Thomas Erskine
Contributions
- A View of the Causes and Consequences of the Present War with France has translation author
Knows
- Bertrand Barère freemason journalist jurist politician translator writer
- Thomas Hardy politician
- John Horne Tooke cleric journalist linguist politician writer
- Thomas Paine journalist philosopher revolutionary writer
- James Perry actor civil servant entrepreneur journalist pamphleteer
- John Stockdale bookseller publisher
- John Thelwall journalist publisher writer
Member of
- British army military organization
- British Parliament political institution
Notes
Erskine was a reforming lawyer and Whig politician who gained a powerful reputation for his commitment to freedom of expression and a free press. A superb orator, he rose to fame after securing the acquittal of Thomas Hardy, John Horne Tooke and John Thelwall in the 1794 Treason trials. Thomas Holcroft had his case acquitted before it went to trial. He also defended, unsuccessfully, Thomas Paine, following the publication of 'Rights of Man, Part two' in 1792.
He was a member of Lord Grey's parliamentary reform group 'The Friends of the People', and served from 1806-07 as Lord Chancellor in Lord North and C.J. Fox's short-lived 'Ministry of All Talents'.