SPOTTISWOOD, JOHN [SSNE 6035]

Surname

SPOTTISWOOD, SPOTTISWOODE

First name

JOHN

Title/rank

SIR

Nationality

SCOT

Text source

Sir John Spottiswood served as a royalist soldier during the civil wars in the Three Kingdoms. He retired to The Dutch Republic and in 1649 he was part of a group of Scottish Royalists who murdered the English envoy Dr Issak Dorislaus for being one of the judges at the trial of Charles I {others included Colonel Walter Whiteford).

'The Deposition of John Christian, 8 November 1651' in HMC Pepys Manuscript (London, 1911), p.266; J. T. Peacey, 'Order and Disorder in Europe: Parliamentary Agents and Royalist Thugs 1649-1650' in The Historical Journal, 40, no. 4 (1997), p.956; S. Murdoch, Britain, Denmark-Norway and the House of Stuart, 1603-1660 (East Linton, 2000), p.147.

Service record

STUART KINGDOMS, SCOTLAND, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, THE HAGUE, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

Arrived 1649-01-01

Departed 1649-12-31

Capacity ROYALIST AGENT, REFUGEE, ASSASSIN, purpose ROYAL SERVANT