Biography

Elizabeth Erskine. (1735-1794) (aka. Lady Betty, E. Macfarlane, E. Colville)

Daughter of the 5th Earl of Kellie, sister of Boswells friend Andrew as well as of Anne, Jenny, Archibald and Thomas Alexander. Married to Walter Macfarlane from 1760 until his death in 1767 . On September 25th, 1768 she married Alexander Colville, 7th Lord of Culross (1717-1770), who in 1769 was appointed vice-admiral in the navy.

Also known as Elizabeth Macfarlane and Elizabeth Colville.

Life with James Boswell:

Elizabeth was the the sister of Boswell's good friend Andrew Erskine, and she became one of his closest female friends herself, in the years to come. When Boswell visited the family at Kellie on October 30, 1762, he described her as "a woman of noble figure and majestic deportment, uncommon good sense and cleverness" - a few days later he wrote how he felt very passionate about her, during his stay at Kellie. (November 6)

Boswell visited Lady Betty and her family often during their stay in London 1762-63. Although he sometimes grew tired of their Scottish ways, which didn't quite fit into his plans to become a part of London society, Lady Betty and her family did seem to offer Boswell some (sometimes) much needed homely surroundings and humour. Lady Betty arrived with Lady Anne, Andrew and Jean Dempster on Dec 1, 1762. Lady Betty and Lady Anne rented a house on Leicester Square (LJ021262), where they stayed until they left London on 14/3-63.

Boswell gives a rather harsh description of her in LJ021262 due to her marriage with the much older Walter Macfarlane, but on the whole Boswell and Elizabeth stayed good friends for the remainder of their lives, and Boswell often dined with her (and her family) later on, in Edinburgh.

External links:

• The Erskines of Kellie - at Electric Scotland
• Erskine Family Tree - from Stirnet

This article was last updated at February 07 2008 15:31:11 CET

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