Before Alva House and estate passed into the hands of the Johnstones, it was owned by the Erskine family. One of these was James Erskine, a solicitor in Edinburgh.
Erskine was born on 2nd June 1722 in Edinburgh to Charles Erskine, Lord Tinwald, the Lord Justice Clerk, and his wife Grisel Grierson, whom he had married on 21st December 1712. Following in his father’s footsteps, he trained as a lawyer, becoming an advocate in 1743.
In 1748 he became Sherrif Depute of Perthshire. Six years later he was appointed Baron of the Exchequer and in 1758 was made Knight Marshall of Scotland. In 1761, he became a Senator of the College of Justice, replacing Patrick Boyle, Lord Shewalton.
Erskine was married twice. His first wife was Margaret Maguire. They had married on 19th June 1749 and had two children, John, born 25th December 1758, and Isabella, born 15th June 1761. Following Margaret’s death at Alva on 5th April 1766, he married widow Jean Stirling the daughter of John Stirling of Herbertshire on 26th January 1772, but there were no children from this marriage.
His daughter Isabella married Lt Col Patrick Tytler, the son of Erskine’s legal colleague William Tytler, while John, who also became an advocate, married Christian Carruthers in August 1786.
When Charles Erskine died in 1763, Erskine inherited the family home Drumsheugh House in Edinburgh, and Alva House, which his father had purchased from his nephew Sir Henry Erskine in 1759. He also inherited a vast collection of books that had belonged to his father and late brother Charles, which passed down to his son John, then down to his son James Erskine of Aberdona.
He was a Trustee of the then Dollar Institution, and in 1927 Trustees of the Academy presented them to the Faculty of Advocates in Edinburgh. Today the 260 volumes are known as the Alva Collection, with the remainder of the books, the non-legal titles, being held in the National Library of Scotland.
Although Erskine took the title Lord Alva, he lived at Drumsheugh House, not Alva House, and in 1775 sold the Alva estate to John Johnstone. Not only was he Lord Alva, but also Lord Barjarg, a title named after the 16th century tower house belonging to his mother’s family in Dumfriesshire.
Erskine died at his Edinburgh home on 15th May 1796 aged 73 and was buried in St Cuthbert’s graveyard in Edinburgh.
On 24th September 1797, Jean, Lady Alva, died, and was buried beside her husband at St Cuthbert’s. She was 78.
Both Drumsheugh House and Alva House no longer exist.
Share