Kilbirnie West
James Dodson
Illustration: Choir, 1923.
Foreign Missions Collectors, 1923.
53
V
REV. H. T. GILLISON, B.D.
The Rev. Henry Tod Gillison was born at Fossoway, Kinross-shire, where his father was Free Church minister. He belonged to a family whose heart turned to the Church. A brother was a Baptist pastor in Kirkintilloch. One cousin is a missionary in China, and another was killed on Gallipoli while acting as a chaplain with the Forces. Beginning life as an architect, Mr Gillison at last turned his attention to the ministry. Before being settled at Kilbirnie he served for a time as assistant in several congregations. It is not often that an assistant is chosen as colleague and successor to his chief, but that honour fell to him at Kilbirnie—a testimony to the impression he had made on the people by his gifts and graces.
From the beginning Mr Gillison suffered from ill-health, for which he sought every possible remedy, even wintering abroad. During these periods of absence the congregation bore with exemplary patience and much sympathy the defects in their pastor’s condition, for they all recognised his devotion to their service. Never once did they raise the question of his position among them.
Soon after his settlement the whole Church was
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disturbed by the famous House of Lords’ decision of 1904, by which the Church was at one stroke deprived of its whole property. As already explained, the Kilbirnie people might have considered themselves secure under the judgment, but the Session, representing in this the unanimous feeling of the congregation, at once took emphatic sides, and without a dissentient voice passed this resolution on September 23: “This Session protests against the judgment of the House of Lords as inequitable, as an unwarranted interference with the Church’s prerogative in spiritual things and as calculated seriously to disorganise the spiritual work of the Church, both at home and abroad, and declares its sympathy with the Union of 1900 and its steadfast loyalty to the United Free Church.” No one has since been led to consider the resolution, thus passed in his name, either premature or ill-judged.
Mr Gillison had a very high conception of what his duty was in regard to all ministerial functions. He did his best to have all baptisms carried through in face of the congregation—a procedure to which many parents were unwilling to conform—and occasionally friction was thereby caused. He was opposed to what is called “coffining,” that is, conducting some kind of short service when a dead body is placed in its casket. The practice arose out of certain political conditions in the past history of the country, but the time for it had long since passed away, and the ceremony had degenerated into a useless survival and almost a superstitious observance. That the minister should decline to be present at
THE GREAT WAR 55
such a function, sanctioned as it was by immemorial custom, seemed to some to show him lacking in sympathy, whereas he was only careful for purity of worship and belief. Mr Gillison was also stated to be difficult to satisfy in regard to the fitness of catechumens for admission to full membership. After all, these things were merely evidence of a high standard of fidelity to his office, and the vast majority of his congregation understood his attitude.
It so happened, however, that in 1912, what is portentously called the “Quinquennial Visitation,” was carried out during one of the minister’s periods of absence. The delegates from the Presbytery met with the office-bearers only, and had some intimate conversation with them over the affairs of the congregation. Unfortunately a wholly exaggerated report of what had been spoken of was conveyed to the Presbytery, which immediately ordered a further visitation. At the meeting with the congregation matters were put in their true perspective and the whole business adjusted, minister and people agreeing cordially to meet each other’s wants.
The period of the Great War, with all its anxieties and problems, is reflected in the congregational minutes. Collections on behalf of various necessitous causes were made; the men who had joined the army were remembered with gifts; rigid economy and saving were recommended, and the appeal to all to engage in some kind of war service was endorsed. Recognising that the liquor trade was one of the greatest national hindrances to victory, the Session petitioned the Government on behalf of still greater
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restrictions. Altogether fifty men from the congregation joined the Colours, and among these gallant lads the following gave up their lives:—
Andrew Boyd . . . Royal Engineers
Hugh A. Crawford . . A. & S. Highlanders
Colin Fyfe . . . Royal Scots Fusiliers
James Hunter . . . Royal Field Artillery
John Jamieson . . . Cameron Highlanders
William Knox . . . Cameron Highlanders and Royal Air Force
James N. Macfarlane . . Royal Highlanders
John M‘Cosh . . . Cameron Highlanders
William B. M‘Creath . . Scottish Rifles
William Reid . . . Royal Scots
William B. Walker . . London Scottish
Charles Whitelaw . . Machine Gun Corps
The organist was called up and offered to resign his eldership and his leadership of the praise, but the Session felt that there was no necessity for him to retire from either office, and made arrangements for temporarily filling his place at the instrument. In the course of his campaigning he was taken prisoner by the Germans, and suffered so severely that he died shortly after being discharged from the army. The Great War allowed no one to escape, and Kilbirnie West had its part in the common sorrow and loss.
After a long and costly search after health and an illness bravely borne, Mr Gillison passed away quietly on September 5, 1919. He was unmarried, for he was too conscientious to ask anyone to share his precarious lot, but he nevertheless left behind him
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a large circle of friends to mourn his early departure. He was buried in the quiet churchyard of his birthplace, where he now lies amid kindred dust. His father had predeceased him in 1896, but a funeral service for him was conducted in the church of his youth.
Mr Gillison’s usefulness in the ministry was greatly hampered by his bodily weakness and infirmity, but all recognised in him a man of sterling character, great ability and devoted service. An intimate friend in the ministry who knew him well thus described him: “He was the most conscientious of men. Indeed, some people thought it was his conscience that killed him—he was so painfully particular in following every direction of his medical advisers, and he tried so many of them. In his religious views he was the same, painfully examining every detail before coming to a conclusion. On the whole his position on these matters was rather advanced, and he did not care to preach in his father’s church on that account. In all his ideas of Church government and discipline he would be regarded as puritan. In the doing of his duty he allowed no qualifications.
“Underneath all this he was the most lovable of men, with a fine sense of humour and a keen mind that missed nothing, though it was a constant grief to him that, through his defective eyesight, the range of his reading had to be so limited.”