James Bavington Jeffreys (c.1679 – 1739), also recorded as Jeffereys, was an Anglo-Irish soldier and diplomat who served as

Minister Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indi ...

of the

Kingdom of Great Britain The Kingdom of Great Britain (officially Great Britain) was a Sovereign state, sovereign country in Western Europe from 1 May 1707 to the end of 31 December 1800. The state was created by the 1706 Treaty of Union and ratified by the Acts of ...

to Sweden and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

Biography

Jeffreys was born in Stockholm, Sweden, the eldest son of Sir James Jeffreys and his Swedish wife Katherine Drokenhellem. He was educated at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

from 1697 to 1701 while his father was

Governor of Cork The Governor of Cork was a military officer who commanded the garrison at Cork in Ireland. The office became a sinecure and in 1833 was abolished from the next vacancy. List of governors of Cork Governors *1644: Major Muschamp *1651: Colonel R ...

. He returned to Sweden in 1702 and became an agent in the service of Dr John Robinson, the English representative in Stockholm. On 12 April 1706 Jeffreys received a captaincy in the army of Queen Anne, after his father petitioned the

Duke of Marlborough General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...

on his son's behalf. In the spring of 1707, he was authorised by Anne to become a volunteer in the army of Charles XII of Sweden and participated in the

Swedish invasion of Russia The invasion of Russia by Charles XII of Sweden was a campaign undertaken during the Great Northern War between Sweden and the allied states of Russia, Poland, and Denmark. The invasion began with Charles's crossing of the Vistula on 1 January ...

. Jeffreys was captured by the Russians following the

Battle of Poltava The Battle of Poltava; russian: Полта́вская би́тва; uk, Полта́вська би́тва (8 July 1709) was the decisive and largest battle of the Great Northern War. A Russian army under the command of Tsar Peter I defeat ...

on 8 July 1709, but released the same year. He remained in Sweden as British Minister to Sweden from 1711 to 1715. He was appointed the British Minister Resident to Russia between 1718 and 1719.

George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dolgor ...

reconfirmed his commission in the army in 1719, but between 1719 and 1722 he served as the British resident in Danzig. Jeffreys was appointed Governor of Cork, in succession to his father, in 1722 and moved to the family estate at

Blarney Castle Blarney Castle ( ga, Caisleán na Blarnan) is a medieval stronghold in Blarney, near Cork, Ireland. Though earlier fortifications were built on the same spot, the current keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty, a cadet branch of th ...

near

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

. He married Anne Brodick, the daughter of

St John Brodrick William St John Fremantle Brodrick, 1st Earl of Midleton, KP, PC, DL (14 December 185613 February 1942), styled as St John Brodrick until 1907 and as Viscount Midleton between 1907 and 1920, was a British Conservative and Irish Unionist Alli ...

, and was the father of

James St John Jeffereyes James St John Jeffereyes (1734 – 14 September 1780), also recorded as St John Jeffreys, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, landowner and politician. Jeffereyes was the son of the diplomat James Jeffreys and Anne Brodrick, and the grandson of Sir Ja ...

.Lunney, Linde
Jeffereyes (Jeffereys, Jeffries, Jeffreys), (James) St John
''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (October 2009). Retrieved 25 January 2023. He died abroad in 1739.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffreys, James Year of birth uncertain 1739 deaths 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Ambassadors of Great Britain to Russia Ambassadors of Great Britain to Sweden British Army officers British diplomats Swedish military personnel of the Great Northern War