Author: Erskine, David Stewart
Biography:
ERSKINE, David Stewart (1742-1829: ODNB)
pseudonym An Irish Gentleman
Born at Edinburgh, he was the second son of Henry David Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, and his wife, Agnes Steuart or Stewart. On the death of his elder brother in 1747, he became Lord Cardross and Auchterhouse. He was taught at home, initially by his parents, before attending classes at the universities of St Andrews, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. He travelled through the northern highlands and briefly joined the military before becoming the 11th Earl of Buchan on the death of his father in 1767. Despite his strong interests in antiquarianism and Scottish traditions, he was a progressive landowner who worked to improve agriculture and living conditions on his estate, and an advocate for political reform, particularly of the House of Lords (he was also a supporter of the colonists in the American War of Independence). He married a cousin, Margaret Fraser, in 1771; they had no children but Erskine’s natural son, David Erskine (q.v.), was brought up in the household. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, and he founded the Society of Antiquaries in Scotland. He was also an important supporter of the arts and, particularly, of literature in Scotland. In 1786 he purchased Dryburgh Abbey; he remodelled the house on the estate and made this his home. He wrote Essays on the Lives and Writings of Fletcher of Saltoun and the Poet Thomson (1792); his other writings are antiquarian studies and Letters on the Impolicy of a Standing Army (1793). He died at Dryburgh Abbey and is buried there. Following HL, his authorship of Irish Chiefs, or The Harp of Erin (1811) is generally accepted but he is not known to have written any other verse. (ODNB 13 May 2020) SR
Other Names:
- David Stewart Erskine, Earl of Buchan
- David Steuart Erskine