John James Erskine (1771-1833) was a British colonial administrator who served as a member of the governing council of Prince of Wales Island (Penang),

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

(1810-1826) and worked for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

Early life

John James Erskine was born in

Muthill Muthill, pronounced , is a village in Perth and Kinross, Perthshire, Scotland. The name derives from scottish gaelic Maothail meaning “soft-ground”. The village lies south of Crieff, just west of the former railway line connecting Crieff ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, Scotland, second son of Reverend William Erskine,

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

Minister and Helen Drummond. He joined the East India Company in London as a merchant sailing on

East Indiamen East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

between Europe and Asia as Mate.

Career

At the age of 24 he was offered a job in the marine supplies section for the East India Company based on Prince of Wales Island. He arrived on 18 September 1805 with

Philip Dundas Philip Dundas (baptised 7 May 1762 – 8 April 1807) was a Scottish East India Company naval officer, president of the East India Marine Board, and superintendent of Bombay. He returned to Britain and became a member of parliament and returned to ...

, newly appointed governor and other members of the new Fourth Presidency of India, including

Thomas Raffles Thomas Raffles (1788–1863) was an English Congregational minister, known as a dominant nonconformist figure at the Great George Street Congregational Church in Liverpool, and as an abolitionist and historian. Early life The only son of Willi ...

, later founder of Singapore. His first job was Assistant to the Superintendent and Storekeeper of Marine with an initial salary of 6,000

Spanish dollar The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

s plus 2% commission on sale of goods, and in 1811 he was appointed Warehouse Keeper. In 1810 when governor

Charles Andrew Bruce Charles Andrew Bruce (1768–1810) was briefly Governor of Prince of Wales Island (now called Penang) from March 24, 1810, until his death in office in December 1810. He is buried at the Old Protestant Cemetery, George Town, Penang, now in pre ...

died in office there was a vacancy in the governing council and he was sworn in as Third Member in Council. Five years later he was promoted to Second Member in Council, second only to the governor. In 1819 he declined to vote in favour of governor

John Alexander Bannerman Colonel John Alexander Bannerman (5 June 1759 – 8 August 1819) was appointed Governor of Prince of Wales' Island (Penang Island, Malaysia) and Province Wellesley (Seberang Perai) (both forming the settlement of Penang) in 1817 and also Treas ...

's proposal to withhold support to Stamford Raffles when he requested assistance to secure Singapore for the British Crown, although Bannerman later changed his mind.Swettenham, Frank Athelstane (1907), ''British Malaya''. London: John Lane, ISBN 1138311103 He retired on 26 July 1826 and married Isabella Boyd on 6 July 1830. He died in 1833 aged 62 and was buried in Muthill Church.

Legacy

Mount Erskine Mount Erskine is a residential neighbourhood within the city of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. This hilly neighbourhood, northwest of the city centre, is situated between the Tanjung Tokong and Pulau Tikus suburbs to the north and to the south ...

, the hilly area north-west of George Town, Penang, and the street leading to it bear his name.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, John James 1771 births 1833 deaths Administrators in British Penang British East India Company civil servants People from Perthshire 18th-century Scottish people 19th-century Scottish people