Background
The son of David Erskine and his wife Jean Melvin, he was born in Edinburgh.
historian Orientalist provost master
The son of David Erskine and his wife Jean Melvin, he was born in Edinburgh.
He attended the Royal High School, received a doctorate in law from Edinburgh University.
He went to Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1804 where he was master in equity in the recorder"s court. Another daughter, Mary, was head nurse in the Naval Hospital at Therapia during the Crimean War, and looked after Florence Nightingale while she recovered from illness. 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 memoirs of Zehir-Editor-Din Muhammed Babur, Emperor of Hindustan.
He was removed from office in 1823 after being accused of defalcation and for many of his later years resided in Edinburgh, as well as Pau in South West France.
He was Provost of Street Andrews, 1836–1869.