John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

Who was John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar?

John Erskine, 23rd and de jure 6th Earl of Mar, KT, Scottish Jacobite, was the eldest son of the 22ndEarl of Mar, from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt. By modern reckoning he was 23rd Earl of Mar of the first creation and de jure 6th Earl of Mar of the seventh creation. He is sometimes also termed the 11th Earl of Mar in the Scottish Peerage, which was reckoned from the second creation. He was nicknamed "Bobbing John" for his tendency to shift back and forth from faction to faction, whether from Tory to Whig or Hanoverian to Jacobite. Deprived of office by the King in 1714, John raised the standard of rebellion against the Hanoverians; at the battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715, Mar's forces outnumbered those of his opponent, but victory eluded him. At Fetteresso his cause was lost, and Mar fled to France where he would spend the remainder of his life. The Hanoverian court passed a Writ of Attainder for treason against Mar in 1716 as punishment for his disloyalty, which was not lifted until 1824. He died in 1732.