John Erskine, 22nd Earl of Mar

(1675-1732)

Scottish earl

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John Erskine, 23rd and 6th Earl of Mar, KT (1675 – May 1732), was a Scottish Jacobite who was the eldest son of Charles, 22nd and 5th Earl of Mar (who died in 1689), from whom he inherited estates that were heavily loaded with debt. He was the 23rd Earl of Mar in the first creation of the earldom. He was also the sixth earl in the seventh creation (of 1565). He was nicknamed Bobbing John, for his tendency to shift back and forth from faction to faction, whether from Tory to Whig or Hanoverian to Jacobite. Deprived of office by the new king in 1714, Mar raised the standard of rebellion against the Hanoverians; at the battle of Sheriffmuir in November 1715, Mar's forces outnumbered those of his opponent, but victory eluded him. At Fetteresso his cause was lost, and Mar fled to France, where he would spend the remainder of his life. The parliament passed a Writ of Attainder against Mar, for treason, in 1716 as punishment for his disloyalty, which was not lifted until 1824. He died in 1732.