Erskine Douglas Sandford
Erskine Douglas Sandford FRSE (31 July 1793–4 September 1861) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate and legal author.
Life
He was born at 22 South Frederick Street in Edinburgh's New Town, then a new house, on 31 July 1793 the son of Helen Frances Catherine Douglas and her husband, Bishop Daniel Sandford.[1]
After studying law he passed the Scottish bar as an advocate in 1816.
In 1828 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being George Augustus Borthwick.[2] At this time he was living with his family at 25 Heriot Row.[3]
In 1828 he was involved in the trial of William Burke and Helen McDougal for the Burke and Hare Murders.[4] When travelling on a mailcoach in 1829, he realised that one of his fellow passengers was in fact a disguised William Hare (who had been granted immunity from prosecution).[4] This was one of the last reliable sightings of Hare, whose eventual fate is unknown.
In 1833 he replaced Adam Urquhart as Sheriff of Wigtown.[5]
In 1837 he is listed as one of the few contributors to the Scottish Episcopal Fund, a fund begun in 1806 to establish the Scottish Episcopalian Church.[6]
He lived his later life at 11 Randolph Crescent on the edge of the Moray Estate in western Edinburgh.[7]
He died at Alvechurch Rectory on 4 September 1861.[8]
Family
His uncles were Daniel Keyte Sandford and Francis Sandford, 1st Baron Sandford.[9]
In 1829 he married Joanna Grace Graham (d.1890). They had two daughters and three sons.
He was uncle to Daniel Sandford (Bishop of Tasmania)
Publications
- A Treatise on the History and Law of Entails in Scotland
- A Treatise on the Law of Heritable Succession in Scotland
References
- Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1794
- Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
- Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1829
- Forrester, J. P. (1890). Old Reminiscences of Glasgow and the West of Scotland, Volume 2. Glasgow. p. 520.
- The Gentleman's Magazine October 1833
- Edinburgh Almanac 1837
- Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1860
- The Gentleman's Magazine October 1861
- "Person Page". www.thepeerage.com. Retrieved 2019-06-02.