14 Facts About Ruaraidh Erskine

Ruaraidh Erskine of Marr was a Scottish nationalist political activist, writer and Scottish Gaelic language revival campaigner.

Ruaraidh Erskine was born The Honourable Stuart Richard Joseph Erskine at 1 Portland Place, Brighton, East Sussex, England on 15 January 1869.

Ruaraidh Erskine was the third of the four children born to William Macnaghten Erskine, 5th Baron Erskine, an army officer, and his wife, Caroline Alice Martha Grimble.

Ruaraidh Erskine claimed that he learned to speak Scottish Gaelic from his childhood nanny, who came from Harris, and that this kindled the enthusiasm which was to be a main hallmark of his career.

Ruaraidh Erskine's imagination was fired early by the Irish nationalist movement and these combined influences, together with his family's Scottish roots, led to his development as a prominent Gaelic nationalist, whose compelling dream was of a self-governing Celtic Scotland.

Ruaraidh Erskine hoped that a significant extension of Scottish Gaelic literature would contribute to the raising of literary standards, in a reaction against what he saw as the degrading influence of music-hall and 'pop' culture on Gaelic verse in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Ruaraidh Erskine probably viewed his activity as a response to the dominance of folklore in the Gaelic literary world.

In 1901, Ruaraidh Erskine began to edit a new bilingual newspaper, Am Bard, which ran until July of the following year.

In 1914, Ruaraidh Erskine revived The Scottish Review, a title which had been edited by the 3rd Marquess of Bute between 1882 and 1900.

Ruaraidh Erskine used the magazine to call for the formation of a political party to campaign for independence.

Ruaraidh Erskine had at one stage described socialism as "a predatory creed", but by the time of the First World War he was becoming more politically radical and finding sympathy with the cause of figures such as Maclean.

Ruaraidh Erskine championed the Easter Rising in Ireland in 1916, and attempted to foster links with the Irish nationalist community by attempting to set up a joint Scottish-Irish Celtic newspaper with Art O'Brian the president of the Irish Self Determination League.

Ruaraidh Erskine attempted to get independent representation for Scotland at the Paris Peace Conference at the end of the First World War.

Ruaraidh Erskine's pan-Celticism has received attention from the Celtic Congress and Celtic League.