David Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine

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David Montagu Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine (12 August 1776 – 19 March 1855) was a British diplomat and peer.

Erskine was the eldest son of Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine (himself a younger son of Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan) and his wife, Frances (a daughter of Daniel Moore, MP). He was educated at Charterhouse, Winchester and Trinity College, Cambridge. After matriculating in 1796, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1802. Erskine did not practise law, however, instead he was elected as Member of Parliament for Portsmouth in 1806, in place of his father, who was appointed Lord Chancellor. At the request of Erskine's father to Charles James Fox, then Foreign Secretary, he was appointed Minister to the United States later that year. He had previously lived in the States and had married Frances Cadwallader, a daughter of John Cadwalader (a general during the American Revolutionary War), in 1799. Erskine and his wife had twelve children:

• Hon. Thomas Americus, later 3rd Baron Erskine, diplomat.
• Hon. John Cadwallader, later 4th Baron Erskine, diplomat.
• Hon. David Erskine (1816-1903), soldier.
• Hon. Edward Morris (1817-1883), diplomat.
• Hon. James Stuart (1821-1904), created Baron Erskine by Ludwig II of Bavaria.
• Hon. Frances (d. 1876), married Gabriel Shawe.
• Hon. Sevilla (d. 1835), married Sir Henry Howard.
• Hon. Steuarta (d. 1863), married Yeats Brown.
• Hon. Elizabeth (c. 1812-1886), married Sir St. Vincent Hawkins-Whitshed, Bt..
• Hon. Harriett (d. 1855), married Charles Woomass.
• Hon. Jane Plumer (d. 1846), married James Callander of Craigforth & Ardkinglas.

In 1809, Erskine was recalled by the Foreign Secretary, George Canning, for having offered the withdrawal of the Orders in Council of 1807 against the Americans and his resolution of the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. He thus remained out of favour and unemployed until 1824, when he inherited his father's title and was appointed Minister to Stuttgart. He subsequently transferred to Munich in 1828 and retired in 1843.

Erskine's first wife had died in 1843 and later that year was married to Anne Bond and after her death in 1851, to Anna Durham. He died at his home of Butler's Green in Sussex in 1855 and was buried at Cuckfield, his titles passing to his eldest son.

[edit] Sources

• H. M. Stephens, Erskine, David Montagu, second Baron Erskine (1776–1855), rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 15 Nov 2007

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Erskine and John Markham	Member of Parliament for Portsmouth with John Markham 1806	Succeeded by John Markham and Sir Thomas Miller, Bt.
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Anthony Merry	British Minister to the United States 1807–1809	Succeeded by Francis Jackson
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Erskine	Baron Erskine 1824–1855	Succeeded by Thomas Erskine