Claudius James Erskine

Claudius James Erskine, known as Claude Erskine (1821 – 6 June 1893) ICS, was a British Indian civil servant, judge and vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta.

He then joined the Indian Civil Service, one of four brothers to do so, arriving in Bombay in 1840.

Interested in vernacular education, he became, after serving as secretary to the Bombay general and judicial departments, the first director of public instruction in western India in 1885.

He was judge of Konkan in 1859, and a member of the Legislative Council of India in 1860.

After William Ritchie he was appointed as the vice-chancellors of the Calcutta University on 8 April 1862.