Douglases in Poland, Russia and the Baltic states: 1550-1850

DOUGLAS, DANIEL, in Konigsberg between 1700 and 1740.
DOUGLAS, H., ("H. Doglasz"), Cramer in Prussia 1615.
DOUGLAS, JAMES, born 1758, a stonemason. to St Petersburg under Charles Cameron the architect in 1784.
OOUGLAS, JOHN, (“John Duglass"), Guild member of the Alstadt of Konigsberg in 1720.

Johann Douglas , ironmongers, foreigners (°° 02/18/1721 Maria Elisabeth Bergau, B) 20 Jun 1722 listed in Konigsberg Old Town (same as above?)
DOUGLAS. ROBERT, an Aberdeen burgess who settled in Poland around 1646.
DOUGLAS, W., in Konigsberg in 1648,
DOUGLAS, William, in Schippenheil, Eastern Prussia, 1695  (William Douglas of Arkland, born in Dundee, emigrated in the 17th century from Scotland to the little town "Schippenbeil" in Poland (in former times Kingdom of Prussia), where he died in the year 1711. )
DOUGLAS, W., a member of the Scottish Brotherhood in Konigsberg in 1701.
DOUGLAS, William, son of William DOUGLAS, a merchant in Leith, settled in St Petersburg before 1813.
DOUGLAS, ., a mechanic settled at Dowspuda, Poland, around 1816
DOUGLAS, _.._ late of the Royal Navy. appointed Rear Admiral of the Russian Navy on 18 June 1764.

-GLAS (* ca.1810). Scot by descent, "natural son of Count Douglas". In 1830s served in a Russian grenadier regt. with the Eliot brothers. {I.T.Beliayev. Proshloye russkogo izgnannika (unpubl.)).
Robert Douglas of Tallinn, Estonia

Douglas, Sir George, English ambassador to Poland

Translated from German: 1816 Johann Gottlieb Jakob Theophil Nanke (1763 - 1835), formerly a teacher in Schirwindt, owner of the goods and before 1858 acquired the possession Hermann Douglas (1840 - 1895), son of businessman Charles (In original, Karl) Douglas(2) in Königsberg, the Amber shelf along the coast had leased from the state. In the middle of the 19th Century. was also the late-classical mansion. This has been preserved until today.

Earlier times

The earliest mention I have come across of Scots in Danzig was that of Lord William Douglas of Nithisdale circa 1391. He had offered his services to the Teutonic knights then at was with the Turks.  Nithsdale died there  in about 1392 when attacked by English assassins, possibly in the pay of Lord Clifford.  The Hohe Tor (High Gate) of Danzig was adorned with this nobleman’s Coat of Arms and for centuries it was known as the Douglas Gate, even as late as 1734.

In 1391, Douglas was in the Baltic, and became involved in a brawl with Sir Thomas de Clifford, in which Douglas was killed. (as above)

Konigsberg (King’s town), the capital of the old province of East Prussia was originally a fortress of the Teutonic Knights and was named after their ally, King Ottocar of Bohemia (1255). A list of “Scottish Debtors to the Teutonic Order and its Head Business Manager at Konigsberg (1396-1417), includes Archibald Douglas ‘The Grim’ Earl of Douglas owes the sum of £216 (Scottish pounds). Archibald The Grim was Nithsdale's father. (3)

The Douglases of Whittinghame were made Counts of Skenninge and Barons of Sk'alby. Wadstena Church contains their mortuary chapel, " the walls of which are adorned with banners taken by members of the family in the wars of Gustavus Adolphus and the Charles's, as also with their richly emblazoned i hufvud-banners ' (hatchments), which used to be carried at the funeral procession veiled in black crape."

Simon Grunau, a Dominican monk, wrote a Prussian Chronicle about the year 1526 makes mention of Douglas, adding the words "It was he whose father allowed himself to be killed in order that his master the King might live."

Of the various embellishments of this story we have also spoken previously. Curious it is that the fact of a gate at Danzig, the Hohe Thor, having once been called the Douglas Gate, and of its having been adorned with the Coat of Arms of this nobleman, should occur in the following three Scottish writers: the author of the Atlas Geographies, Hume of Godscroft, in his Douglas book, and John Scot in his Metrical History of the War in Flanders. The last of these has the lines —

"And at Danskin even in our own time
There was a gate called Douglas Port
Now re-ediffied again and called Hochindore.

