[1] After he left school, Ervin went to Europe where he worked in woollen mills, before returning to Australia.
In 1962 he gave his collection of paintings to the Australian government[2] and encouraged the erection of a national art gallery.
In 1971 he donated $50,000 to the New South Wales branch of the National Trust of Australia to purchase Norman Lindsay's home at Faulconbridge, New South Wales and, in 1974, donated $200,000 to restore two buildings at Observatory Hill, Sydney as an art gallery and museum.
[3] On 7 April 1926 Ervin married 38-year-old Muriel Beatrice Gray, nee Appel, who had two daughters from her previous marriage.
The Ervins lived at Glanworth, Darling Point, and later at The Astor, Macquarie Street, Sydney.