HAY, JAMES [SSNE 8237]

Surname
HAY, HEYE
First name
JAMES, JEMES
Title/rank
CAPTAIN, VISCOUNT DONCASTER?
Nationality
SCOT
Social status
OFFICER, NOBILITY?

Text source

One of the four specifically English regiments of Mansfeld’s British army raised in 1624 was assigned to Colonel James Hay, Viscount Doncaster, the son of the Earl of Carlisle [SSNE 1470]. Though his colonelcy may have been titular and bestowed because of his social rank, nevertheless the English Privy Council records contain warrants for four senior Scottish officers from Doncaster’s regiment to press men in England for service in the new expeditionary British army.

Of more certain command was when he, as Captain James Hay, served in the fourth regiment of the Scots-Dutch Brigade under Sir George Hay of Kinfauns [SSNE 5056]. He served at the siege of 's-Hertogenbosch in 1629 and may have previously served at La Rochelle in 1627. 

In 1629, Doncaster asked his grandfather, the Earl of Norwich, for permission to serve at 's-Hertogenbosch. Norwich wrote to Carlisle in favor of Doncaster's request in June 1629. On 27 July 1629, Frederick V of the Palatinate wrote to Elizabeth of Bohemia that "Viscount Doncaster [had] left" the siege-works at 's-Hertogenbosch, so it seems likely that Norwich's petition was successful. 

 

Sources:

The National Archives, SP 16/145, f. 70. Norwich to Carlisle, 25 June 1629 and SP 16/145, f. 122. Norwich to Carlisle, June 1629.

Akkerman, Nadine (ed.), The Correspondence of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia (2 Vols, Oxford 2015), Vol. 1, pp. 770-771. 

Ferguson, J., Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in theservice of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 400.

Murdoch, Steve.,  ‘Nicrina ad Heroas Anglos. An overview of the British and the Thirty Years’ War in Serena Jones (ed.), Britain Turned Germany: The Thirty Years' War and its Impact on the British Isles 1638-1660 (Helion, Warwick, 2020 edition), p. 21.

 

This entry created by Mr Jack Abernethy.

Service record

STUART KINGDOMS, GREAT BRITAIN, MANSFELD'S ARMY
Arrived 1625-01-01, as COLONEL (TITULAR)
Departed 1625-06-01
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE SCOTS BRIGADE, HAY'S
Arrived 1629-01-01, as CAPTAIN
Departed 1629-12-31, as CAPTAIN
Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY