SEATON, ALEXANDER [SSNE 91]

Surname

SEATON, SETON, SEITON, SETONE, SEHEKAN, ZEATON

First name

ALEXANDER

Title/rank

COLONEL

Nationality

SCOT

Social status

OFFICER

Text source

During the Danish period of the Thirty Years' War, Colonel Alexander Seaton was appointed as captain of a company of 500 British foot raised by order of the Scottish Privy Council on 4/7/1625 and confirmed in Denmark on 8/4/1626. On the same day Christian IV asked Charles I to authorise the recruiting by Seaton of 1000 men of foot for Danish service. The Privy Council of Scotland authorised him to levy 500 men in Scotland on 30/6/1626. In Denmark he was appointed as a captain of a frifænrike by 24/8/1626. He was soon promoted to Lt-Colonel [28/2/1627], and urged the Danish authorities to provide more money 29/8/1627. His company was ruined, and he joined Mackay's regiment. Circa 1628, Seaton asked for 3000 rixdollars in order to levy a new company of 500 men. During the Stralsund campaign, Seaton briefly held the Governorship of Stralsund before handing over to his countryman in Swedish service, Alexander Leslie [the future Earl of Leven]. Seaton left the regiment in 1628 and sold the commission of his company to Captain Andrew(?) Stewart which was recognised by the Danish government November 1628. Seaton eventually returned to Danish-Norwegian service in May 1645 when King Christian IV sent him with Hannibal Sehested to Norway. He is listed as Colonel of a squadron of dragoons under the command of Iver Krabbe in Båhus from 24 May until 13 September 1645. From March 1646 until October 1648 he received 800 rigsdaler per annum and in March Sehested informed him that no other colonels received any more than he did. During his career, Seaton also served in the Norwegian navy. He was appointed as an admiral over a squadron of eight ships in the Swedish-Danish war of 1643-45. Seaton was still listed as a colonel serving in Norway on 19/4/49.

Norske Rigsregistranter, vol.8 (1884), p.366; Statholderskabets Extraktprotokol af Supplicationer og Resolutioner 1642-1652 (2.vols, Cristiania, 1896-1901), I, p.347, November 1646, and II, p.48, March 1648; O. Ovenstad, Militærbiografier: Den Norske Hærs Officerer (Oslo, 1948), p.391; G. Lind, Danish Data Archive 1573; J.C.W. Hirsch and K. Hirsch (eds.), 'Fortegnelse over Dansk og Norske officerer med flere fra 1648 til 1814 (12 vols. compiled 1888-1907), X, vol.4; T. Fischer, The Scots in Germany, (Edinburgh, 1902); T. Riis, Should Auld Acquaintance Be Forgot (Odense, 1988), II, pp.119-120; Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 2nd series, I, p.315, 4 July 1625.

Service record

DENMARK-NORWAY, ALEXANDER SEATON'S FRIFANRIK

Arrived 1626-04-08, as CAPTAIN

Departed 1627-12-31, as LT. COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

DENMARK-NORWAY, MACKAY'S REGIMENT

Arrived 1628-01-01, as LT. COLONEL

Departed 1628-10-04, as LT. COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY

DENMARK-NORWAY, STRALSUND (Mecklenburg-Vorpommern)

Arrived 1628-01-01, as LT. COLONEL

Departed 1628-12-31, as LT. COLONEL

Capacity GOVERNOR, purpose MILITARY

DENMARK-NORWAY, NAVY, NORWAY

Arrived 1645-01-01, as COLONEL

Departed 1645-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity ADMIRAL, purpose NAVAL

DENMARK-NORWAY, ALEXANDER SEATON'S SQUADRON OF DRAGOONS, NORWAY

Arrived 1645-05-24, as COLONEL

Departed 1649-12-31, as COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY