Ruairidh Erskine

Politician, Deceased Person

1869 – 1960

5

Who was Ruairidh Erskine?

Ruairidh Erskine was a Scottish nationalist activist born in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He learned to speak Scottish Gaelic as a child from his nanny who was from the Hebrides.

In 1892, aged 23, he became vice-president of the Scottish Home Rule Association, but he grew to oppose the notion of home rule for Scotland within the United Kingdom and went on to support Scottish independence.

In 1904 he formed the Guth na Bliadhna publication and used it to advocate independence and a coming together of the Gaels of both Scotland and Ireland to aid each other in a campaign to establish their respective languages as the official language of their country. He also used the magazine to call for the formation of a political party to campaign for independence.

His activities with the publication brought him into contact with William Gillies, with whom he formed the Scots National League in 1920, thus going some way towards the realisation of the formation of a Scottish nationalist political party.

Despite his aristocratic background, Erskine had links with the socialist figure John Maclean who was himself an advocate of an independent Scotland. Erskine had at one stage described socialism as "a predatory creed", but by the time of the First World War he was becoming more politically radical and finding sympathy with the cause of figures such as Maclean.

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Born
1869
Profession
Died
1960

Submitted
on July 23, 2013

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