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Ann(e) Agnes Erskine (1739 – 5 October 1804) was a friend and trustee of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. She became an important figure in the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion which was a group of churches which still survives.
She and her brothers were home schooled by their mother in religious household. When she was an adult she became a carer for her father who was living in Walcot. Her paternal grandfather has a friend of Selina the Countess of Huntingdon and George Whitefield who were evangelical methodists. Lady Huntingdon's chapel was used for her fathers funeral when he died at the end of 1767. The service was conducted by George Whitefield.
She became Lady Huntingdon's secretary living with her at Spa Fields in
Life
Erskine was born in Edinburgh in 1739. the eldest child of Agnes and Henry David Erskine, tenth earl of Buchan (1710–1767). Her mother was the daughter of Sir Ann and James Steuart, first baronet (1681–1727), of Goodtrees. Her brothers were David Steuart Erskine, eleventh earl of Buchan who founded the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland; Henry Erskine, lawyer and Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine, lord chancellor from 1806 to 1807. Her maternal grandfather was Sir Hew Dalrymple and his brother was Sir James Steuart was the Jacobite political economist.
She and her brothers were home schooled by their mother in religious household. When she was an adult she became a carer for her father who was living in Walcot. Her paternal grandfather has a friend of Selina the Countess of Huntingdon and George Whitefield who were evangelical methodists. Lady Huntingdon's chapel was used for her fathers funeral when he died at the end of 1767. The service was conducted by George Whitefield.
She became Lady Huntingdon's secretary living with her at Spa Fields in Islington
Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...
. Lady Huntingdon had bought a huge chapel in 1779 which attracted congregations of 2,000, but she called "her private chapel". The building had been built as a Pantheon or theatre-in-the-round and it had a huge dome. Erskine and Huntingdon lived nest door in what had been the Dog and Duck and which had been rebuilt in 1756.
In June 1791 Selina identified four people who would look after her wealth and chapels after she died. Erskine was one of these and Erskine continued to live in their spacious home but she did not have the funds that the Countess had at her disposal to support her work. However the chapels continued and Erskine took over the recruitment of new ministers who were required despite some congregations moving away. Erskine was reliant on grants supplied by the Spa Fields Chapel committee. She died in 1804 in London and she was buried at Bunhill Fields
Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...
. Her place as a Connexion truste was taken by the Reverend John Ford after her death but it converted to a trust shortly afterwards.
A biography of her was published in 1833, but the Countess did not have one for many more years as she had requested that one should not be written.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, Anne Agnes 1739 births 1804 deaths People from Edinburgh Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion English Methodists Burials at Bunhill Fields 18th-century English people 18th-century English women 19th-century English women 19th-century English people