Captain Ralph Erskine

Ralph was the second son of Janet Barrie and James Erskine; he was born on the 10th of March 1893 in Glasgow. His mother, Janet died on the 4th of February 1901 in Glasgow. The 1901 Census for Scotland reveals the Erskine family living at 12 Drumother Mansions in Shettleston, Lanarkshire. His mother, Janet died on the 4th of February 1901 in Glasgow.
According to the Find a Grave Index:

Whilst still at school he won a number of athletic and boxing prizes including the Amateur World Featherweight Championship in New York in May 1911.

According to the Tollerosa passenger list, eighteen-year-old Ralph departed from Southampton and arrived in New York on the 14th of May 1911. He was described as 5 feet, 9inches tall, with brown hair and blue eyes, his complexion was described as fair. Ralph returned on the Lusitania, arriving back in Fishguard on the 6th of June 1911. He left university in 1914 to enlist, joining the Royal Scots Fusiliers where he was given the commission of Captain. He was posted in France during the Battle of Loos (25th September – 18th October 1915). His older brother, Captain Thomas Barrie Erskine, died the same year in Flanders.
In December 1915 Ralph joined the Royal Flying Corps, spending some time training with the Australian Forces Royal Flying Corps. He was then posted as an observer in France where he was wounded in the leg on the 14th of January 1916. From September 1917 he was a pilot with the 66th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, flying a ‘Sopwith Camel’ first in France, and later in Italy.

On 1st January 1918 Ralph was reportedly chasing down an enemy plane when his own aircraft was shelled and crashed. He force-landed in front line trenches near Flers and the aircraft was destroyed by artillery fire. It was subsequently confirmed that Ralph had died on the 1st of January 1918, aged 25.

In April that year, the Presbyterian Messenger reported that: “Captain Erskine, who was married to Miss Higgins little more than a year ago, had been for some weeks on the Italian front, and had highly distinguished himself on several occasions. After an engagement on New Year’s Day he was reported missing, and some weeks later news was received, through a neutral country, of his death.

Captain Erskine was a man of splendid physique, one of the finest athletes perhaps in the whole Army, a complete master of aircraft, extraordinarily cool, resourceful, and courageous.”

Ralph had married his wife Jane Higgins on the 9th of March 1917 at St Columba’s, a congregation of the Church of Scotland in Pont Street, London. The couple’s son Ralph Barrie Erskine was born 16th of January 1918 two weeks after Ralph's death. His son subsequently died in Tunisia during the Second World War, on 23rd April 1943.