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ERSKINE, THOMAS ERSKINE, 1ST BARON (1...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 757 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ERSKINE, See also:THOMAS ERSKINE, 1ST See also:BARON (1750-1823) , See also:lord See also:chancellor of See also:England, was the third and youngest son of See also:Henry See also:David, loth See also:earl of See also:Buchan, and was See also:born in See also:Edinburgh on the loth of See also:January 1750. From an See also:early See also:age he showed a strong See also:desire to enter one of the learned professions; but his See also:father, owing to his straitened circumstances, was unable to do more than give him a See also:good school See also:education at the high schoolof Edinburgh and the See also:grammar school of St See also:Andrews. In 1764 he was sent as a See also:midshipman on See also:board the " See also:Tartar," but on finding, when he returned to this See also:country after four years' See also:absence in See also:North See also:America and the See also:West Indies, that there was little immediate See also:chance of his See also:rank of acting See also:lieutenant being confirmed, he quitted the service and entered the See also:army, purchasing a See also:commission in the 1st Royals with the meagre patrimony which had been See also:left to him. But promotion here was as slow as in the See also:navy; while in 1770 he had added greatly to his difficulties by marrying the daughter of See also:Daniel See also:Moore, M.P. for See also:Marlow, an excellent wife, but as poor as himself. However, an accidental visit to an See also:assize See also:court in the See also:town in which he was quartered, and an interview with Lord See also:Mansfield, the presiding See also:judge, confirmed his resolve to quit the army for the See also:law. Accordingly on the 26th of See also:April 1775 he was admitted a student of See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn. He also on the 13th of January following entered himself as a See also:gentleman commoner on the books of Trinity See also:College, See also:Cam-See also:bridge, but merely that by graduating he might be called two years earlier. He read in the See also:chambers of See also:Francis See also:Buller (afterwards Mr See also:Justice Buller) and See also:George (afterwards Baron) See also:Wood, and was called to the See also:bar on the 3rd of See also:July 1778. His success was immediate and brilliant. An See also:accident was the means of giving him his first See also:case, Rex v. See also:Baillie, in which he appeared for See also:Captain Thomas Baillie, the lieutenant-See also:governor of See also:Greenwich See also:hospital, -who had published a pamphlet animadverting in severe terms upon the abuses which Lord See also:Sandwich, the first lord of the See also:admiralty, had introduced into the management of the hospital, and against whom a See also:rule had been obtained from the court of See also:king's See also:bench to show cause why a criminal See also:information for See also:libel should not be filed. Erskine was the junior of five counsel; and it was his good See also:fortune that the prolixity of his leaders consumed the whole of the first See also:day, thereby giving the See also:advantage of starting afresh next See also:morning.

He made use of this opportunity to deliver a speech of wonderful eloquence, skill and courage, which captivated both the See also:

audience and the court. The rule was discharged, and Erskine's fortune was made. He received, it is said, See also:thirty retainers before he left the court. In 1781 he delivered another remarkable speech, in See also:defence of Lord George Gordon—a speech which gave the See also:death-See also:blow to the See also:doctrine of constructive See also:treason. In 1783, when the See also:Coalition See also:ministry came into See also:power, he was returned to See also:parliament as member for See also:Portsmouth. His first speech in the See also:House of See also:Commons was a failure; and he never in See also:parliamentary debate possessed anything like the See also:influence he had at the bar. He lost his seat at the See also:dissolution in the following See also:year, and remained out of parliament until 1790, when he was again returned for Portsmouth. But his success at the bar continued unimpaired. In 1783 he received a patent of See also:precedence. His first See also:special See also:retainer was in defence of Dr W. D. See also:Shipley, See also:dean of St See also:Asaph, who was tried in 1784 at See also:Shrewsbury for seditious libel—a defence to which was due the passing of the Libel See also:Act 1792, laying down the principle that it is for the See also:jury, and not for the judge to decide the question whether or no a publication is a libel.

