FOR the first eighty years of its separate existence the Church was considered an undivided community, and when John Macmillan adhered to it, his services were given to the whole membership as circumstances required. After the Presbytery was constituted in 1743 its ministers were still held to serve the whole Church, and each received a general call and was ordained generally. It was only after 1763 that they were ordained to special districts or congregations.
JOHN M‘MILLAN, M.A.
There are various accounts of the life of John M‘Millan, the first minister of the Cameronians after the Revolution Settlement, and the following summary of the facts may suffice.
He was born at Barncauchlaw, Minigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire, in 1669 (?), and spent his boyhood near his birthplace. He appears to have been a “separatist” from his youth. Before he began his ministerial career he was elected an elder of Girthon session. He attended Edinburgh University 1695–7, and graduated M.A. on June 28, 1697 (Catalogue Edin. Graduates, 1858, p. 156). He was licensed on November 26, 1700, spending part of his probation as tutor with the Laird of Broughton, 1700–1. He preached for the first time in Balmaghie Church on December 22, 1700, apparently as ordinary supply, and on April 30, 1701, was elected to the parish. The call was reported to the Presbytery on June 24, and he was ordained on September 19. The controversy regarding his ecclesiastical attitude lasted from October 1702 to December 30, 1703, when he was deposed. His name first appears in the minutes of the General Meeting of the Dissenters when they considered a letter from him, April 5, 1704. He conferred with its members on January 31, 1705, and February 13, 1706, and on August 14, 1706, submitted to them. The Societies called him on October 9. The Covenants were renewed at Auchensaugh on July 23–4, 1712. M‘Millan left the Balmaghie Manse in 1727, and during 1729–34 resided at different places in the parish of Carnwath, and at Braehead from 1734–53. The Presbytery was erected at Braehead on August 1, 1743, and a disruption took place in it in April 1753. He died at Broomhill on December 1, 1753.
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M‘Millan married—(1) Jean Gemble in 1708. She died in 1711, aged 31, leaving no issue. (2) Mary, daughter of Sir Alexander Gordon of Earlston, and widow of Edward Goldie. She died in 1723, aged 43, leaving no issue. (3) Grace Russell (or Janet Jackson according to another account), with issue: Josias, born June 12, 1726, died February 7, 1740; Kathren, born December 19, 1727, died February 17, 1736; John, who became his father’s successor, born July 4, 1729; Grizel, born January 26, 1731, died 1767; Alexander Jonita, a daughter, born May 28, 1734, died 1734.
See Minutes of Presbytery of Kirkcudbright, August 20, 1700–October 1, 1717; Observations on a Wolf in a Sheep’s Skin [by Charles Umpherson], 1753, where M‘Millan’s death is described, pp. 39–46; J. H. Thomson, R.P. Magazine, 1869 and 1870; Prof. Reid’s A Cameronian Apostle, Paisley, 1896; Register of the Rev. John Macmillan (Marriages and Baptisms, 1706–44), edited by Rev. Henry Paton, Edin., 1908; Dict. Nat. Biog., s.v.
THOMAS NAIRN
Thomas Nairn’s connection with the Reformed Presbyterian Church was merely a phase in his controversial life, but he did the Church an inestimable service. His adhesion rendered its organisation possible, and saved it from much subsequent difficulty.
Ordained as minister of Abbotshall, Fifeshire, in 1710, he joined the Seceders in 1737. In 1742 he dissented from the action of the Presbytery in adopting a resolution condemnatory of those who were opposed to the then civil authority. He resisted, and finally joined M‘Millan on February 3, 1743. On April 4 the Societies called him to be one of their ministers. There was thus the necessary number to form a Presbytery, and it was duly constituted on August 1, 1743. The Seceders evidently did not consider their connection with Nairn ended by these proceedings, for in November 1747 he was served with a libel. The case dragged on till February 1750, when he was formally excommunicated.
Nairn’s subsequent connection with the Reformed Presbyterian Church is obscure owing to the absence of the records. He was sent on at least one mission to the adherents of the Church in Ireland, but he appears to have left the Presbytery soon after joining it. He was brought under its censure, it is understood, because of some ecclesiastical misdemeanour. He was restored to the Church of Scotland in 1751, and died in 1764.
See Adam Gib’s Display, I, 257–9, II, 111–15; Hutchison’s Reformed Presbyterian Church, pp. 184, 186, 191–3, 203; and Small’s United Presbyterian Congregations, II, 352–3.
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ALEXANDER MARSHALL
Alexander Marshall first comes under notice on May 30, 1737, when the General Meeting determined “to call forth to the office of the holy ministry Mr Charles Umpherson¹ and Mr Alexander Marshall whom we judge the most fit and qualified persons among us being allowed teaching, and of known integrity to the cause of Christ.” But the ordination by one man still proved an insuperable difficulty. In 1740 Marshall, along with two others, was appointed to draw up what is known as the Mount Herrick Declaration. The constitution of the Presbytery in 1743 made ordination possible, and on November 15, 1744, Marshall was duly set apart. In the same year he was sent with Thomas Nairn to visit the societies in Ireland, with whom intercourse had hitherto been only by letter. Owing to illness he was unable to take part in the proceedings of Presbytery which led to the Secession of 1753, and he has dropped out of knowledge before records are again available.
It is a curious example of the ecclesiastical workings of those times that he, in January 1748, was solemnly deposed from the ministry by the Associate Synod, with which he never had any connection!
JOHN CUTHBERTSON
John Cuthbertson, of whose antecedents and training nothing is known, was born, probably about 1720, at Carnwath, where it is said he owned some house property. He was ordained at Braehead on May 18, 1747. In 1752 he was sent to America, and was accordingly absent from the disruption of 1753. For a number of years he laboured among the Reformed Presbyterian societies, scattered over thirteen colonies, and for that time was the only Reformed Presbyterian minister so employed. In 1772 he was joined by three ministers from Scotland and Ireland, and they constituted themselves into the Reformed Presbytery of the United States of North America. In 1782 that Presbytery united with certain Associate Presbyteries, to the dissatisfaction of the Home Church. Cuthbertson seems to have been stationed at Octorora, Pennsylvania. He created some discontent in not keeping up correspondence with home, and near the close of his life incurred the censure of his Presbytery, who suspended him for some weeks. He died on March 10, 1791.
Like Marshall he was deposed from the ministry by the Associate Synod on January 7, 1748.
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¹ Surgeon at Pentland. He was father-in-law of John M‘Millan II, and died in 1758, aged 79.
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JAMES HALL
James Hall was ordained at Bothwell on August 28, 1750, and was one of the minority in the Breach of 1753. For some years he itinerated over a wide area, ministering to those who sided with him. In 1762 he was settled over a congregation in Edinburgh as their fixed pastor. He died on December 8, 1781, aged 55, and was buried beside the Martyr’s Monument, in Greyfriars’ Churchyard, Edinburgh.
