David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan
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David Stewart Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan (June 12, 1742 – April 19, 1829) was a notable Scottish eccentric.
He was a son of the 10th Earl and a brother of Henry Erskine and Thomas, Lord Erskine. He studied at St. Andrews University and Edinburgh University. His pertinacity helped in effecting a change in the method of electing Scottish representative peers, and in 1780 he succeeded in founding the Scottish Society of Antiquaries. His correspondents included Horace Walpole, and he produced an Essay on the Lives of Fletcher of Saltoun and the Poet Thomson (1792) and other writings. He died at his residence at Dryburgh (near Dryburgh Abbey, in the Scottish Borders) in April 1829, leaving no legitimate children, and the earldom passed to his nephew Henry.
He also commissioned a cable-stayed bridge over the River Tweed at Dryburgh. He opened this bridge on August 1, 1817 but it collapsed within months. A replacement was built after a redesign, but this too collapsed in 1838. A more permanent bridge did not arrive until 1872, when the suspension system was used instead.
| Freemasonry offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Earl of Crawford |
Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland 1782–1784 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Aberdeen |
| Peerage of Scotland | ||
| Preceded by Henry Erskine |
Earl of Buchan | Succeeded by Henry Erskine |
