COUTTS, ALLAN [SSNE 8003]

Surname

COUTTS, COUTIS, COETS, COUTES

First name

ALLAN, ALLANE, ALAYN, ALEYN

Title/rank

LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Region

CROMAR, ABERDEENSHIRE

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

Lieutenant-Colonel Allan Coutts was an officer in the Scots-Dutch brigade between 1598-1631. He received a commission as captain in 1600 after the battle of Nieuwpoort, in which seven out of twelve captains were killed. Colonel William Edmond [SSNE 8019] then brought over 800 new soldiers from Scotland which were then divided into three new companies under Coutts, Daniel Mackenzie, and Henry Balfour [SSNE 5013].

Through his service as captain, the strength and salary of his company fluctuated. The low numbers between 1609-1618 are perhaps the result of the Twelve Years' Truce between Spain and the Dutch Republic.

1601: 113 men, £1502

1604: 113 men (full strength, 141)

1607: 150 men, £1925

1608: 107 men, £1410

1609-1618: 70 men, £1059

By 1618, Coutts was promoted to lieutenant-colonel at the request of Sir William Brog [SSNE 7842] after the death Lieutenant-Colonel James Caddel [SSNE 8005]. By 1621 and the end of the Twelve Years' Truce, Coutts' company was up to 150 men and a salary of £2014. He was present at the siege of Bergen-op-Zoom in 1622 and was wounded on 22 July along with Captain Walter Bruce (Maclean, p. 31). In 1624, Coutts and his company were garrisoned in Bergen-op-Zoom. On 13 April 1624 the burghers of Bergen-op-Zoom petitioned the Council of State, asking for the payment of 627 "car guilders," 19 stuivers for their services in supplying Coutts and his company with bread and other victuals. Between 1627-1631, Coutts and his company had presumably moved to Dordrecht, as MacLean records no less than 14 marriages by men under Coutts in that city. Coutts, however, had died in his bed by May 12th, 1631. Command of his company fell to George Kier, while the lieutenat-colonelcy went to Sir James Sandilands [SSNE 4996]. 

The petitions of Coutts' widow provide an interesting case-study in the treatment of widows in the Dutch Republic in the early modern era. See her entry, Christina Boswell [SSNE 8004], for these details. 

 

Sources:

J. Ferguson, Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in theservice of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. xxviii, 59, 60, 62, 63, 66, 69, 72, 74, 227, 230, 232, 285, 308, 311, 319, 322, 323, 331, 332, 334, 344, 444. 

MacLean, Dr. Ir. J., De Huwelijksintekeningen Van Schotse Militairen in Nederland: 1574-1665 (Zutphen, 1976), pp. 31, 91.

 

This entry created by Mr Jack Abernethy.

Service record

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE

Arrived 1598-01-01, as ?

Departed 1600-12-31, as CAPTAIN

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, COL. BROG

Arrived 1601-01-01, as CAPTAIN

Departed 1618-12-31, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

 

Arrived 1619-01-01, as LIEUTENANT-COLONEL

Departed 1631-05-12, as DECEASED

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY