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. He served as Judge of the Bombay High Court since 1862 to 1865.[2] He was appointed a member of the Bombay council in 1865. After William Ritchie he was appointed as the vice-chancellors of the Calcutta University on 8 April 1862.[3] Erskine retired from the Civil service on 14 May 1867.[4]
He married in 1847, Emily Georgina Reid, daughter of Lestock Reid, acting governor of Bombay.