James Jeffreys
Anglo-Irish soldier and politician (c.1650–1722)
Brigadier General Sir James Jeffreys (c. 1650 – 1722), also spelt Jeffereyes, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and politician, who served in the armies of both Charles XI of Sweden and William III of England.
Biography
Born in England, Jeffreys joined the Swedish Army and was likely a member of the Swedish contingent in the service of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor during the Great Turkish War. He attained the rank of lieutenant-colonel. In January 1690, Jeffreys applied through the English envoy in Sweden to leave Swedish service and join the army of William III. His application was accompanied by a letter of commendation from Charles XI which praised Jeffreys' bravery.
He travelled to London and on 30 May 1690 received a brevet commission as a "colonel of foot". Jeffreys participated in the Williamite War in Ireland. On 4 September 1690 he was made Governor of Duncannon Fort. In the autumn of 1697, the Parliament of Ireland heard a series of complaints about Jeffreys's actions in Duncannon and in 1698 he was removed to become Governor of Cork, exchanging commands with Toby Purcell. His unpopularity in Cork led the English government to abolish the position of governor of the castle in May 1699.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q75614929. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1650, 1722, 1690 and 1697.
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This entry incorporates text from “James Jeffreys” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.