Scheffel, who was born in Wismar, trained in Berlin and Paris and subsequently went to Stockholm to study under David von Krafft. Malcolm Sinclair was one of the Swedish officers in the service of Charles XII who ended up in captivity in Siberia. Several years after his return to Sweden he was sent to Istanbul to strengthen ties with Turkey. On his way home, however, he was murdered by Russian agents, triggering a new war with Russia in 1741.