To these must be added the testimony of an English merchant, who in his description of the city of Danzig writes "Upon account of a signal service which one of the Douglas family did to this city in relieving it in its utmost extremities against the Poles, the Scotch were allowed to be free burghers of the town, and had several other immunities granted them above other foreigners, but now excepting the successors of those who were so incorporated they have no distinction or privileges, but indeed a better half of the families are of Scotch extraction." He then mentions the Hohe Thor being called Douglas Gate even in his time (1734). [A Particular Description of Danzig by an English Merchant, lately resident there. London, 1734.]

In Danzig, where the beautiful Hohe Thor still stands, restored and freed from its former encumbrances, nothing is known of this story. But then Danzig is rather badly off for a good history, and at some future time a verification may be found of what, till now, must be considered tradition only.

In Schippenbeil (Eastern Prussia, S. of Konigsberg) : Douglas, Will. (1695). (Same as below?)

Memorial stone in Schippenbeil (poorly translated) Here would rest in God , Sir William Douglas , buy and trade man so born to Dondie in Scotland and 6 Januari 1711 died . Meanwhile, first wife Maria gebohrne Nießbethin which Johann Wilhelm and Maria born . The second wife Dorothea Kinmontin which brought nine children into the world , of which one , named Daniel , alive . This stone Leger is William Douglas , Vice Mayor , born in 1688 June 6 . His wife was Anna Maria Wattin , born 1696 , died 1744 7th Januari . Selbige eleven children has been mother , four of alive , George , Peter , and Karl Adelgunde 1744. of Arkland

G. Douglas, a native of the small town of Schippenbeil near Konigsberg, was Presbyterian clergyman of Jerichow, in the district of Magdeburg, from 1758-1772.

...The Prussian Count Douglas originate from the merchant Douglas from Schippenbeil .... (Presumably this refers to Count Hugo, below)

From 1810-20 the Königsberg commerce councillor Gustav Schnell purchased the various estates around Hinterhufen and united them into a single estate named after his wife, Amalie Schnell (née Gramatzki). In 1858 Amalienau was raised to the status of an estate district (Gutsbezirk) by its owner, Anton Douglas (1817-83). Douglas was married to Charlotte Warschauer and was a brother-in-law of Eduard Simson.

Anton Carl Douglas was the son of Carl Douglas(1), 1744-1845, a descendant of a Scottish family that had immigrated in the 17th century by Prussia.

Hardie-Douglas family derive from Scottish settlers who came to polish Gdansk in XVIIth century.

Notes:
1.  The auction house selling the portrait (above) of Graf Carl Douglas states that there is a connection between him and Count Hugo Douglas of Schloss Ralswiek Hugo is a descendant of the Douglases of Arkland.

2.   Is this the same Carl Douglas, 1744-1845?

3.  Nithsdale on a knightly quest for glory decided, about 1389, to join the Teutonic Knights, who were fighting the Lithuanians in eastern Europe. Nithsdale had previously quarrelled with Lord Clifford, a former adversary at Carlisle and whose forebear had claimed Douglasdale under Edward I of England's oppression. While both were abroad, it is alleged that Clifford challenged Nithsdale to single combat, and that Douglas even went to France to obtain special armour for the fight. Clifford, however, died on 18 August 1391, but Nithsdale is said to have kept their 'tryst', and whilst walking upon the bridge leading to the main gate at Danzig was "killed by the English". The burghers of Danzig decided that "upon account of a signal service which the Douglas family did to this city in relieving it in its utmost extremities against the Poles, the Scotch were allowed to be free burghers of the town". Subsequently the stone fascia of the Hohe Thor (High Gate) was adorned with the coat of arms of this nobleman and for centuries it was commonly referred to as the Douglas Port or Douglas Gate, described as such as late as 1734. William Douglas, illegitimate son of Archibald The grim was Lord of Nithsdale, Prince of Danskin, and Duke of Spruce.

Any contributions will be gratefully accepted