JOHN M‘MILLAN II
John M‘Millan, the second of the name, was born at Eastforth, Carnwath, on July 4, 1729. He was ordained at Bothwell on September 20, 1750. He first comes under notice in support of his father against the heresy of Hall and Innes in 1753. He probably was the author of the vindication issued afterwards—A Serious Examination and Impartial Survey, Edin., 1754. He had no fixed residence at first, but it is probable that he lived for some time at Pentland before he went to Sandhills, or Sandyhills, near Glasgow, about 1786. He there took up house in a building belonging to some relatives.
M‘Millan itinerated among the scattered societies, and the work must have been correspondingly heavy. When he reached his jubilee in 1800 he wished to retire, but his brethren were averse from the proposal, and he withdrew it. To enable him to move about with freedom, his congregation offered him a “coracle,” but he twice refused the gift. He died on February 11, 1808. The Presbytery was peculiarly wordy on the occasion, for the mere date of such events hitherto is alone recorded in their minutes. Among other things they say that “during the period of near 60 years he had served the Community with great labour, faithfulness and acceptance.” Robert Walker, who acted as his officer, thus describes his appearance: “The writer has a vivid recollection of his patriarchal appearance, his flowing white locks, his rubicund countenance, the obesity of his person, his solemn enunciation and the almost imperceptible movement which almost described a semicircle in the pulpit.”
Much of the writing of M‘Millan is no doubt lost, but in addition to the Serious Examination, he produced the following: “An Address to the Reader,” prefixed to A Protestation against Toleration, 1770, and The Faithful and Wise Servant, a sermon of 63 pages preached at the ordination of his son at Stirling in 1779.
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He married a daughter of Charles Umpherson, and in 1792 a colleague was appointed in the person of John Fairley, jun.
See Couper’s A Century of Congregational Life, Glasgow, 1919, where there is a portrait.
HUGH INNES
Hugh Innes was ordained generally at Broomhill, Lanarkshire, on November 21, 1751. He was one of the minority of 1753, and for a time stood alone with those who adhered to him. Along with others he set up a dissentient Reformed Presbytery in 1761. A feu was taken in 1751 in the Calton of Glasgow by James Buchanan, who is described as a “student of divinity,” and in 1754 the site was acquired by Innes for himself and his congregation. A meeting-house was erected on it for their accommodation.
Innes died suddenly in January, 1765, at the age of 38. He was the author of An Alarm to Prayer, 1753, Bigotry Disclaimed and Unity Recommended, 1754, Charity always Consistent with Christianity, 1754, and Meditations and Reasonings on Various Subjects, 1756. His son was Sir Hugh Innes of Lochalsh, Bart., M.P., 1764–1831.
The story of the movement led by Innes and Hall is told in the Records of the Scottish Church History Society, I, 1–28. See the authorities cited there.
JOHN COURTASS
John Courtass was one of the original “Four Johns,” but nothing is known of his birth and training. He was ordained at Craighead on September 6, 1755, and was specially assigned to the Southern congregation when the Presbytery was divided in 1763—“the which they do on the footing of the general call formerly tendered to him as also in consequence of the encouragement had from the voices of the commissioners from the Southern congregation.” He took up residence at Quarrelwood, near Dumfries, and there a meeting-house was erected for him. He was probably the author of the historical and doctrinal sections of the Act, Declaration and Testimony of June 6, 1761. His name is not obtrusive in the records, and he died on January 31, 1795.
His son, also named John, was the author of A Letter addressed to the Community of Old Dissenters, Glasgow, 1797, on the question of the frequency of celebrating the Lord’s Supper—a matter that was then engaging attention. John Courtass, who was licensed on October 18, 1815, and died three months afterwards, was probably his grandson.
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WILLIAM MARTIN
William Martin was a student at Glasgow University from 1753. He was ordained at Vow, Rasharkin, Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, on July 2, O.S. 1757, as the first minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland. On April 12, O.S. 1760, the congregation in Ireland was divided into two. Martin was settled over counties Down and Antrim, and, until another minister was appointed, he was recommended to give what help he could to the other congregation, scattered over ’Derry, Donegal, and Tyrone. He attended the meetings of Presbytery in Scotland as he found opportunity. On March 11, 1772, it was intimated that Martin had gone to America without permission, conduct which the Presbytery denounced as “disorderly and scandalous.”
JOHN THORBURN
John Thorburn was born, probably in 1730, at Wallacetown in Annandale, where his father was a merchant. The first extant minute of Presbytery, February 9, 1758, gives his name as clerk, a post he retained till his ordination. He was licensed at Crawfordjohn on February 1, O.S. 1759, and thereafter spent his probationership in itinerating, once accompanying M‘Millan II to Ireland. On a call from the Societies, he was ordained at Crawfordjohn on May 17, 1762. Along with M‘Millan he was apportioned to the Northern congregation on the division of the Church into separate congregations in 1763, and he seems soon to have settled down at Pentland, near Edinburgh, as his home and the centre of his work. In 1787 a definite line was drawn between the district assigned to him and the congregation in the West.
Thorburn was an earnest student and a diligent pastor. His salary, it is said, never exceeded £20 a year, but he appears to have had a private income. He did his best to help deserving students, and it is probable boarded suitable men in his manse. His learning was recognised by the proposal in 1785 to make him theological tutor, but he died before the arrangements could be carried out. He did not write much. He was the author of the doctrinal part of the Testimony of 1761, an astonishing performance when it is remembered that he was still a probationer: it served the Church, with slight alterations, for the next sixty years. His opus magnum was the Vindiciæ Magistratus, 1773, in which the divine institution and rights of the Civil Magistrate are vindicated against an Associate Burgher minister. Lord Kames described it as “the best defence of Whig principles.”
Thorburn died in harness on August 17, 1788. He was married three
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times: (1) to Grizel M‘Millan, widow of Andrew Galloway of Sandhills, Glasgow, and daughter of John M‘Millan I; (2)—Christie, Hailes Quarry; and (3) Agnes Stevenson. His youngest daughter became the wife of Rev. John Milwain, of Douglas Water.
See Scottish Presbyterian, 1849, pp. 105–13.
MATTHEW LIND
Matthew Lind was a native of Co. Antrim, Ireland, where he was born in 1732. He entered Glasgow University in 1760, and was licensed at Carnaught in Ireland at a meeting of Presbytery held on July 25, O.S. 1761. He was ordained over the congregation in the West of Ulster, and resided at Coleraine. He went to America in 1773 without the consent of the Presbytery, and was almost immediately settled over the congregation in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, removing to Greencastle in 1783. Before his death on April 21, 1800, he was for some time an invalid, due to a fall from his horse.
Considerable trouble was caused him in Ireland by an accusation that he had performed a clandestine marriage—which he repudiated. Long afterwards the actual culprit confessed to the deed.
JOHN FAIRLEY I
John Fairley, known as one of the “Four Johns,” was born in 1729 in the parish of Carnwath, Lanarkshire. While a student he supported himself by teaching. He first appears in the minutes of the Presbytery in 1760. After a long examination, extending over many months, he was licensed on February 21, 1761. In the same year he was sent to Ireland, and while there was presented with a call from the “vacant congregation . . . of Londonderry, Donegal and Tyrone.” He accepted it, but the ordination was not carried out, and in April 1762 he was recalled to Scotland. At the next meeting of Presbytery he was appointed clerk and dropped the call. At the meeting of August 1763 he was offered two calls—one from America and the other to be colleague to John Courtass in the Southern congregation. He accepted the latter, and was ordained at Leadhills on December 21, 1763.
At first he resided at Thirton House near Douglas, and afterwards at Howgill, Newtonhead. A church was built for him at the former place. His people were scattered over the southern Scottish counties, but in his last years he confined his labours to the near neighbourhood of his home. He died on April 18, 1806, aged 76. He married Janet Allison, Thornhill, Stirlingshire, who died in 1800.
He was the author of An Humble Attempt in Defence of Reformation
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Principles, on the Head of the Civil Magistrate, Edin., 1770. He preached at the ordination of William Steven at Bridge of Weir in 1777, and the sermon was published under the title of The Treasure in Earthen Vessels, Falkirk, 1779. Certain personal information about him is given in the Scottish Presbyterian, 1850.
ROBERT YOUNG
The career of Robert Young was a strange one. He entered the General Associate (Antiburgher) Hall, being one of the 1759 class. He was called successively to Elgin, Coupar-Angus and Burntisland, but in each case the procedure broke down on account of his unruly conduct, and he was subsequently deprived of his licence for contumacy (Small, I, 623; II, 362, 565; M‘Kelvie, p. 655).
On March 3, 1773, he applied for admission to the Reformed Presbytery. At first the Presbytery was suspicious of him, but ultimately he was received as a probationer. On April 5, 1775, he accepted a call to St John’s Island, North America, and on May 11 was ordained at Sandhills, on the express understanding that he remained subject to the Presbytery. Apparently he had no intention of going, for on June 12 it is recorded that he was then in Ireland, where he remained for the next twelve years. In 1788 he brought extraordinary charges against the members of the Irish Committee, the people there, and the Presbytery in Scotland. It is apparent that he had been in prison for debt. He was summoned to attend the next meeting of Presbytery both on account of the charges he had made and because he had been preaching at his own hand. He made no appearance, and on March 18, 1789, he was suspended. On March 10, 1790, he was declared no longer a member of the Church.
WILLIAM STEVEN
There is no indication given when Steven was born or where he came from. The name of a William Steven occurs in the Matriculation Albums of Glasgow University, where he is said to be a dyer’s son from Kilmarnock. He began his studies in 1768, and he may be this William Steven. Steven was licensed at Pentland on January 4, 1775. In the following year he was called to Antrim, in Ireland, but declined the invitation. Next year the counties of Ayr and Renfrew were declared a separate congregation and on March 19, 1777, they called Steven. He was ordained at Bridge of Weir on September 4, the annual stipend being stated at £40. When the whole district thus separated was divided into two congregations in 1785, Steven chose Ayrshire. Preaching stations were settled at
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Crookedholm near Kilmarnock, Darvel and Fenwick. He took up his residence at Crookedholm, and died on December 22, 1796.
The well-known John Howie of Lochgoin belonged to the congregation, and from his peculiar views and temperament proved a thorn in the side of Steven. He imagined the minister preached and prayed at him. “On one occasion he took Steven to task for some statements which he had made in a sermon concerning punitive justice and also concerning Christ’s power as Mediator. . . . To Howie and some others it was offensive, and he set himself to show the minister,—at a meeting called for the purpose at a farmhouse, Glenfin in Fenwick, to which the minister was summoned—that it was a moral and not a natural and physical necessity that involved the exercise of punitive justice.” Steven, however, was much respected. “Few ministers of his time possessed a greater share of those qualities which constitute an influential and efficient preacher. Sound piety, acuteness of mind, and dignity of expression marked his pulpit ministrations.”
In 1794 he took part in the controversy which had been proceeding for some years on the relation of the Church to the Civil Government. His pamphlet of 130 pages was a reply to the strictures of the Rev. William Fletcher of Bridge of Teith, and is entitled Answers to Twelve Queries proposed to the Serious Consideration of the Reformed Presbytery and their followers. It is well written. Fletcher replied.
JOHN M‘MILLAN III
John M‘Millan III, the son of John M‘Millan II, was born in 1752, and was licensed on January 4, 1775, at Pentland. His Arts course was apparently taken in Glasgow University. On March 19, 1777, he received no fewer than four calls—Inverkeithing, Hamilton, Stirling, and Merse and Teviotdale. He took some time to decide. On July 21 he rejected Inverkeithing and Merse and Teviotdale, and on September 1 he accepted Stirling. On March 11, 1778, he was ordained, his stipend being at the rate of £52 per annum.
In 1802 M‘Millan was nominated theological tutor, and on August 17, 1803, he accepted office. His salary as professor was to be “£30 or as near it as possible.” In November it was reported that “he had met with them [the students] and begun this work, and that an appointment had been made for a fuller meeting in May.” At the same time, the Presbytery agreed that if any young men had the intention of entering the Church and “shall desire to attend the instruction of the Teacher of Divinity they may be admitted by him as hearers.” Next year he had such a severe illness that he asked to be relieved of the office, but the
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Presbytery “agreed to delay the removal of the charge of the students from him till they see the issue of the means he is using at present for the restoration of his health.” He was restored and resumed teaching. Altogether 31 students seem to have passed through his hands, some of them coming from Ireland.
He died on October 20, 1819, at Edinburgh, on the way home from Bath, where he had gone to recruit. The Presbytery spoke of him as “an ornament to his profession, a judicious and able minister,” and the Synod in its obituary notice of him as “having laboured with unusual acceptance and ability in the service of the Church. For sixteen years he held the place of Professor of Divinity with great respectability to himself and usefulness to the Church. His presence in the court was at all times a blessing and an ornament.” He was twice married.
M‘Millan did not publish much. He entered into the controversy of 1781, publishing A Letter, Glasgow, 1781, to certain members of the Burgher Associate Synod, and he also printed the Charges at the ordination of Symington at Paisley in 1809. A letter to his people a few months before his death appears in the Scottish Presbyterian, 1841, pp. 22–3.
See Ormond’s A Kirk and College in the Craigs of Stirling, Stirling, 1897, where there is a portrait.
WALTER GRIEVE
Walter Grieve was licensed on January 4, 1775, and after the usual time itinerating, was called by the congregation whose centre was at Inverkeithing in Fifeshire. Grieve had some difficulty in accepting the invitation, but put himself at the disposal of the Presbytery. He was ordained at Inverkeithing on November 3, 1779.
The congregation was evidently small and scattered. It included Dunfermline, and an attempt was made also to serve Perth. About 1787 unsatisfactory reports reached the Presbytery about the relation of the minister and people, and an enquiry was ordered. The lack of money was at the root of the trouble, Grieve’s stipend not being paid. On July 23, 1788, the pastoral tie was dissolved and Grieve was made a minister in general. That, however, did not end the difficulty, for Grieve ceased exercising his ministry, and was pursued for the recovery of a bond for money paid him. The Presbytery sided with him in the money transaction, and apparently it was settled.
