Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Erskine, William (d.1685)

by Alsager Richard Vian

ERSKINE, WILLIAM (d. 1685), master of Charterhouse, was the seventh son of John, second or seventh earl of Mar [q. v.], by his second wife, Lady Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, duke of Lennox. In 1677, on the death of Martin Clifford, he was elected master of Charterhouse, which office he held till his death on 29 May 1685. He was a member of the Royal Society, and his name appears in the list of the first council named in the royal charter, under date 22 April 1663, but he took no active part in the scientific proceedings of the society. He also held the appointment of cupbearer to Charles II.

[Collins's Peerage, ed. Brydges, ix. 264; Douglas and Wood's Peerage of Scotland, ii. 216; Hist. of Colleges of Winchester, Eton, &c., 1816; Royal Society's Lists.]

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