PRIMROSE, JOHN [SSNE 814]

Surname

PRIMROSE, PRIMEROSE, PRIMEROOS, PRIJMROISE, PRIMEROYS

First name

JOHN, HANS, JOHAN

Title/rank

MERCHANT

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

BURGESS

Religion

LUTHERAN

Text source

John Primrose was a Scottish merchant who became a burgess of Stockholm on 6 April 1650, although he was already trading from the city with partners in Dundee and Edinburgh by 1646.

John Primrose has sometimes been confused with Henry Primrose [SSNE 3286] who was ennobled in 1653, although the nature of their relationship remains unclear. According to Marryat John Primrose was ennobled in Sweden in 1650.

John Primrose owned a house in Köpmanagatan (no.15) in Gamla Stan, Stockholm, a plot which he purchased from Dr James Robertson [SSNE 1637]. John Primrose considerably refurbished and extended the building, and the portal is considered amongst the finest in Gamla Stan - possibly designed by Nicodemus Tessin the elder, and produced by master stone mason Kristian Pfundt, or one of his trainees. The lintel stone above the portal bears the initials and coat of arms of John Primrose and his wife, Ingiborg Larsdotter are still clearly visible above the door.  

John Primrose married Ingiborg Larsdotter in St Nikolai (Storkyrkan) church in 1644. Interestingly, that September a child of his was baptised in the same church. He buried a child in Maria Kyrka on 2 January 1648, perhaps the same one.

John Primrose was involved in a quarrel with Walter Guthrie [SSNE 6446], a fellow Stockholm burgess and merchant, in October 1659.

Sources:

National Records of Scotland, GD172/2318: Discharge by Alexander Johnstone, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, to John Collin, merchant burgess of Dundee, of bond to John Primrose, merchant burgess of Stockholm, dated 15 June 1646, assigned to Robert Davidson, merchant burgess of Dundee, on 19 June 1646, and translated to Johnstone on 10 July 1646. Discharge dated 15 December 1646.

See also Riksarkivets ämnessamlingar. Personhistoria https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070060_00301#?c=&m=&s=&cv=300&xywh=3298%2C2349%2C2769%2C1597. 

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/bildvisning/A0070065_00091#?c=&m=&s=&cv=90&xywh=1942%2C958%2C6378%2C3678

Other letters survive in the Swedish Riksarkiv - Brev till Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie from H. Prijmros [Henry] and J. Prijmroise [John], a house-owner in Köpmannagatan in Stockholm; Stockholms Stadsarkivet, Maria Församling, Register över döda, 1654-1655, pp.116 & 214; Stockholm Stadsarkiv, (Storkyrkan) Nikolai församling dopböker, 1623-1717, I, p.260; Stockholm Stadsarkiv: Borgare i Stockholm, Register 1601-1650, p.68.

Ragnar Josephson, Borgarhus i Gamla Stockholm (Stockholm, 1916), pp. 104-105; T. Fischer, The Scots in Sweden (Edinburgh, 1907), pp.30, 32, 216; H. Marryat, One Year in Sweden, including a visit to the isle of Gotland (London, 1862), vol.2, p.495; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.223; T.O. Nordberg Gamla Stan Stockholm kulturhistorisk beskrivning hus för hus kvarteren Achilles-Glaucus, (Stockholm, 1975), p.174; R. Josephson, Borgarhus i Gamla Stockholm,(Stockholm, 1916), pp.104-105; A. Tidner, Palats och Kåkar, (Stockholm, 1917), pp.144-145; Curt Haij, 'Skottar i Stockholm under 1600-talet', unpublished list of names, Hintze biblioteket, Genealogiska Föreningen, Sundbyberg, Stockholm. Thanks to Ardis Dreisbach for this information.

HouseinStockholm

Service record

SWEDEN, STOCKHOLM

Arrived 1646-01-01

Departed 1671-12-31

Capacity MERCHANT BURGESS, purpose CIVIC, MERCANTILE, TRADE