James St Clair-Erskine, 5th Earl of Rosslyn

On 5 June 1886 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the part-time 4th (Northampton and Rutland Militia) Battalion, Northamptonshire Regiment.^[5] His progress was slow: at the following year's annual training the inspecting officer noted: 'Lord Loughborough must become efficient by next training'.^[6] However he was able to obtain a Regular Army commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the prestigious Royal Horse Guards on 28 June 1890.^[3][7] However, on the death of his father a few weeks later he immediately gave up this career, and instead came a Lieutenant in the part-time 1st Fifeshire Light Horse Volunteers on 18 October 1890.^[8]

Lord Rosslyn succeeded his father in the earldom on 6 September 1890, inheriting the family seat, Rosslyn Castle in Midlothian, Scotland and Rosslyn Chapel, collieries at Dysart, a luxury steam yacht, and assets of £50,000.^[9] His mother, the dowager Countess of Rosslyn, survived his father by over 40 years before her death at Regent's Park, London, in December 1933.^[1]

He reached the rank of Captain in the Fifeshire Light Horse, but resigned on 24 November 1897 after his bankruptcy.^[10] However he joined Alexander Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry during the Second Boer War where he was taken prisoner twice,^[11] which he wrote about in his book Twice Captured. Lord Rosslyn was also war correspondent for the Daily Mail in 1900. In 1904, he was Secretary to the Secretary of State for Scotland and from 1915 to 1917, he was Major in the King's Royal Rifle Corps.^[3]

Lord Rosslyn was a notorious gambler, betting £15,000 on Buccaneer to win the Manchester Cup, which lost. He played the roulette tables at Cannes and Monte Carlo, which he wrote about in his autobiography My Gamble With Life. By 1896, he had lost everything and was declared bankrupt,^[12] which led to the family silver, gold and silver plate being sold at a three-day auction in Edinburgh.^[9]

In 1902, he lost £310 while playing poker.^[13] In 1903, he was in Court for refusing to pay a $150 draft.^[14] In 1908, Rosslyn and Sir Hiram Maxim were in the news for a gambling duel in Monte Carlo to "break the bank".^[15]

On 19 July 1890, Lord Rosslyn was married to Violet Aline Vyner (d. 1945), the second daughter and co-heiress of Robert Charles de Grey Vyner of Gautby Hall and Newby Hall by his wife Eleanor Shafto (a daughter of Rev. Slingsby Duncombe Shafto). At their wedding the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, proposed the health of bride and groom. Lord Rosslyn was a close friend of the Prince who became godfather to his son.^[9] Before their divorce in 1902,^[16] they were the parents of:^[3]

• Lady Rosabelle Millicent St Clair-Erskine (1891–1956), who married Lt. David Cecil Bingham, second son of Maj.-Gen. Hon. Sir Cecil Edward Bingham (second son of George Bingham, 4th Earl of Lucan) in 1912.^[17] After he was killed in action in 1914, she married Lt.-Col. John Charles Brand, eldest son and heir of Maj. Hon. Charles Brand (fourth son of Henry Brand, 1st Viscount Hampden), in 1916.^[3]
• Francis Edward Scudamore St Clair-Erskine, Lord Loughborough (1892–1929), who was known as "the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo".^[18] He married Margaret Sheila Mackellar Chisholm (d. 1969), a daughter of Harry Chisholm in 1915.^[19] They divorced in 1926 and she married Sir John Milbanke, 11th Baronet in 1928. They also divorced and she married Prince Dmitri Alexandrovich of Russia in 1954.^[3] She was one of a series of society beauties photographed as classical figures by Madame Yevonde.^[20]

After their divorce, Lady Rosslyn married the English race car driver Charles Jarrott in 1903 (they were the parents of director Charles Jarrott).^[21]

On 21 March 1905, he was married to an American actress, Anna Robinson (d. 1917), the second daughter of George Robinson of Minneapolis, Minnesota.^[22] They divorced in 1907 and Anna later died on 4 October 1917.^[3]

His third marriage took place on 8 October 1908 to Vera Mary Bayley (d. 1975), a daughter of Eric Edward Bayley of Little Moyle in County Carlow. Together, they were the parents of:^[3]

• Maj. Hon. James Alexander Wedderburn St Clair-Erskine (1909–1973)^[3]
• Lady Mary Sybil St Clair-Erskine (b. 1912), who married Sir Philip Dunn, 2nd Baronet (1905–1976), a son of Sir James Dunn, 1st Baronet, in 1933. They divorced in 1944 and she married, secondly, Capt. Robin Francis Campbell, only son of Rt. Hon. Sir Ronald Hugh Campbell in 1946. They divorced in 1958 and she married Charles Raymond McCabe in 1962. They divorced in 1969 she remarried her first husband, Sir Philip.^[3][a]
• Maj. Hon. David Simon St Clair-Erskine (1917–1985), who married Antonia Mary Kelly (d. 1965), the only daughter of Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Donald Kelly in 1948. They divorced in 1958.^[3]

Lord Rosslyn died on 10 August 1939 and was succeeded by his grandson, Anthony.^[3] His widow, the dowager Countess of Rosslyn, died on 24 February 1975.^[3]

Through his eldest son, Lord Loughborough, he was a grandfather of Anthony Hugh Francis Harry St Clair-Erskine, 6th Earl of Rosslyn (1917–1977), who married Athénaïs de Mortemart, only daughter of Louis Victor de Mortemart, Duc de Vivonne, and the Hon. Peter George Alexander St Clair-Erskine (1918–1939) of the Royal Air Force.^[3]

Through his youngest daughter, Lady Mary, he was a grandfather of Serena Mary Dunn (1934–2019), who married Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild; and Nell Mary Dunn (b. 1936), who married Jeremy Sandford and became a playwright and author.^[23]

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