In 1789 he was counsel for See also:

John Stockdale, a bookseller; who was charged with seditious libel in See also:publishing a pamphlet in favour of See also:Warren See also:Hastings, whose trial was then proceeding; and his speech on this occasion, probably his greatest effort, is a consummate specimen of the See also:art of addressing a jury. Three years afterwards he brought down the opposition alike of See also:friends and foes by defending Thomas See also:Paine, author of The Rights of Man—holding that an See also:advocate has no right, by refusing a brief, to convert himself into a judge. As a consequence he lost the See also:office of See also:attorney-See also:general to the See also:prince of See also:Wales, to which he had been appointed in 1786; the prince, however, subsequently made amends by making him his chancellor. Among Erskine's later speeches may be mentioned those for See also:Horne See also:Tooke and the other See also:advocates of parliamentary reform, and that for See also:James Hadfield, who was accused of See also:shooting at the king. On the See also:accession of the See also:Grenville ministry in 1806 he was made lord chancellor, an office for which his training had in no way prepared him, but which he fortunately held only during the See also:short See also:period his party was in power. Of the See also:remainder of his See also:life it would be well if nothing could be said. Occasionally speaking in parliament, and hoping that he might return to office should the prince become See also:regent, he gradually degenerated into a See also:state of useless idleness. Never conspicuous for prudence, he aggravated his increasing poverty by an unfortunate second See also:marriage. His first wife had died in 1805, and he married at Gretna See also:Green a See also:Miss See also:Mary See also:Buck. The date of this marriage is not definitely known. Once only--in his conduct in the case of See also:Queen See also:Caroline —does he recall his former self. He died at Almondell, See also:Linlithgow- See also:shire, on the 17th of See also:November 1823, of See also:pneumonia, caught on the voyage to See also:Scotland.

Erskine's See also:

great forensic reputation was, to a certain extent, a concomitant of the numerous See also:political trials of the day, but it was also due to his impassioned eloquence and undaunted courage, which so often carried audience and jury and even the court along with him. As a judge he did not succeed; and it has been questioned whether under any circumstances he could have succeeded. For the office of chancellor he was plainly unfit. As a lawyer he was well read, but by no means profound. His strength See also:lay in the keenness of his reasoning See also:faculty, in his dexterity and the ability with which he disentangled complicated masses of See also:evidence, and above all in his unrivalled power of fixing and commanding the See also:attention of juries. To no See also:department of knowledge but law had he applied himself systematically, with the single exception of See also:English literature, of which he acquired a thorough mastery in early life, at intervals of leisure in college, on board See also:ship, or in the army. Vanity is said to have been his ruling See also:personal characteristic; but those who knew him, while they admit the See also:fault, say that in him it never took an offensive See also:form, even in old age, while the singular See also:grace and attractiveness of his manner endeared him to all with whom he came in contact. By his first wife he had four sons and four daughters. His eldest son, David See also:Montagu (1776-18J5), was a well-known diplomatist; his second son, Henry David (1786-1859), was dean of See also:Ripon; and his third son, Thomas (1788-1864), became a judge of the court of See also:common pleas. By his second wife he had one son, born in 1821. In 1772 Erskine published Observations on the Prevailing Abuses in the See also:British Army, a pamphlet which had a large circulation, and in later life, Armata, an See also:imitation of Gulliver's Travels. His most noted speeches have repeatedly appeared in a collected form.

See See also:

Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors; Moore's Diaries; See also:Fergusson's Henry Erskine (1882); Dumerit's Henry Erskine, a Study (See also:Paris, 1883); Lord See also:Brougham's Memoir, prefixed to Erskine's Speeches (1847); See also:Romilly's See also:Memoirs; the See also:Croker Papers; Lord See also:Holland's Memoirs.

End of Article: ERSKINE, THOMAS ERSKINE, 1ST BARON (1750-1823)

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