On August 11, 1802, the Presbytery was informed that a call from Chirnside and Kelso had come out in favour of Grieve, but at the next meeting it was intimated that Kelso refused to concur in it, and the Presbytery did not sustain it. Grieve never received another call, and
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exercised his ministry as he could till feeble health prevented. He died on March 5, 1822. In its eulogy on him his Presbytery said that at the close of his life “he laboured occasionally in the different corners of our Church, and particularly in the Parish of Ettrick where his family resided.” He married Jean Ballantyne, Craig-of-Douglas, and their son, John, was a poet and the close friend of the “Ettrick Shepherd.”
WILLIAM STAVELY
In 1763 a Presbytery had been formed in Ireland, but it was dissolved in 1779 owing to the death or emigration of some of the ministers. Being left alone William Stavely acceded to the Scottish Presbytery, “their being no other Court with which he had access with which he can connect himself in Presbyterial communion.” He is described as “among the most prominent ministers of his day” and as “a man of great energy and zeal who did much to consolidate the cause in the north of Ireland.” In 1780 he had a fierce difference with the erratic Robert Young, but an understanding was come to. The Irish Presbytery was reconstituted in 1782.
In 1802 Stavely came under the censure of the Presbytery for his participation in the political troubles subsequent to the Irish Union of 1801. He stated that he had been prevailed upon to take, and administer to others, the declaration for the redress of grievances, that he had sat in private meetings, that he had contributed “a little money,” and that he “had in an unthinking manner spoken something of lifting up arms from Loyalists.” He admitted all this and submitted himself to the Presbytery. He was solemnly rebuked on October 22, 1802, commissioners from the Scottish Presbytery acting along with his own, and the Moderator being Thomas Henderson of Kilmalcolm.
JOHN REID I
John Reid, who is understood to have been somewhat advanced in years, was licensed at Foulyet on April 26, 1780. On August 5, 1782, a call was ready to be presented to him from the congregation of Chirnside and Kelso, but he was not present at the Presbytery to receive it. At the next meeting on September 4 he explained that his horse had fallen so lame that he could not reach the Presbytery in time. The Presbytery were not willing to receive the explanation and declared that he “should have spared no pains nor cost” to attend. After some hesitation he accepted the call, and was ordained at Chirnside on March 12, 1783.
In 1785 Kelso craved to be disjoined from Chirnside, but Reid “had
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not clearness to make choice,” and he was settled at Chirnside under the condition that he should supply Kelso for the next twelve months. In 1788, however, Kelso asked to be again united with Chirnside. He died on January 12, 1801.
JAMES REID
James Reid was born in the parish of Shotts on August 12, 1750, and licensed at Foulyet, Bothwell, on April 26, 1780. He was called by the Western division of the Southern congregation on February 5, 1783, and was ordained at Minigaff on July 10, 1783. He accepted the call “with a deep sense of his own weakness and incapacity.” His stipend was £40 a year.
Almost from the start Reid found the size of his parish too much for him. On November 12, 1788, he informed the Presbytery that he was unable to overtake “his extensive charge,” and in August of the following year he repeated his complaint, asserting the heaviness of his duties. At the same time he asked leave to visit America, which the Presbytery cordially granted him. He was away till the meeting on November 17, 1790, and then returned with a call from South Carolina, either to himself or to any other member of the Presbytery. On August 17, 1781, Reid definitely refused, and none other was found who would accept. Again on March 16, 1796, a call came from New York, but again he declined, as did all the others.
When his extensive parish was divided Reid chose “the low or Galloway” end. He was most assiduous in the performance of his duties, and he and his white pony were familiar figures on the roads.
In 1822 the Synod removed the reference to the Renovation at Auchensaugh from the Terms of Communion, and Reid objected to the change. At the Presbytery meeting of August 19, 1823, he said “he could no longer continue a member of the court,” and though he did not at once forsake the Synod and Presbytery, and everything possible was done to meet his wishes, it was reported in 1826 that “he considers himself separated from the Synod,” and he declined further interviews.
In 1828 he removed from Newton-Stewart to Glasgow, where he preached to those who sympathised with him as long as his strength lasted. He died on November 4, 1837, aged 86 and in the 54th year of his ministry. The Synod still remembered the great work he had accomplished, and in 1838 recalled “the excellent Christian character, the manifold labours, and extensive usefulness of this venerable servant of Christ.” On December 26, 1786, he married Helen Bland of Calside, Anwoth.
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Reid was author of Our Lord Jesus God-Man, Dumfries, 1793; The Great Mystery of Godliness: God manifest in the Flesh, Dumfries, 1794; Memories of the Rev. Jeremiah Whitaker, A.M., Glasgow, 1805; and Memoirs of the Westminster Divines, Paisley, 2 vols, 1811.
THOMAS HENDERSON
Thomas Henderson was born in the parish of Holywood in 1757, and entered Glasgow University in 1776. He was licensed at Douglas on March 9, 1785. On November 8 of the next year he accepted a call from the congregation of Renfrewshire, and was ordained at Bridge of Weir on April 26, 1787. During his ministry the area of his wide district was considerably reduced—a course in which he reluctantly acquiesced. He did much for the section of Argyleshire placed under his care—“he was one of the first who made known the doctrines of the Reformation” there. His church and manse were situated in Kilmalcolm. He died on October 21, 1823.
In its obituary notice of him the Synod specially noted that he was “eminent for his classical and literary attainments—theological erudition and knowledge of ecclesiastical history, especially the history of the first and second Reformations in Scotland. In the laws, forms and usage of the Presbyterian Christian courts he was a proficient.” He published Testimony-bearing Exemplified, Paisley, 1791, a large volume which contained some Church documents of the seventeenth century and is referred to in Macaulay’s History, chap. xvi.
ARCHIBALD MASON, D.D.
Archibald Mason was one of the outstanding ministers of the denomination, and a writer of some note. He was the first of the Reformed Presbyterian ministers to commit himself to a literary career.
He was born at Bargady, Old Monkland, Lanarkshire, on September 15, 1753. His mother was the sister of Rev. Dr Mutter of Kirkcudbright. Driven from the Church of Scotland because of some dissatisfaction with the moral character of their minister, his parents joined the Secession and became members of the Glasgow congregation of James Fisher. After receiving a country school education, Archibald was apprenticed to a sadler, and spent his time between Glasgow and Greenock. Having kept up his studies, he entered Glasgow University and passed through the ordinary Arts course, taking also classes in divinity. His name does not appear on the lists of students of either branch of the Secession.
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Having been attracted to the Reformed Presbyterian testimony, he joined the congregation at Sandhills.
He was licensed to preach on August 12, 1783, and at the same time was appointed clerk to the Presbytery, a post which he held for nearly twenty years till March 1806. The necessities of the Church at the time prevented his immediate settlement in a congregation, but he had calls from Perth, Dundee, Hamilton and Wishawtown. Ordained over the last at Flemington, in the parish of Dalziel, on May 1, 1787, he remained there till the close of his ministry thirty-five years later. He died on November 19, 1831. Four years after his ordination he married Janet, daughter of William Stark of Carnwath: Mrs Mason died on November 3, 1827. In 1831 Mason received the degree of D.D. from Schenectady College, U.S.A.
