John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar

John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar (* 1675 ; † May 1732 in Aachen ), was a Scottish nobleman and the military leader in the first Jacobite revolt .

Life

His father was Charles Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar , his mother was Mary Maule, daughter of George Maule, 2nd Earl of Panmure .

When his father died on May 23, 1689, he inherited his title of nobility as 23rd Earl of Mar , 16th Lord Garioch and 11th Lord Erskine .

A successful soldier as a colonel in the infantry from 1702, but fickle as a politician, he was appointed to the Privy Privy Council in 1697 ; this appointment was repeated in 1707. Between 1705 and 1709 and between 1713 and 1714 he was Minister for Scotland ("Secretary of State for Scotland"); between 1707 and 1713 also “ Representative Peer for Scotland” in the British House of Lords . In 1706 he was made Knight of the Thistle Order.

In 1715 he joined the Jacobites under James, the Old Pretender . On September 6th, as leader in Braemar, he hoisted the standard of James for the first Jacobite revolt. As chief adviser to the Old Pretender, he served him, among other things, as commanding officer in the battle of Sheriffmuir . Not up to the whole thing, however, he had to go into exile with James on February 4, 1716. Outlawed by Parliament on February 17, 1716 for high treason , confiscated all properties and forfeited all his titles, he remained loyal to James until 1724. Honored with numerous Jacobite and thus ultimately worthless titles of nobility (1st Earl of Kildrummie, 1st Marquess of Erskine, 1st Duke of Mar, 1st Lord of Alloa, Ferriton and Forest and 1st Viscount Gairloch on October 22, 1715, Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1716; 1st Earl of Mar on November 10, 1717 and 1st Duke of Mar on December 13, 1722), he spent his last years in Paris and Aachen, where he died in May 1732.

He was married twice. His first marriage was on April 6, 1703 with Margaret Hay († 1707), daughter of Thomas Hay, 7th Earl of Kinnoull . With her he had two sons:

• Thomas Erskine, Lord Erskine (1705-1766);
• John Erskine († very young).

In his second marriage he married on July 20, 1714 Frances Pierrepont († 1761), daughter of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st Duke of Kingston upon Hull . With her he had a daughter:

• Frances Erskine († 1776), ⚭ James Erskine († 1785), third son of her uncle James Erskine, Lord Grange (1679–1754).

Posthumously in 1824 his title of 23rd Earl of Mar (first bestowed), which was revoked in 1716, was restored to him. According to a decision of the House of Lords Privileges Committee on February 26, 1875, he is de iure also the 6th Earl of Mar (seventh bestowal).

literature

• John Anderson: Erskine, Earl of Mar . In: James Balfour Paul (Ed.): The Scots Peerage . tape 5 : Innermeath-Mar . David Douglas, Edinburgh 1908, p. 590–636 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
• George Way, Romilly Squire et al. (Eds.): Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia . Barnes & Noble Books, New York 1998, ISBN 0-7607-1120-8 .

Web links

• John Erskine, 23rd / 6th Earl of Mar on thepeerage.com , accessed September 14, 2016.
• Mar, Earl of (S, 1114). www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk, accessed September 1, 2014 (English, first award). 
• John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar. National Register of Archives, accessed September 1, 2014 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
Charles Erskine	Earl of Mar 1689-1716	Title forfeited