Background
William Erskine, second son of Walter Erskine, 11th Earl of March, was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford.
William Erskine, second son of Walter Erskine, 11th Earl of March, was educated at Eton College and Magdalen College, Oxford.
Eton College; Magdalen College.
He joined the Foreign Office in 1894 and served at Buenos Aires, Teheran, Rome and Stockholm where he was chargé d"affaires in 1913. He was posted to Athens with the rank of Counsellor of Embassy 1913-1917 where he was British delegate to the international financial commission which had been established following the Greco-Turkish War (1897) to oversee the public finances of Greece. He was Counsellor at Rome 1917-1919, Minister to Cuba 1919-1921 (and concurrently to Haiti and the Dominican Republic), Minister to Bulgaria 1921-1927, and Minister to Poland 1928-1929, continuing there as Ambassador 1929-1934 after the post was raised from legation to embassy.
He was the first ambassador to Poland since the time of King January III Sobieski in the seventeenth century.
Erskine was appointed MVO in 1906 after attending the then Prince of Wales (later King George V) to Madrid for the marriage of King Alfonso XIII to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg.
Erskine was appointed MVO in 1906 after attending the then Prince of Wales (later King George V) to Madrid for the marriage of King Alfonso XIII to Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. He was knighted Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George in 1926 and raised to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Street Michael and Street George in 1930 when he was also made a member of the Privy Council.
He was knighted Knight Commander of the Order of Street Michael and Saint George in 1926 and raised to Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Street Michael and Street George in 1930 when he was also made a member of the Privy Council.
