Elizabeth Erskine (abt. 1620 - 1683)

Ancestors

Descendants

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Biography

Elizabeth Erskine was the daughter of John Erskine, Earl of Mar and his wife, Christian Hay. In about 1641 she was married to Alexander Napier, son of Archibald Napier and his wife, Margaret Graham. Together they had five children. Her husband was a royalist, an ardent young follower of his uncle, James Graham, Marquess of Montrose. On 8 October 1844 her husband and her father-in-law were ordered to confine themselves in Edinburgh and live in the elder Archibald's lodgings in Holyroodhouse. In 1845 her husband fled from his confinement and Elizabeth and her father-in-law were imprisoned for a time in Edinburgh Castle. When Montrose was executed on 21 May 1650 his head was removed and placed on the Old Tolbooth in Edinburgh. Elizabeth is said to have recovered and preserved his heart.

Alexander's estates were forfeited so she must have been in considerable want until Parliament granted her a pension from those estates on 2 September 1656. Alexander did not live to see the Restoration dying in the Netherlands on 4 September 1658.

Elizabeth received a pension of £500 per annum from the government of Charles II and died in 1683.

Sources

• David Stevenson, ‘Napier, Archibald, second Lord Napier of Merchistoun (c.1624–1658)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 22 April 2017. This is a subscription site but access is free to readers of British libraries whose library subscribes.
• Wikipedia entry for her husband, Archibald Napier [1]
• Napier of Merchistoun, Lord (S, 1627) Cracroft's Peerage