LIVINGSTON, WILLIAM [SSNE 7131]
- Surname
- LIVINGSTON, LIVINGSTONE
- First name
- WILLIAM
- Nationality
- SCOT
Text source
William Livingston was a one of the sons of the Scottish minister and Presbyterian refugee in Rotterdam, John Livingston [SSNE 7134]. He was a merchant based in Rotterdam who also travelled to other parts of the North Sea and Baltic World. The Livingston brothers were brothers-in-law of the famous Scottish merchant, Andrew Russell [SSNE 143], who married their sister Janet [SSNE 7133]. The other brothers were James [SSNE 7130] and Robert [SSNE 7132]. In a bill of exchange of 1685, an Edinburgh merchant John Melvill asked Russell to pay Robert Turnbull and get money to Livingston's account. Melvill called Livingston his brother suggesting William was married to Melvill's sister. In 1685 Livingston took over the some of the factoring duties of Andrew Russell. On 26 November 1685 he wrote to one Patrick Davidson, a merchant in Perth "Sir, Brother Russell haveing resolved not to do any more in commissions hath amongst others given over yours to me and conform to your order to him, have shipped for your accompt aboard of John Wilson the goods contained in the accompt". In August 1689, Andrew Russell wrote to George Lord Melville seeking a place for William Livingston who had "for his great faithfulness endured 10 years banishment abroad". No doubt Russell believed this would be some reward for the help he had given Lord Melville's family in their own exile in the Netherlands.National Archives of Scotland, Russell Papers, RH15/106/561 (1685), passim (for the 'brother' reference see Bill of Exchange, 6 February 1685; National Archives of Scotland, GD26/13/218. 3 letters of Andrew Russell to George Melville, August 1689; D. Catterall, Community Without Borders: Scots migrants and the changing face of power in the Dutch Republic, c.1600-1700 (Leiden, 2002), pp.344-5; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.155.
Service record
- THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, SCOTLAND, ROTTERDAM
- Arrived 1664-01-01
- Departed 1689-12-31
- Capacity MERCHANT, purpose TRADE, COMMERCE
- SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, ROTTERDAM
- Arrived 1685-11-26
- Departed 1698-12-31
- Capacity COMMERCIAL FACTOR, purpose MERCANTILE, TRADE, COMMERCE