FREER, ADAM [SSNE 6987]
Text source
Adam Freer was a Scot in Bremen in the later 17th century. On 18 April 1682, George Mossman wrote to Andrew Russell [SSNE 143] to tell him that Freer was employd in Edinburgh by the College of Justice for the buying of books to educate the youth of the country. Freer thereafter made contact with the Scottish merchant community in Rotterdam through Russell. He also knew Sir William Waller [SSNE 6986]. Waller fled to the Dutch Republic in 1682 and returned to England in November 1688. In the meantime Waller shifted his continental base. By December 1683, news reached Russell in Rotterdam that Waller had been made governor of Bremen and given command of a regiment of guards. Thereafter Waller promised to send for a minister to preach to the Britons in the town. He asked his friend Adam Freer to seek Englishmen and Scotsmen who felt insecure in Holland to remove themselves to Bremen. There he had secured guarantees that any who came would have freedom in the city. He pointed out it was a cheap place to live and had a college with 13-14 professors. As well as William Waller, Freers's friends in the town included Mr Dyke [SSNE 6988] who, Freer noted was in good health. His correspondence with Russell continued through the 1680s. In these letters he noted his business relations with Mr James Gordon in Holland among others. On Gordon's death in 1684, Freer requested that Russell tied up the outstanding finances, particularly those with Mr Dyke who appears to also to have been a Bremen merchant. Freer's correspondence from 1689 showed that he had had business dealings with a Bruce Taylor at the Hague and David Melville Lord Leven [SSNE 5000]National Archives of Scotland, Russell Papers, RH15/106/453. George Mossman to Andrew Russell, 18 April 1682; RH15/106/494. Adam Freer to Andrew Russell, 14 December 1683 (Old Style); See also RH15/106/532; RH15/106/689/2. Adam Freer to Andrew Russell, 24 January 1689.
Service record
- BREMEN, GERMANY, BREMEN
- Departed 1689-12-31
- Capacity MERCHANT, purpose MERCANTILE, TRADE, COMMERCE