Henry Erskine

The Honourable Henry "Harry" Erskine (1 November 1746 – 8 October 1817) was a British Whig politician and lawyer. Background and education Erskine was the third but second surviving son of Agnes, daughter of Sir James Steuart, 7th Baronet and his wife Anne (1687-1736), and Henry Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan. He was the brother of David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan, and Lord Chancellor Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine. His elder sister was Lady Anne Agnes Erskine who was involved with the evangelical methodists of Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion. He was educated at the University of St Andrews (1760-1764), the University of Glasgow (1764-1766) and then to the University of Edinburgh in 1766. He was described as "a tall and rather slender figure, a face sparkling with vivacity, a clear sweet voice, and general suffusion of elegance". Legal and political career Erskine is considered the lawyer who effectively created the modern adversarial. He was considered a legendary orator compared by his contemporaries to Cicero. Erskine served as Lord Advocate from 1783 to 1784 in the Fox-North Coalition and again from 1806 to 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents. He was advocate and state councillor to the Prince of Wales in Scotland from 1783. He was Dean of the Faculty of Advocates from 1785 to 1795, but was not re-elected in 1796, due to his opposition to the war. Lord Cockburn, commenting on his replacement, observed that "it was the Faculty of Advocates alone that suffered". Robert Burns wrote a ballad memorializing the vote entitled, "The Dean of Faculty". In 1788, Erskine had the unenviable task of defending the celebrated Edinburgh thief Deacon Brodie. Despite his best efforts, Brodie was sentenced to death.