John Erskine (Royal Navy officer)

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Sir James Erskine
Born(1806-07-13)13 July 1806
Died23 June 1887(1887-06-23) (aged 80)
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
RankAdmiral
Commands heldHMS Orion
Battles/warsCrimean War

Admiral John Elphinstone Erskine (13 July 1806 – 23 June 1887) was a Royal Navy officer and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1874.

Background and education

A member of

Royal Naval College, Portsmouth and entered the Royal Navy in 1819.[2]

Naval career

Erskine's first command was the gunboat

vice-admiral in 1864 and an admiral in 1869.[5]

Political career

At the 1865 general election Erskine was elected Member of Parliament for Stirlingshire. He held the seat until 1874.[6] In parliament he was leader of the influential lobby working for the Pacific Islanders Protection Act of 1872.[5] Erskine was also a justice of the peace for Stirlingshire. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society[2] and joined the Aborigines' Protection Society after he had experienced naval anti-slavery operations in the West Indies and seen the impact of European penetration into the Pacific Ocean.[5]

Personal life

Erskine died unmarried in June 1887, aged 80.[1]

See also

  • O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Erskine, John Elphinstone" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

References

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Stirlingshire
1865–1874
Succeeded by
Sir William Edmonstone, Bt