
"Bobbing John" Erskine, Earl of Mar (1675-May 1732) was an English Jacobite nobleman and Secretary of State of James Francis Edward Stuart's court-in-exile.
Biography[]
John Erskine was born in Scotland in 1675, the son of Charles Erskine, Earl of Mar. Nicknamed "Bobbing John" for his frequent defections between the Whig and Tory parties, he served as Queen Anne's Secretary of State for Scotland from 1707 to 1709 and from 1713 to 1714; while appointed by the Tories, he was equally ready to side with the Whigs and initially supported the Hanoverian succession. However, the Whigs deprived the Earl of Mar of his office on returning to power, causing the Earl of Mar to become a Jacobite. After meeting several Highlander chieftains, Erskine came to support Scottish independence, and he led the failed Jacobite rising of 1715, after which he fled to France and served as the Jacobite Secretary of State from 1716 to 1724. He was unable to secure Spanish aid for an invasion of England in 1719 (during the War of the Quadruple Alliance) due to a storm preventing the Spanish Navy from leaving harbor, and he died in Aachen in 1732.