Social Victorians/People/Buchan

Also Known As

• Family name: Erskine, Stuart Erskine
• Earl of Buchan
  • David Stuart Erskine, 13th Earl of Buchan (13 September 1857 – 3 December 1898)
  • Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine, 14th Earl of Buchan (3 December 1898 – 16 April 1934)
• Lord Cardross (this is surmised, need confirmation)
  • Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine, 14th Earl of Buchan (13 September 1857 – 3 December 1898)
• The family of the Earl of Mar and Kellie is also Erskine.

Timeline

1849 April 27, David Stuart Erskine and Agnes Graham Smith married.

1876 July 17, David Stuart Erskine, 13th Earl of Buchan and Maria James married.

1876 November 9, Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine and Rosalie Louisa Sartoris married.

1878 May 16, Hon. Albany Mar Stuart Erskine and Alice Ellen Keyser married.

1889, Hon. Albany Mar Stuart Erskine abandoned Alice Erskine, according to her without explanation, and this was the last she saw of him until the divorce proceedings in March 1900.

1893 Christmas – 1898 May, Mrs. Birch, Cambridge-gardens, Notting Hill rented a sitting and bedroom to the Hon. Albany Mar Stuart Erskine and a woman called Mrs. Erskine.

1897 July 2, Friday, Lord and Lady Cardross attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball at Devonshire House, accompanied by the Hon M. Erskine.

1898 May, "Mrs. Erskine" continued to live with Mrs. Birch, and Mr. Erskine visited her and wrote her letters.

1898 August, "Mrs. Erskine" told Mrs. Birch that her name was Gordon and that Mr. Erskine was not her husband. Alice Erskine visited Mrs. Birch and inquired about Mr. Erskine. Mrs. Gordon said she had known Mr. Erskine for 16 years and lived with him 1893-1898.

1903 January 7, Hon. Charles Strathavon Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby and Lady Muriel Agnes Stuart Erskine married.

Costume at the Duchess of Devonshire's 2 July 1897 Fancy-dress Ball

Hon. Muriel Stuart-Erskine in costume as La Marquise de Vintimille du Luc; Rosalie, Lady Cardross in costume as La Duchesse de Lavis. ©National Portrait Gallery, London.

Lord Shipley and Lady Rosalie Cardross attended the Duchess of Devonshire's fancy-dress ball with their daughter the Hon. Muriel Erskine.

Lord and Lady Cardross

Lord Shipley Cardross (at 275) was one of the Gentlemen of the Court in the procession of the Empress Catherine II of Russia.

Lady Rosalie Cardross (at 276) was one of the Ladies of the Court of the Empress Catherine II of Russia procession. Her portrait in the Album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire, which she shares with her daughter, Muriel Erskine, says she was dressed as La Duchesse de Lavis. It is not clear who she meant by the Duchess of Lavis.

The Hon. Muriel Erskine

The Hon. Muriel Erskine (at 278) was one of the Ladies and Gentlemen of the Court of the Empress Catherine II of Russia procession. She attended with her parents, Lord Shipley and Lady Rosalie Cardross (275 and 276).

• "Lady Raincliffe took the part of Catherine II. of Russia in a dress of white satin. The front was wrought in raised gold in a large pattern of conventionalised pomegranate spinging [sic] from a crown raised in gold at the hem, the fruit studded with rubies. In her suite were Lady Margaret Spicer as Countess Soltykoff, the Duchess of Marlborough in a superbly-handsome dress of the same period; the Duchess of Newcastle; Lady Henry Bentinck; the Countess of Yarborough; Lady Mildred Denison; and the Hon. Mrs. Erskine and her daughter."
• "Miss Muriel Erskine (Romney dress), white chiffon skirt, with fichu of chiffon, and satin train, with eagles in centre."

Lafayette's portrait of "Hon. Muriel Agnes Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (née Stuart-Erskine) as La Marquise de Vintimille du Luc; Rosalie Louisa Erskine (née Sartoris), Countess of Buchan when Lady Cardross as La Duchesse de Lavis" in costume is photogravure #247 in the album presented to the Duchess of Devonshire and now in the National Portrait Gallery. The printing on the portrait says, "Lady Cardross as La Duchesse de Lavis. The Hon. Miss Erskine as La Marquise de Vintimille du Luc," with a Long S in Cardross, Duchesse and Miss.

Demographics

• Nationality: Anglo-Scots

Family

• David Stuart Erskine, 13th Earl of Buchan (6 November 1815 – 3 December 1898)
• Agnes Graham Smith ( – 2 September 1875)

1. Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine, 14th Earl of Buchan (27 February 1850 – 16 April 1934)
2. Hon. Albany Mar Stuart Erskine (24 February 1852 – 9 June 1933)

• Maria James (c. 1818 – 17 August 1899)

• Shipley Gordon Stuart Erskine, 14th Earl of Buchan (27 February 1850 – 16 April 1934)
• Rosalie Louisa Sartoris ( – 29 January 1943)

1. Ronald Douglas Stuart Mar Erskine, 15th Earl of Buchan (6 April 1878 – 18 December 1960)
2. Lady Muriel Agnes Stuart Erskine (15 April 1879 – 23 October 1967)
3. Lady Evelyn Hilda Stuart Erskine (21 March 1883 – 21 July 1939)

• Lady Muriel Agnes Stuart Erskine (15 April 1879 – 23 October 1967)
• Brig.-Gen. Hon. Charles Strathavon Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (18 May 1870 – 15 December 1949)

1. Charles Peregrine Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (13 September 1905 – 1 October 1965)
2. Rosalie Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby (10 July 1908 – July 1994)

• Hon. Albany Mar Stuart Erskine (24 February 1852 – 9 June 1933)
• Alice Ellen Keyser ( – 19 September 1902)

Notes and Questions

1. The London Times lists Lady Cardrop rather than Lady Cardross, as does the London Evening Mail because it reprinted the Times story, but this seems to be a typo.
2. Do any of the newspaper accounts say "Mrs. M. Erskine"? If so, then perhaps both Muriel and Mrs. M. Erskine were there? Muriel married in 1903, so she was not Mrs. and she would never have been Mrs. Erskine in any event.