Mason was strong intellectually and wrote much on prophetical and apocalyptical subjects. His chief works number eleven, and date from 1793 to 1829. The largest are Inquiry into the Times that shall be fulfilled at Anti-Christ’s Fall, 1818, and Scripture View . . . concerning the Jews’ Blindness, 1821. His Presbytery testified to the value of his books: they were the “fruits of mature, conscientious study,” and “his addresses were correct, earnest, solemn, peremptory.” The memorial notice of the Synod was very long, and said that “as an author he had obtained great celebrity. His works, specially those on Prophecy, were highly and deservedly popular. They are distinguished by profound thinking, lucid statement, judicious arrangement and accurate Scripture reasoning.”
A posthumous volume of Sermons was published, which contains a short memoir by Andrew Symington, D.D. A portrait is prefixed.
JOHN REID II
John Reid, who is believed to have been the son of John Reid of Chirnside, was licensed at Douglas on August 12, 1786. On February 13, 1787, a call was presented to him from Perth, but delay was asked for on the ground of the improved prospects of the congregation. Reid, however, declined the invitation on November 14. In July 1788 he was ordained at Laurieston, the stipend to be £40. On March 5, 1806, a call was received from Galway and Louisburgh, in the State of New York. Before determining on it, the Presbytery resolved to send him to America to examine the conditions, but there is no indication that he went, or that the matter was ever dealt with again.
Reid took a considerable share in defending the position of the Presbytery. His works are: Truth no Enemy to Peace, Falkirk, 1799, a contribution to the controversy on the Civil Magistrate then proceeding;
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Case of the Poor considered, and Charity to them Recommended, Falkirk, 1800; Explanation and Defence of the Terms of Communion, 1806; Short Account of the Old Presbyterians, Falkirk, 1806.
In the beginning of December 1820 he fell from his horse, and died on the 4th from the injuries sustained. The Synod spoke of “the judiciousness of his remarks, the conciliatory tenor of his proposals and the courteousness of his manner.”
WILLIAM KING
William King came from Ireland. He was licensed at Douglas on March 9, 1785, and ordained at Wishawtown on June 4, 1792, “with a view to his being sent on a mission to the Church in North America.” Having been made a member of Presbytery, he was authorised to set up a Presbytery there along with James M‘Garrah, and was “to remain among the people in the American States as long as he shall judge it consistent with duty, or until he shall be recalled by the Presbytery.”
King first settled in South Carolina, and after some time in Pennsylvania and New York, he returned to South Carolina, where he became minister of a church in Chester. He died on August 24, 1798, at the age of about 50.
JOHN FAIRLEY II
John Fairley II, the son of one of the “Four Johns,” was born in the manse of Newton Head, Douglas, in 1766. He entered Glasgow University in 1783, and was licensed at Hamilton on March 16, 1791. In 1792 he was called, somewhat irregularly, to Pentland, but the Presbytery set aside the call on the ground that another had very nearly the same support. In 1793 he was elected to Sandhills, Glasgow, as colleague to the venerable John M‘Millan, although there is no record of the election; and he was ordained in the Calton of Glasgow on March 11, 1794.
Although he is described as “talented, well educated, and of agreeable manners,” as well as “greatly acceptable in his public ministrations” and “much loved in private life,” dissatisfaction arose in the congregation over his loss of voice, and he was loosed from his charge on November 11, 1807.
Fairley bore no grudge against the Church for its action, and he continued to serve it with much zeal and efficiency. He did not take another call, but he preached at the direction of the Synod and Presbytery, was moderator of both courts, and acted as clerk of Presbytery. He was specially useful to the new congregation of West Campbell Street until a
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minister was called. He wrote the Synodical Warning against Popery, 1817, and the historical part of the Testimony of the Church, 1837. He died at Gayfield, near Glasgow, on August 8, 1837. For a portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
THOMAS ROWATT
Thomas Rowatt was born in Hamilton in 1768, and became a student of Glasgow University in 1783, taking the Hebrew class in 1787–88. He was licensed at Hamilton on March 16, 1791. In 1793 he was elected minister of Pentland by “a great majority,” though he was opposed by a “few persons” who protested. On March 11, 1794, he accepted the call, but asked that the ordination be postponed. The opposition was not withdrawn, and after considerable delay, he refused the invitation on August 26, 1795. The congregation, however, repeated the call, but it was again refused on March 16, 1796. On August 17 of that year he accepted a call from the newly-formed congregation of Penpont, and was ordained there on September 14, 1796.
Rowatt, who married a daughter of the second John M‘Millan, was a consecrated minister, and was specially noted for his devotion to duty and prayerfulness. The last few months of his life were spent in illness, and he died suddenly at Penpont on January 27, 1832. Both the Synod, of which he was Moderator at the time of his death, and the Presbytery pronounced eulogies over the singleness of his life and ministry.
JAMES THOMSON
James Thomson was born at Kilsyth in 1760, and entered Glasgow University in 1784. He was licensed at Hamilton on August 21, 1793, and was called to Quarrelwood on March 16, 1796, where he was ordained on September 15. His health was never robust, and in 1806 he was called by the newly-formed congregation at Paisley, in the hope that a change might be beneficial, but the rule against the transportation of ministers stood in the way, and the movement ended. Thomson died suddenly on April 18, 1810. “His piety, his genius, his large-hearted comprehensive views of Scripture truth and his abundant labours” were recalled long after his death. He married Janet Reid, who died in 1830.
In 1808–9 he published Theological Discourses on Important Subjects Doctrinal and Practical, 2 vols. A third volume was in preparation when he died.
See Scottish Presbyterian, November 1849.
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ROBERT DOUGLAS
Robert Douglas was licensed on March 12, 1794, and after itinerating for some time was called unanimously to the charge at Stranraer, which call he accepted at Glasgow on November 9, 1796. At the same meeting the people of Inverkeithing complained that he had disappointed them in not preaching and that “without any urgent cause.” The Presbytery “utterly disapproved” of his conduct, and made compensation to the aggrieved congregation. His ordination at Stranraer was carried out by a commission of Presbytery on May 31, 1797, at “the most convenient place in that congregation.” After a short ministry he died on July 22, 1800. As in earlier cases, the Presbytery recorded his decease without note of any kind except that it took place in “the sovereign and holy providence of God.”
ADAM BROWN
Adam Brown was born at Glasgow on April 15, 1775. Four years afterwards his parents removed to Dumbarton, where he attended the Academy of Rev. Dr Rennie. In 1791 he entered the University of Glasgow and proved himself in the classics and in science. He studied divinity under the direction of Thomas Henderson of Kilmalcolm, and was licensed at Wishawtown on June 10, 1799. On October 21, 1801, three calls—Stranraer, Chirnside, and Crookedholm—were presented to him, and he chose Crookedholm. He was ordained on June 2, 1802.
In 1825 the congregation removed to Kilmarnock, where a new church had been erected. The change caused considerable trouble, especially to the minister, and resulted in his resignation, which he ultimately withdrew. Brown died on May 29, 1838, the oldest minister of the denomination. The local newspaper described him as “a diligent pastor, a good divine, and what was more, he was a good man, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.” The Synod spoke of him as “industrious, zealous and faithful,” and his discourses as “practical, searching and soothing.” He married (1) in 1807, Janet Lindsay, niece of his predecessor, and (2) in November 1811, a daughter of Thomas Henderson of Kilmalcolm.
