William Erskine (8 November 1773 – 28 May 1852) was a Scottish orientalist and historian.

Life

He was born at Argyle Square in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

, then the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, before being apprenticed to James Dundas, a writer to the signet. He went to Bombay (now

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

) at the invitation of Sir James Mackintosh in 1804 where he was master in equity in the recorder's court. In 1809 in Madras (now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

), Erskine married Maitland Mackintosh (1792-1861), daughter of Mackintosh and his first wife Katherine Stuart. They had 14 children, one of whom, Frances, married the statistician and civil servant Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer. Another daughter, Mary, was head nurse in the Naval Hospital at Therapia during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

, 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 th ...

while she recovered from illness. Four of his sons entered the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

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

Baburnama The ''Bāburnāma'' (; ) is the memoirs of Babur, Ẓahīr-ud-Dīn Muhammad Bābur (1483–1530), founder of the Mughal Empire and a great-great-great-grandson of Timur. It is written in the Chagatai language, known to Babur as ''Türki'' "Turkic ...

'', the memoirs of Zehir-Ed-Din Muhammed Babur, Emperor of Hindustan. He was removed from office in 1823 by Sir Edward West after being accused of defalcation (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 (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ 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 fourth-largest settleme ...

in 1836. 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.

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