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Author: Erskine, William

Biography:

ERSKINE, William (1768-1822: ODNB)

Lawyer and judge. He was baptized in 1768 at Muthill, Perthshire, the son of a clergyman, William Erskine, and Helen (Drummond) Erskine. He attended Glasgow University and became an advocate in 1790. A close friend of Walter Scott (q.v.), he assisted with ensuring the topographical and historical accuracy of Scott’s poems and, from the beginning, was in on the secret of Scott’s authorship of the Waverley Novels. In 1800 he married Euphimia Robison (d 1819); they had two daughters and a son. From 1809 he was the sheriff-depute of Orkney until he was made a judge (with the title Lord Kinneder) in 1822. In the same year, he was embroiled in a public scandal involving an Edinburgh prostitute; this took a toll on his health and, after suffering a nervous collapse, he died of pneumonia at Edinburgh on 14 Aug. 1822. (ODNB 26 Nov 2018) SR

 

Books written (2):

2nd edn. Edinburgh/ London: Mundell and Son/ Longman and Rees, and John Wright, 1799