John Erskine (6th count de Mar)

John Erskine, 22e and of swear 6th count de Mar (1675 - May 1732), jacobite Scottish, are the oldest son of Charles Erskine, 5 {{E}} count de Mar (death in 1689), of which it cannot inherit the fields, burdened of debts. According to the modern calculation, it is the 22e count de Mar compared to original creation (about 1114) and 6th count de Mar compared to the second creation of 1565. It is also described as 11th count de Mar.

Member of the party favorable to the government, it is named one of the police chiefs charged to ensure the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland and becomes Scottish Secretary of State, then, after the Acte of Union of 1707, one of the pars representing Scotland, Minister of Justice and private adviser. In 1713, Mar is made advise of British State by the Tories, but it seems to have been ready to also work with the Whigs. In 1714, it ensures the new king, Georges I {{er}}, of its honesty. However, like other Tories, it loses its functions, and, in August 1715, it returns under a disguise to Scotland, where it takes the head of the partisans jacobites of Jacques Stuart, the Old Applicant.

Meeting many chiefs of clans of the Highlands in Aboyne, it is in favor of the independence of Scotland and, in Braemar the September 6th 1715, proclaims " Jacques VIII" king d' Écosse, of England and Ireland, thus starting the first rebellion jacobite. Little by little, the army under its orders grows, but it appears a very poor general. It wastes an invaluable time with Perth, an attack on Stirling is a poor success, and it can bring a weak assistance to the English jacobites. With the Battle of Sheriffmuir, in November 1715, the army of Mar is largely lower than that of its adversary, the duke of Argyll; but bravery does not make it possible to assist the distinguished incompetence of Lord Mar, and the combat virtually represents a decisive defeat for Jacobites.

Mar meets Jacques Stuart with Fetteresso; the cause is however lost, and the two men flee in France. Mar tried to interest the foreign powers in the cause of Stuarts; but, with the wire of time, it ended up poking mistrust among Jacobites. In 1721, it accepts a pension of 3500 pounds on behalf of Georges I {{er}}, and, the following year, its name is clearly mentioned at the time of the lawsuit of the bishop Atterbury, which one affirmed that Mar had betrayed it, which does not seem not proven. At best, its control is highly imprudent, and, in 1724, it leaves the service of the Applicant. It spends its last years to Paris and Aachen, where it dies.

Mar, which is known under the name of " Bobbing John" , married, in second wedding, Lady Frances Pierrepont (dead in 1761), girl of Evelyn Pierrepont, 1st duke of Kingston-upon-Hull; he was the brother-in-law of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. His/her only son, Thomas, Lord Erskine, died in childhood in March 1766.

The brother of Mar, James Erskine, was a famous judge.

The group of Genesis wrote a song, " Eleventh Earl off Mar" (inserted in the album Wind and Wuthering), about it.

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