Robert Erskine (physician)

Robert Erskine FRS (1677–1718) was a Scottish physician remembered as an advisor to Tsar Peter the Great.

He was born on 8 September 1677 a third son of Sir Charles Erskine, 1st Baronet of Alva and his wife Christian Dundas of Arniston.

[2] He engaged in medical studies in Edinburgh, Paris and Utrecht receiving a doctorate in medicine in the latter, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1703.

He arrived in Russia in the summer of 1704 originally as physician to Alexandr Menshikov but within 6 months had found favour in the court of the tsar.

Dr Robert Erskine was also commemorated in St Petersburg, Russia on the 2nd of October 2008 by the unveiling of a plaque in the Aleksander Nevsky Lavra.