Tour Scotland 4K Winter travel video, with Scottish bagpipes music, of a short road drive East on the A91 road, on ancestry, genealogy, family history visit to Alva, Clackmannanshire, in the Central Lowlands, Britain, United Kingdom. Alva, Scottish Gaelic: Allamhagh Beag, meaning little plain of the rock, is one of a number of towns situated immediately to the south of the Ochil Hills, collectively referred to as the Hillfoots villages or simply The Hillfoots. During the Industrial Revolution, Alva developed as a textile manufacturing centre; the woollen mills, originally water-powered, provided employment for locals and migrants to the area. Robert Erskine was born on 8 September 1677 a younger son of Sir Charles Erskine, 1st Baronet of Alva and his wife Christian Dundas of Arniston. He was born in the family home of Alva House in Clackmannanshire. His younger brother was Charles Erskine, Lord Tinwald. He was also a first cousin of John Erskine, Earl of Mar, born 1675, died 173,2 and Robert Dundas of Arniston, the Elder, and uncle to James Erskine, Lord Alva. 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. Head of the entire medical chancellery, he was the Tsar's chief physician. He was appointed the first director of the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera and library with Johann Daniel Schumacher as his assistant. He created Russia's first herbarium in 1709. In 1716, the Tsar elevated him to privy councillor. In 1717 he escorted the Tsar on a trip to Germany, Holland and France. He died at Olonets near St Petersburg on St Andrew's Day, 30 November 1718 and was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St Petersburg on 4 February 1719 being granted a full state funeral attended by the tsar. Erskine was a part of masonic network of Scottish Jacobites that influenced the Russian court. By the meteorological calendar, the first day of Winter is always 1st December in Scotland; ending on 28th of February. Of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to visit one day. Find things to see and do in Scotland where you are always welcome. When driving on Scottish roads in Scotland slow down and enjoy the trip
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