See a short prefatory memoir by Peter M‘Indoe, M.A., in a memorial volume, Sacramental Discourses, Glasgow, 1839.
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JOHN COWAN
John Cowan was licensed at Douglas on March 9, 1803, and next year received two calls—to Chirnside and Stranraer. At the meeting on August 15, 1804, he chose Stranraer, and was ordained there on November 21. He died on January 13, 1817. In its notice, the Synod declared “he had laboured with great acceptance in his charge,” and had been to the Synod itself “a most amicable and valuable member.”
WILLIAM GOOLD
William Goold was a native of Douglasdale. He early showed an inclination for the ministry, and took classes at Glasgow University, supporting himself meantime by teaching: his school attained to a certain reputation for proficiency. He was licensed at Douglas on March 9, 1803, and on August 15 of the following year had to choose between two calls—Darvel and New Cumnock, and Loanhead and Edinburgh. He chose the latter, and was ordained at Edinburgh on December 13, 1804.
As a minister “his life was distinguished by a regular and uniform attendance to all his duties, rather than by incidents of extraordinary character.” In 1818 Loanhead was disjoined from Edinburgh, and henceforward he ministered in Edinburgh alone. His son was settled as his colleague in 1840. He died suddenly at Portobello on July 18, 1844, aged 68. In its obituary notice of him, the Synod said: “In the uniform course of his ministry, scarcely ever interrupted by indisposition, he was endeared to his flock by his sound evangelical doctrines and exhortations, and by the diligence and kindness in the more private duties of the pastoral care.”
He printed only one discourse, The Healing Influence of God’s Word, Edin., 1813, preached on behalf of Loanhead Bible Society.
JAMES PHILLIPS
James Phillips was licensed at Glasgow on April 24, 1805, and next year was called to Chirnside and Kelso. He accepted the call on March 5, 1806, and was ordained at Chirnside on April 29 of the following year. In 1809 the question arose of dividing Kelso from Chirnside, and the matter dragged on till the close of 1811. During that time Phillips’ relations with the people were not good, and on March 10, 1812, he resigned, giving no reason for the step. The matter was referred to the Synod, which advised further enquiry, with the result that the pastoral tie was broken on June 29 on the ground of “his declared
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bodily inability and the congregation’s declaration of their incapacity to support him.”
It appears that Phillips had left the congregation before he was formally separated from them, and had engaged in teaching in Glasgow. The Synod found that this conduct was “irregular and unpresbyterial,” and Phillips expressed his “sense of the sinfulness of his action.” He submitted to the Presbytery, and was admonished. The Synod of 1814 declared that as he had not applied for a transference to the Western Presbytery he could not sit as a member of the supreme court. He was transferred on December 3, 1816, but was never again a member of Synod.
For a time he remained teaching in Glasgow, becoming a member of the congregation there. On January 4, 1826, he applied for formal transference to the Eastern Presbytery of Ireland, and the necessary certificate was granted by the Western Presbytery on July 26. He died in 1840.
ANDREW SYMINGTON, M.A., D.D.
Andrew Symington was born at Paisley on June 26, 1785, the eldest son of a merchant at the Cross, who gave three members of his family to the ministry.
Andrew received his early training at Paisley Grammar School, and then proceeded to the University of Glasgow, where he had a brilliant career, taking honours in several departments. In 1803 he graduated M.A. He attended the Hall at Stirling for the sessions 1805–7, and was licensed on November 11, 1807. Three calls were soon after offered to him—Glasgow, Water of Urr, and Paisley. He had no hesitation in choosing his native place, and was ordained there on April 26, 1809.
It was the beginning of a long and successful ministry. A student and scholar from the beginning, he soon came to be regarded as an ornament of his whole Church. He was made a D.D. by the Western University of Pennsylvania in 1831, which Glasgow University followed up with the same honour in 1840. In 1811 he was appointed Clerk to the Synod, a post he held till 1822. He was much in request for public functions, and often preached on behalf of important charities and religious societies. On the death of his old teacher, John M‘Millan, he was called, in 1820, to be Professor of Theology to the denomination. The method he adopted differed from that of his predecessor, for he abandoned expounding the Confession of Faith, and gave lectures on Systematic Theology. Single-handed he performed the duties of the Chair to the complete satisfaction of his fellow-members. When he died, it is said that only six or seven of the missionaries or ministers of the Church had
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not passed through his hands, while students came from Ireland and America.
He did not write much for the Press. With the exception of a few isolated sermons preached on special occasions and one or two introductory biographies to memorial volumes of sermons, he produced little. His Guide for Private Social Prayer, 1823, reached several editions, and the Elements of Divine Truth was published posthumously in 1854. He prepared some of the public documents of the Church.
He died on September 22, 1853. A slight accident had incapacitated him a fortnight before, but his death was unexpected. He met his students in his own house two days before the end. In 1811 he married Jane Stevenson. One of his sons, Andrew, was minister successively at Laurieston and Greenock.
In a long panegyric on his life and work the Synod said: “Possessed of mental abilities of a high order, and rich in varied attainments, secured by their diligent application to the pursuit of learning, and especially of theology, he reached a high place as an expounder of Scripture and a preacher of the Gospel of Salvation.”
For portrait, see Ormond’s A Kirk and College in the Craigs of Stirling.
ARCHIBALD MILLIGAN ROGERSON
Archibald Milligan Rogerson was born at Wanlockhead about 1783. He attended Glasgow University and took the usual course of four sessions at Stirling during 1805–8. He was chosen minister of Darvel and New Cumnock before the formation of the Synod in 1810. After considerable hesitation he accepted on August 7, at a meeting of the newly-constituted Western Presbytery, and was ordained on November 22. He received a stipend of £80 and a manse.
Rogerson was a very useful man to the Church. He acted as clerk to the Western Presbytery and the Kilmarnock Presbytery on its formation altogether for a period of twenty-three years from 1812. He was, besides, Clerk of Synod for thirty years, resigning only a few days before his death. He died during the sitting of the Synod on May 6, 1850. His “faithfulness and urbanity” were commended, and the Synod spoke of “the unfeigned respect in which they held his memory.”
JOHN WEST
John Westwater was born at Torryburn, Fifeshire. His father belonged to the Secession, but he elected to follow his mother’s denomination. He seems to have had some difficulty about licence, for it was
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delayed till November 9, 1803. He was called to Darvel on November 5, 1806, but on March 4 of the following year the call was departed from on the ground of want of harmony. On March 4, 1812, leave was given the Southern Presbytery to moderate in the congregation of Colmonell and Girvan, and on June 29 it was intimated that Westwater, who now chose to be known by the shortened form of his name, had been elected. At first he was not prepared to accept it, but he closed with the call on March 3, 1813, and was ordained at Poundland on August 11.
