Claudius James Erskine, known as Claude Erskine (1821 – 6 June 1893) ICS, was a British Indian civil servant, judge and vice-chancellors of the University of Calcutta.

Career

The son of William Erskine, Claude Erskine was born in 1821 in

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

. He studied at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

, the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, and the

East India College, Haileybury The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company ( ...

. He then joined the Indian Civil Service, one of four brothers to do so, arriving in Bombay in 1840. He was appointed private secretary to the

Governor of Bombay Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...

Sir George Arthur Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet (21 June 1784 – 19 September 1854) was Lieutenant Governor of British Honduras from 1814 to 1822 and of Van Diemen's Land (present-day Tasmania) from 1823 to 1836. The campaign against Aboriginal Tasmani ...

, in 1843, and became oriental translator and deputy secretary in the Persian department. Interested in vernacular education, he became, after serving as secretary to the Bombay general and judicial departments, the first director of public instruction in western India in 1885. He was judge of Konkan in 1859, and a member of the Legislative Council of India in 1860. He served as Judge of the

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ol ...

since 1862 to 1865. He was appointed a member of the Bombay council in 1865. After William Ritchie he was appointed as the vice-chancellors of the Calcutta University on 8 April 1862. Erskine retired from the Civil service on 14 May 1867. He married in 1847, Emily Georgina Reid, daughter of Lestock Reid, acting governor of Bombay.

References

1821 births 1893 deaths British India judges Judges of the Bombay High Court Indian Civil Service (British India) officers Vice Chancellors of the University of Calcutta Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews {{India-academic-bio-stub