St Vincent Whitshed Erskine


St Vincent Whitshed Erskine, 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 Van Diemen's Land, the second son of Lieutenant Colonel The Honourable David Erskine and his first wife 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, the founder of the "Natal Witness" and his wife Mary Ann. St Vincent Erskine and Alice Buchanan had six children:
  • Charles Howard Erskine m. Mildred Charlotte Greathead
  • Echo Emmeline Erskine
  • Gyneth Erskine
  • Iris Erskine m. Frederic Townsend-Moorland
  • Esme Nourse Erskine m. Elizabeth Susan Matilda Reinders
  • 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.

Explorations in Africa

St Vincent Erskine carried out a number of exploratory journeys in Southern Africa between 1868 and 1875 from Natal northwards into Gazaland and down to the mouth of the River Limpopo. Gazaland records - “Probably the first European to penetrate any distance inland from the Sofala coast since the Portuguese gold-seekers of the 16th century was St. Vincent W. Erskine, who explored the region between the Limpopo and Pungwe.”
St Vincent Erskine's four journeys are reported in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, London:Journey of Exploration to the Mouth of the River Limpopo, By St Vincent W ErskineJourney to Umzila’s, South East Africa in 1871-1872. By Mr St Vincent Erskine, special Commissioner from the Natal government to Umzila, King of Gasa; and
  • ''Two Journeys of Mr St Vincent Erskine in Gasa Land during the years 1873, 1874 and 1875''

Later career

Following his exploratory journeys St Vincent Erskine worked as a surveyor in Natal, the Transvaal and Cape Province. He settled with his family in Cape Town where he died in 1918.