Though the congregation was small and scattered West continued among them till the close of his ministry. He died suddenly on February 15, 1845, his wife, Margaret Cant, who came from Bo’ness, dying one week afterwards. His Presbytery eulogised his memory as that of a preacher “earnest, sincere and unctional.” The Synod said that “he was beloved by his people . . . while his upright conversation and his piety commanded the high respect of the surrounding country.”
DAVID ARMSTRONG
David Armstrong was born at the farm of Little Catpair, Stow, Midlothian, on March 14, 1790. His parents were strong Cameronians, and the lad soon showed his desire for the ministry. After attending the parish school, he proceeded to Glasgow University at the age of thirteen. He had one session in the West, and thereafter attended Edinburgh University, where he completed his Arts course, taking some classes more than once. He entered the Hall at Stirling in 1808, and continued there for the next five summers. Offers were made to him of posts in the Church of Scotland and in the Navy, but he preferred the ministry of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and was licensed at Falkirk on March 9, 1813. After the usual itinerating, he was called to Quarrelwood, Water of Urr, and Glasgow. He chose the last, and was ordained on February 23, 1815. In 1819 the congregation moved into the larger building in Great Hamilton Street.
Armstrong was a conscientious preacher, and gave important service to the Synod. For a time he acted as Treasurer for it, and was asked to prepare the historical part of the new issue of the Testimony, a piece of work he was compelled to lay down before it was finished. He had much to do with the arrangements for the training of the ministry. In 1831 troubles arose in the congregation and a strong party sought his resignation. The end was the erection of another congregation on the west side of the city. The anxieties through which he had to pass weakened his health and impaired his eyesight, and for a time his duties were carried out with difficulty. He offered to resign, but his people
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would not accept the sacrifice. When visiting one of those who had opposed him, he caught fever and died on March 30, 1838.
Armstrong was of a studious disposition, and “his natural endowments were of no common order.” Though often urged to publish his sermons, he refused. He projected a History of Witnesses to the Church; other histories were for the most part “histories of her corruptions and corrupters.” His congregation at his death said that “the Church had lost an enlightened and able minister,” and his Presbytery spoke of him as “a faithful and laborious pastor.” In 1822 he married Ann Jamieson of Loanhead, who survived him for many years.
See the references named at the note on Great Hamilton Street church, and a posthumous volume of Sermons, Glasgow, 1838, with introductory memoir.
JOHN JEFFREY
John Jeffrey probably belonged to Airdrie. He attended Glasgow University, and the classes of M‘Millan at Stirling during sessions 1810–14. He was licensed by the North-Eastern Presbytery on August 14, 1815, and in April 1816 received two calls—Quarrelwood and Airdrie. The matter was referred to the Synod of 1816. On November 5 he accepted Quarrelwood, and was ordained there on April 3, 1817.
Jeffrey’s character does not appear to have been of the best. On March 5, 1822, complaint was made of personal violence he had offered to a fellow-presbyter, and he was suspended. He was restored on November 27. On April 12, 1826, he complained to the Presbytery that he had been slandered, and in addition raised an action for defamation in the Court of Session. The case was referred to the Synod, which remonstrated against the action in the law courts. Jeffrey undertook to refer the matter to arbitration, and declared “his conviction that going to law with a brother is inconsistent with the Word of God.” His complaint was dismissed. On the case being pressed against him, he denied its truth and “resigned all connection with the Church.” His relationship with the congregation was dissolved on May 12, 1826. He died on December 23, 1831, in America.
JOHN OSBORNE
Osborne came from Darvel, where he was born in 1787–8. After the usual University course, he attended the Hall at Stirling, taking sessions 1812–15. Next year he was licensed by the Western Presbytery at Crookedholm, on July 12, 1816. In 1817 he had calls from Water of Urr,
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Airdrie, and Stranraer. After considerable delay he chose the first, and was ordained over it at Castle-Douglas on April 9, 1818.
Osborne was a man of considerable ability, and there is good testimony to his success. “The name of John Osborne, announced to preach a special sermon, was security for a large audience. He was deservedly popular, but was also peculiar.” In 1822 an unseemly squabble between a fellow-minister and Osborne occupied the attention of the Presbytery, but Osborne succeeded in winning the encounter. In the autumn of 1827 a fama broke out regarding his conduct, but, after suspension and investigation, he was restored on November 18, 1828. The scandal was repeated in 1831, and the charges were before the Presbytery for some months. To escape, he announced his declinature on the ground of divergence of doctrine, but the Presbytery proceeded with the trial, found him guilty and deposed him on May 24, 1831. Before sentence was actually pronounced, he appealed to the Court of Session for suspension and interdict, but on July 18 the Lord Ordinary decided against him on the ground of no jurisdiction. He gave notice of an appeal to the Inner House, but the case does not appear to have been carried there. Many of his congregation sided with him and two-thirds of their number—which then approached 300—followed him and attended services which he started in the town.
After officiating for a time in a chapel in Birmingham, he opened a school in Dumfries, and preached to a small company on the Sunday. He ultimately migrated to America, and died at Hamilton, Canada, on July 9, 1850, after a short illness, as minister of an independent Congregational Church there.
PETER M‘INDOE, M.A., D.D.
Peter M‘Indoe, who was described as “one of the most talented and accomplished of the ministers” of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, was born at Stonehouse, and belonged to the congregation at Wishaw. He took his Arts classes at Glasgow, where he graduated M.A. in 1814, and divinity at Stirling during 1814–17. He was licensed by the North-Eastern Presbytery on June 29, 1818. At the Synod of the following year he had to make choice among three calls—Kelso and Chirnside, Eaglesham, and Loanhead. He selected the first, and was ordained at Chirnside on July 12, 1819.
His ministry was disturbed by the endeavour to procure a disjunction between the sections of the congregation, but it came to an end on a personal issue. Early in 1838 M‘Indoe was accused of certain errors of behaviour, and was rebuked. Matters did not settle down, and, with the consent of his congregation, he resigned on June 13.
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On August 15 of the following year he was inducted to the vacant congregation of Kilmarnock, and soon regained the esteem of the Church. He died at Craigends, near Troon, on September 2, 1850, aged 56. The local newspaper said: “There is scarcely a single public institution connected with Kilmarnock that has not received his countenance and support. For many years he has been secretary to the Free School. . . . He repeatedly held office in the Philosophical Institution; was vice-president of the Tract Society, of which he has been the principal support for the last ten years; and was a member of the Council of Direction of the Athenæum.” The Synod spoke of him as being “an able and faithful preacher, and by the productions of his pen, as well as the pleadings of his tongue, did valuable service to the cause of truth.” He received the degree of D.D. from the University of Oxford, U.S.A., in 1846.
Besides being the mouthpiece of the Synod in several public documents, he published sermons preached on public occasions. He edited, and wrote the larger portion of, The Scottish Advocate, and was the first editor of its successor, The Scottish Presbyterian. Altogether a dozen titles stand to his credit, of which perhaps Application of Scriptural Principles to Political Government is the most valuable.
WILLIAM SYMINGTON I, D.D.
