPTAIN

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

SWEDEN, FINLAND, LIVONIA

Arrived 1617-01-01, as CAPTAIN

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

POLAND-LITHUANIA, ARMY

Arrived 1619-01-01

Departed 1654-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

SWEDEN, SWEDISH ARMY

Departed 1655-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY