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6TH OR 11TH EARL OF JOHN ERSKINE MAR ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 667 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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6TH OR 11TH See also:

EARL OF See also:JOHN See also:ERSKINE See also:MAR (1675-1732)  , Scottish Jacobite, was the eldest son of See also:Charles, the 5th See also:earl (1650-1689), from whom he inherited estates which were heavily loaded with See also:debt . He was associated with the party favourable to the See also:English See also:government; he was one of the commissioners for the See also:Union, and was made a Scottish secretary of See also:state, becoming after the Union of 1707 a representative peer for See also:Scotland, keeper of the signet and a privy councillor . In 1713 See also:Mar was made an English secretary of state by the Tories, but he seems to have been equally ready to See also:side with the Whigs, and in 1714 he assured the new See also:king, See also:George I., of his See also:loyalty . However, like the other Tories, he was deprived of his See also:office, and in See also:August 1715 he went in disguise to Scotland and placed himself at the See also:head of the adherents of See also:James See also:Edward, the Old Pretender . See also:Meeting many Highland chieftains at Aboyne he avowed an See also:earnest See also:desire for the See also:independence of Scotland, and at See also:Braemar on the 6th of See also:September 1715 he proclaimed James VIII. king of See also:Scot-See also:land, See also:England, See also:France and See also:Ireland . Gradually the forces under his command were augmented, but as a See also:general he was a See also:complete failure . See also:Precious See also:time was wasted at See also:Perth, a feigned attack on See also:Stirling was resultless, and he could give little assistance to the English See also:Jacobites . At See also:Sheriffmuir, where a See also:battle was fought in See also:November 1715, Mar's forces largely outnumbered those of his opponent, See also:Archibald See also:Campbell, afterwards 3rd See also:duke of See also:Argyll; but no bravery could atone for the See also:signal incompetence displayed by the earl, and the fight was virtually a decisive defeat for the Jacobites . Mar then met James Edward at Fetteresso; the cause however was lost, and the See also:prince and the earl fled to France . Mar sought to See also:interest See also:foreign See also:powers in the cause of the Stuarts; but in the course of time he became thoroughly distrusted by the Jacobites . In 1721 he accepted a See also:pension of £3500 a See also:year from George I., and in the following year his name was freely mentioned in connexion with the trial of See also:Bishop See also:Atterbury, whom it was asserted that Mar had betrayed . This See also:charge may perhaps be summarized as not proven .

At the best his conduct was highly imprudent, and in 1724 he See also:

left the Pretender's service . His later years were spent in See also:Paris and at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle, where he died in May 1732 . Mar, who was known as " bobbing See also:John," married for his second wife, Frances (d . 1761), daughter of the 1st duke of See also:Kingston, and was thus a See also:brother-in-See also:law of See also:Lady See also:Mary Wortley See also:Montagu . He had been attainted in 1716, and his only son, See also:Thomas, See also:Lord See also:Erskine, died childless in See also:March 1766 . Mar's brother, JAMES ERSKINE (1679-1754), was educated as a lawyer and became lord See also:justice clerk of the See also:Court of Session and Lord See also:Grange in 1710 . He took no See also:part in the rising of 1715, although there is little doubt that at times he was in communication with the Jacobites; but was rather known for his piety and for his sympathy with the Presbyterians . He is more famous, however, owing to the See also:story of his wife's disappearance . This lady, See also:Rachel Chicely, was a woman of disordered See also:intellect; probably with See also:reason she suspected her See also:husband of infidelity, and after some years of unhappiness Grange arranged a See also:plan for her seizure . In See also:January 1732 she was conveyed with See also:great secrecy from See also:Edinburgh to the See also:island of Hesker, thence to St Kilda, where she remained for about ten years, thence she was taken to Assynt in See also:Sutherland, and finally to See also:Skye . To complete the See also:idea that she was dead her funeral was publicly celebrated, but she survived until May 1745 . Mean-while in 1734 Grange had resigned his judgeship and had become an English member of See also:parliament; here he was a See also:bitter opponent of See also:Sir See also:Robert See also:Walpole .

He died in See also:

London on the 20th of January 1754 . See the See also:Journal of the Earl of Mar (1716) ; R . See also:Patten, See also:History of the See also:late See also:Rebellion (1717); and A . See also:Lang, History of Scotland, vol. iv . (1907) .

End of Article: 6TH OR 11TH EARL OF JOHN ERSKINE MAR (1675-1732)
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