Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A K.C.B. group of three to Admiral of the Fleet, Sir James Elphinstone Erskine, Royal Navy, Naval A.D.C. to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII

The Most Honourable Order of The Bath, K.C.B. (Military) Knight Commander’s set of insignia, neck badge, 18ct. gold and enamel, hallmarks unclear; breast star, silver, gold and enamel, with gold pin fitting; Jubilee 1897, silver (Presented by the Queen to Vice Admiral James E. Erskine); Coronation 1902, silver, unnamed as issued, these two loosely mounted as worn, very fine and better (4) £1800-2200

James Elphinstone Erskine was born on 2 December 1838, the second son of James Erskine of Cardross, a direct lineal descendant of the Earls of Mar and a kinsman of the Earls of Buchan. He entered the Royal Navy in 1852 and was promoted to Sub-Lieutenant in January 1858 and in September was appointed to the paddle frigate Valorous, in which he served for a year on the North America and West Indies station. Promoted to Lieutenant in June 1859, he was appointed to the screw two-decker Edgar as Flag Lieutenant to his uncle, Rear-Admiral John E. Erskine, commanding the Channel Squadron. In November 1861 he was appointed to the 86 gun Aboukir and again served on the North America and West Indies station. In August 1862 he was promoted Commander and for two and a half years from February 1862 he commanded the gun vessel Speedwell on the west coast of Africa. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 4 November 1868. In November 1873 he returned to the North American station, this time in command of the sloop Eclipse and in 1878 was appointed Captain of the corvette Garnet on the south-east coast of America. Erskine returned home in 1880 to take up the appointment of Private Secretary to Lord Northbrook, First Lord of the Admiralty. He left the Admiralty in June 1881 to take up the post of Commodore on the Australian station. From 1882 until his promotion to Rear-Admiral in 1884, he was A.D.C. to the Queen. In 1885 he married Margaret Eliza, the fourth daughter of the Rev. John Constable, Rector of Marston Baggott, Somerset. They had one son, David Victor Fairfax Erskine, who was also destined for a career as an officer in the Royal Navy. During February-August 1886 Rear-Admiral Erskine held a seat on the Board of the Admiralty as Junior Naval Lord, after which he was appointed senior officer for the coast of Ireland for three years, with his flag on the Revenge and thence the Triumph. In 1892 he became Vice-Admiral and in 1895 was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the North America and West Indies station. He was relieved by Sir J. A. Fisher in August 1897, the same year he was promoted to Admiral and awarded the K.C.B. Although having no further active service after this date, he was employed on a Commission appointed to inquire into French treaty rights in Newfoundland. In April 1901 he was appointed first and principal Naval A.D.C. to the King, a post he held until promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in October 1902. He had his home at Venlaw, Peebles and held the office of Deputy Lieutenant of that county. He was placed on the Retired List in December 1908 and died on 25 July 1911.

A Naval Officer of the ‘Old School’, The Western Morning News wrote of him, ‘A man of most humane disposition, and prematurely aged by baldness and the wearing of a patriarchal beard, Captain Erskine was in the habit of delivering long and fatherly lectures to the defaulters brought before him. These homilies were so lengthy that optimistic seamen expected to be let off with a reprimand; but the homilies invariably concluded with the words: “But I am the strong arm of the law, and despite my personal inclination to temper justice with mercy, I am compelled to sentence you to ......,” and the sentence almost invariably proved to be the maximum’.

Sold with ornate invitations (2) to the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra at Westminster Abbey on 26 June 1902, named to ‘Sir J. E. Erskine, K.C.B., A.D.C.’ and ‘Lady Erskine’, with an accompanying slip from the Earl Marshal’s Office dated 17 May 1902; these with a (damaged) envelope, addressed to ‘Lady Erskine, c/o Sir J. E. Erskine, K.C.B., A.D.C., The Admiralty, 167 Ashley Gdns., Victoria St., S.W.’ Also with a leather bound album containing newspaper obituaries of the Admiral.