CHALMER, ALEXANDER [SSNE 6512]

Surname

CHALMER, CHALMERS

First name

ALEXANDER

Title/rank

STUDENT, TEACHER, MAYOR

Nationality

SCOT

Region

ABERDEEN

Text source

Alexander Chalmer was a student of theology who taught Daniel Davidson's [SSNE 967] children in Danzig, Poland-Lithuania, between 1680 and 1700. It is probably this same man who Chris Smout describes as Mayor of Warsaw in 1691 who became 'rich and famous'. Th. Fischer has him listed as a Scottish settler in Warsaw and Crakow in 1676 and a Royal Merchant. A.F. Steuart quotes an decree by King John III dated 1676 in which he confirms the rights and privilages of the eight merchants attached to the court. Alexander Chalmers is mentioned as a replacement for one of the eight merchants who either died or resigned. Alexander Chalmers was buried in St John's Cathedral Warsaw and according to Stanislaw Seliga his tomb was destroyed during the 1944 Uprising. Seliga also gives a transcription of the inscription on the tomb and from my little knowledge of Latin it would appear that Chalmers died on 9 March 1703, aged 58. Fischer notes that an Al. (Alexander?) Chalmers obtained his birth-brieve from Aberdeen in 1670. 

 A.F. Steuart, Papers Relating to the Scots in Poland (Edinburgh, 1915), pp.16-17, 124-125, 325-8; T. C. Smout, Scottish Trade on the Eve of Union (Edinburgh & London, 1963), p.94; A. Bieganska, "Andrew Davidson (1591-1660) and his descendants in Poland", Scottish Slavonic Review, 10 (1988), pp.7-18. With thanks to Andrew Wilson for the additional information from Fischer and Steuart used in this entry.

Service record

POLAND-LITHUANIA, DANZIG

Arrived 1680-01-01

Departed 1700-12-31

Capacity STUDENT, TEACHER, ACADEMIC, purpose ACADEMIC

POLAND-LITHUANIA, WARSAW

Arrived 1691-01-01

Capacity MAYOR, purpose CIVIC