William Erskine (8 November 1773 – 28 May 1852) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

orientalist and historian.

Life

The grave of William Erskine, St John's Church, Edinburgh

He was born at Argyle Square in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

the son of David Erskine, a lawyer and Clerk to the Signet, and his wife Jean Melvin. He attended the

High School A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, then studied Law, receiving a doctorate from Edinburgh University. He went to Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) in 1804 where he was master in equity in the

recorder's court A recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales and some other common law jurisdictions. England and Wales In the courts of England and Wales, the term ''recorder'' has two distinct meanings. The senior circuit judge of a borough or city i ...

. In 1809 in Madras (now

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

), Erskine married Maitland Mackintosh (1792-1861), daughter of

Sir James Mackintosh Sir James Mackintosh Royal Society of London, FRS FRSE (24 October 1765 – 30 May 1832) was a Scottish jurist, Whig (British political party), Whig politician and Whig history, Whig historian. His studies and sympathies embraced many interests. ...

and his first wife Katherine Stuart. They had fourteen children, one of whom, Frances, married the statistician and civil servant

Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer (24 June 1819 – 11 October 1899), was an English civil servant and statistician. Background and early life Farrer was the son of Thomas Farrer, a solicitor in Lincoln's Inn Fields. Born in London, he was ed ...

. Another daughter, Mary, was head nurse in the Naval Hospital at

Therapia Tarabya ( ota, Tarabiye, el, Θεραπειά, translit=Therapiá) is a neighbourhood in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Turkey. It is located on the European shoreline of the Bosphorus strait, between the neighbourhoods of Yeniköy and Kire ...

during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, and looked after

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during t ...

while she recovered from illness. Erskine's sister-in-law, Mary Mackintosh, married the eminent orientalist

Claudius James Rich Claudius James Rich (28 March 1787 – 5 October 1821) was a British Assyriologist, business agent, traveller and antiquarian scholar. Biography Rich was born near Dijon "of a good family", but passed his childhood at Bristol. Early on, he deve ...

. Four of his sons entered the Indian Civil Service, including Claudius James laudeErskine (1821–1893) and Henry Napier Bruce Erskine (1831–1893). Erskine wrote principally on mediaeval India, but he also completed

John Malcolm Major-General Sir John Malcolm GCB, KLS (2 May 1769 – 30 May 1833) was a Scottish soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator, statesman, and historian. Early life Sir John Malcolm was born in 1769, one of seventeen children of Geo ...

's biography of Clive of India after Malcolm's death and translated the ''

Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' ( chg, ; literally: ''"History of Babur"'' or ''"Letters of Babur"''; alternatively known as ''Tuzk-e Babri'') is the memoirs of Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great- ...

'', the memoirs of

Zehir-Ed-Din Muhammed Babur, Emperor of Hindustan Babur ( fa, , lit= tiger, translit= Bābur; ; 14 February 148326 December 1530), born Mīrzā Zahīr ud-Dīn Muhammad, was the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. He was a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan through his ...

. He was removed from office in 1823 by Sir

Edward West Sir Edward West (1782 – 18 August 1828) was a British judge who served in India and an economist. He is famous for his statement of the law of diminishing returns in his ''Essay on the Application of Capital to Land'' (1815, p. 2): "The p ...

after being accused of

defalcation Defalcation is misappropriation of funds by a person trusted with their charge; also, the act of misappropriation, or an instance thereof. The term is more specifically used by the United States Bankruptcy Code to describe a category of acts that t ...

(misappropriation of funds) and for many of his later years resided in Edinburgh, as well as Pau in South West France. He was Provost of

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, 1836–1839. He died at 28 Regent Terrace on Calton Hill in

.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1852 He is buried with his family on the lower south terrace of the churchyard of

St John's, Edinburgh The Church of St John the Evangelist is a Scottish Episcopal church in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is sited at the west end of Princes Street at its junction with Lothian Road, and is protected as a category A listed building. Backgr ...

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, William 1773 births 1852 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Writers from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Scottish orientalists 19th-century Scottish historians Lawyers from Edinburgh