St Vincent Whitshed Erskine

St Vincent Whitshed Erskine (1846 - 1918), Surveyor General of South Africa, was an early explorer in Gazaland and was the first European to travel down the length of the Limpopo river to its mouth. Family Erskine was born on 7 February 1846 in Tasmania, the second son of Lieutenant Colonel The Honourable David Erskine (son of David Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine of Restmorel) and his first wife (m. 12 November 1839) Anne Maria Spode, daughter of Josiah Spode and great-granddaughter of Josiah Spode. David Erskine married secondly Emma Florence Mary Harford the daughter of Captain Charles Joseph Harford, 12th Lancers. St Vincent Erskine married in 1870 to Alice Lindley Buchanan 5th daughter of David Dale Buchanan (born 1819, died 4 Sep 1874 in Cape Town), the founder of the "Natal Witness" (The Witness (South African newspaper)) and his wife Mary Ann. St Vincent Erskine and Alice Buchanan had six children: Charles Howard Erskine (b. 1871; d. 1918) m. Mildred Charlotte Greathead Echo Emmeline Erskine (d. 18 November 1876; bur Commercial Road Cemetery Pietermaritzburg) Gyneth Erskine Iris Erskine m. Frederic Townsend-Moorland Esme Nourse Erskine (b. 1884; d. 1962) m. Elizabeth Susan Matilda Reinders (d. 1972) Renira Erskine m. Percy Grant-Dalton St Vincent Erskine was a friend of Thomas Baines the well known artist of African Exploration, who had accompanied David Livingstone along the Zambezi in 1858. St Vincent Erskine died from the Spanish flu on 8 July 1918 aged 72 years and is buried in the Maitland Cemetery, Cape Town. Alice Erskine died on 22 October 1922 at Uitenhage, South Africa.