Erskine Douglas Sandford
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Erskine Douglas Sandford (31 July 1793 – 4 September 1861) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate and legal author.
Sandford was born at 22 South Frederick Street in Edinburgh's New Town, then a new house, on 31 July 1793 the son of Helen Frances Catherine Douglas and her husband, Bishop Daniel Sandford.[1]
After studying law, Sandford passed the Scottish bar as an advocate in 1816.
In 1828 Sandford was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being George Augustus Borthwick.[2] At this time he was living with his family at 25 Heriot Row.[3]
In 1828 Sandford was involved in the trial of William Burke and Helen McDougal for the Burke and Hare Murders.[4] When travelling on a mailcoach in 1829, he realised that one of his fellow passengers was in fact a disguised William Hare (who had been granted immunity from prosecution).[4] This was one of the last reliable sightings of Hare, whose eventual fate is unknown.
In 1833 Sandford replaced Adam Urquhart as Sheriff of Wigtown.[5]
In 1837 Sandford is listed as one of the few contributors to the Scottish Episcopal Fund, a fund begun in 1806 to establish the Scottish Episcopalian Church.[6]
Sandford lived his later life at 11 Randolph Crescent on the edge of the Moray Estate in western Edinburgh.[7]
Sandford died at Alvechurch Rectory on 4 September 1861.[8]
