Sir William Augustus Forbes Erskine (30 October 1871 – 17 July 1952) was the first British ambassador to the Republic of Poland.

Career

William Erskine, second son of

Walter Erskine, 11th Earl of Mar Walter may refer to: People and fictional characters * Walter (name), including a list of people and fictional and mythical characters with the given name or surname * Little Walter, American blues harmonica player Marion Walter Jacobs (1930–19 ...

, was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. He joined the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

in 1894 and served at Buenos Aires, Tehran, Rome and Stockholm where he was

chargé d'affaires A (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is Frenc ...

in 1913. He was posted to Athens with the rank of Counsellor of Embassy 1913–17 where he was British delegate to the international financial commission which had been established following the

Greco-Turkish War (1897) The Greco-Turkish War of 1897 or the Ottoman-Greek War of 1897 ( or ), also called the Thirty Days' War and known in Greece as the Black '97 (, ''Mauro '97'') or the Unfortunate War (), was a war fought between the Kingdom of Greece and the O ...

to oversee the public finances of Greece. He was Counsellor at Rome 1917–19, Minister to Cuba 1919–21 (and concurrently to Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Minister to Bulgaria 1921–27, and Minister to Poland 1928–29, continuing there as

Ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

1929–34 after the post was raised from

legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legation ...

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

. He was the first ambassador to Poland since the time of King

Jan III Sobieski John III Sobieski ( (); (); () 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696. Born into Polish nobility, Sobieski was educated at the Jagiellonian University and toured Eur ...

in the seventeenth century.

Honours

Erskine was appointed MVO in 1906 after attending the then

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

(later King

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

) to Madrid for the marriage of King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. He was knighted KCMG in 1926 and raised to GCMG in 1930 when he was also made a member of the Privy Council.The London Gazette, 13 June 1930
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References

ERSKINE, Rt Hon. Sir William (Augustus Forbes)
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2012
Sir William Erskine
(obituary), ''The Times'', London, 19 July 1952, page 6

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Erskine, William Augustus Forbes 1871 births 1952 deaths William Augustus Forbes Younger sons of earls People educated at Eton College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Cuba Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Haiti Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Dominican Republic Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Bulgaria Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Poland Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Royal Victorian Order