ERSKINE, HENRY [SSNE 4963]

Surname

ERSKINE

First name

HENRY

Title/rank

3rd LORD CARDROSS

Nationality

SCOT

Region

CARDROSS, ARGYLL AND BUTE

Text source

Henry Erskine, 3rd Lord Cardross (1650-1693) had been fined and imprisoned for his own and his wife's Presbyterian sympathies. He was released in 1679 but denied compensation by Charles II. He emigrated to South Carolina where he founded a small colony, but was expelled by the Spaniards from his plantation at Charlestown. Lord Henry Erskine thereafter entered the Scots Brigade in the Dutch Republic on 22 May 1686. By 1689 he was drawing a salary of £220.18.8 per month having succeeded John Ramsay as captain in Bartholt Balfour's regiment on 27 March 1688. Erskine accompanied the expedition of William of Orange to Britain in 1688 and fought at Killiekrankie. Once back in Scotland he also gained promotion to Privy Councillor, Lt. Colonel and General of the Mint.

National Archives of Scotland, GD 103/2/224, 29 March 1688; Dictionary of National Biography; J. Ferguson, Papers Illustrating the History of the Scots Brigade in the service of the United Netherlands, 1572-1697 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp.505, 514, 517-518; Sir James Balfour Paul, The Scots Peerage (8 vols., 1904-1911), II, p.367; D. Dobson 'Scottish Soldiers in Continental Europe [part one] (St Andrews, 1997).

Service record

BRITISH COLONIES, SOUTH CAROLINA

Arrived 1679-01-01

Departed 1685-12-31

Capacity PLANTATION OWNER, purpose COLONIAL

THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, SCOTLAND, BALFOURS REGIMENT

Arrived 1686-05-22, as LIEUTENANT

Departed 1691-12-31, as LT. COLONEL

Capacity OFFICER, purpose MILITARY