William Symington, perhaps the best known of his denomination in the last century, was born in Paisley on June 2, 1795, a brother of Dr Andrew Symington. In his youth he attended a private school and Paisley Academy. In 1810 he took classes at Glasgow University, and spent the sessions 1814–17 at the Hall at Stirling. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on June 30, 1818. Two calls were presented to him at the Synod of 1819—Airdrie and Stranraer—and he accepted the latter. He was ordained on August 18, 1819.
The influence he exerted in Stranraer and the South of Scotland was very great. On a vacancy occurring in Great Hamilton Street, Glasgow, he was elected on March 5, 1839, although there was a considerable feeling in the Church against “transportations,” and a minority was opposed to him on that account. He had already been twice chosen for West Campbell Street in the same city, but the Synod had refused to present one call and he had declined the other. He was inducted on July 11.
The eminence of Dr Symington’s ministry in Glasgow is shown by the increase in the membership of the congregation, which reached nearly 1000, the position he reached in the general community, and the reception given to his various writings. On the death of his brother in 1853 he was
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elected to the Chair of Systematic Theology. In 1855 he was under the necessity of applying for a colleague, but it was not till March 3, 1859, that his son, William, was settled over the congregation. He died on January 28, 1862.
His contributions to literature included a number of fugitive pieces which he published while in Stranraer, but his chief works are The Atonement and Intercession of Jesus Christ, Edin., 1834, and Messiah the Prince, Edin., 1839. He received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh in 1839.
In 1820 he married Anne Spiers. Two sons entered the ministry—William and Alexander—and a daughter became the wife of Dr W. H. Goold of Edinburgh.
See the Biographical Introduction to Messiah the Prince, 1881, and Couper’s A Century of Congregational Life.
WILLIAM ANDERSON, M.A.
William Anderson was one of the outstanding figures in the Church of the first half of the nineteenth century. He was born at Ballylaggan, Co. ’Derry, in 1795, and spent his boyhood near Ballyclabber, Coleraine. His elementary education was received from a maternal uncle. He then passed over to Glasgow University, where he had an honourable career, not only graduating M.A. in 1816, but obtaining a post-graduate bursary for three years, which he used for further study. He took one session, 1816, in the Reformed Presbytery Hall at Paisley. Returning to Ireland, he was licensed there on October 15, 1818. He seems to have come back to Scotland at once, for he acted in the absence of John M‘Millan at Stirling in the autumn of 1818, and appears in the Presbytery minute of March 2, 1819, as a representative elder, and of June 4, as a “Preacher” and clerk, pro tempore. On November 2 he was formally transferred from the Northern Presbytery of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Ireland. At the same meeting it was announced he had been elected minister of the congregation at Loanhead. Although the call had been irregular, the Presbytery sustained it, and he accepted it on May 2, 1820. He was ordained on August 16. At the next meeting of Presbytery he was elected clerk, a post he retained till the close.
Anderson took a prominent part in the ecclesiastical proceedings of his time. He advocated that reference to the Renovation of the Covenant at Auchensaugh should be omitted from the terms of communion, and he was a member of the Committee on Union of 1821. He was, however, opposed to the freedom given by the Synod in 1863 on the question of the Elective Franchise and the Oath of Allegiance, and he seceded. With the other dissentients he set up a rival Reformed Presbytery.
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He died suddenly on June 30, 1866, in the 71st year of his age. In the notice in the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine a generous estimate is given of his character and services. It is said that even those opposed to him regarded “his character with affection and veneration,” and notice is taken that he did not allow “personal abuse” to enter into his attitude. The Reformed Presbyterian Witness, I, 459, contains a pathetic farewell letter addressed to his congregation.
JOHN MILWAIN
John Milwain was born in the parish of Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, where his father was a farmer, and was led to throw in his lot with the Reformed Presbyterian congregation of Stranraer through the influence of his sister. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall at Stirling, where he was for sessions 1815, 1817, and 1819. He was licensed by the Southern Presbytery on August 19, 1819. Milwain received three calls—Douglas Water, then known as Riggside and New Lanark, Airdrie, and Kelso. He asked for time for further consideration, and was sent to preach in each of the congregations. Ultimately, on October 2, he chose Riggside, and was ordained there on January 16, 1822. He resigned in 1859.
All the Courts of the Church bear witness to the fidelity with which Milwain carried out the duties of his office. “There is reason to apprehend that he sometimes applied too protractedly and intensely for his strength, which was never very robust.” In his retirement he wrote much and contributed to the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine. He left a Manuscript upon the Dominion of Christ, which he intended as an introduction to an old work on the subject—it was said to be “luminous, able and elaborate.”
He died at Lanark on August 2, 1860, aged 67. The Presbytery described him as “an instructive evangelical preacher,” and the Synod spoke of “his intrepidity in declaring and defending the truth.”
HUGH YOUNG
It cannot be stated definitely where Hugh Young was born. It was either at Priestfield, Galston, in 1788, or at Lealoan, Darvel, in 1787. He received his elementary education either at Newmills or Darvel. In his early youth he attended the congregation at Crookedholm, but on Darvel receiving a disjunction he transferred himself there. He was trained at Glasgow University and at the Hall at Stirling, where he spent the five sessions between 1812 and 1816. During the recesses he acted as
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a tutor in Argyleshire. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on October 28, 1817, and on November 13, 1821, was elected minister of Laurieston, where he was ordained on March 20, 1822. Next year he married a daughter of M‘Callum of Achlean.
Young had no special gifts as a preacher, though he was laborious as a pastor and in preparation for his pulpit. In disposition he was diffident and suspicious of his own attainments. He died suddenly on April 20, 1862.
STEWART BATES, M.A., D.D.
In May 1794 Stewart Bates was born in the village of Silverhill, near Londonderry. His father was an elder of the Presbyterian Church of Ulster, but his mother was a Reformed Presbyterian. He studied at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1815. He took theology in the same place. During his University course he underwent a change of view, and had some difficulty in procuring a disjunction from the Presbytery of Ulster, but he was at last received and licensed by the Western Reformed Presbytery of Ireland. There being no opening in Ireland, Bates came to Scotland, and for a time itinerated among the Reformed Presbyterian congregations there.
In the spring of 1823 he was unanimously called to Kelso, and the call was reported to the Synod on April 8, as Bates had not been regularly transferred to Scotland. On October 7 the necessary documents were forwarded, and Bates accepted the call. He was ordained on December 17. It was while he was at Kelso that he prevailed on the Church to undertake Foreign Missionary work—a subject in which he took a deep and abiding interest.
On March 13, 1838, he was elected to West Campbell Street, Glasgow, but because of the feeling in the Church about translations, the matter was referred to the Synod, which sustained the call. Bates accepted it, and he was inducted on July 5. About the same time he received the degree of D.D. He died on November 7, 1856.
Dr Bates took a prominent part in the life and work of the Church. The Synod recorded its sense of “his eminent ability, his excellent character, his zeal for the truth, his aptitude for the management of ecclesiastical business, his public spirit, and his abundant labours.” In 1839 he prepared the historical part of the Church’s Testimony, and in addition published separate sermons and discussions as follows: An Approved Workman, Glas., 1827; The Church’s Obligation and Encouragement to Missionary Enterprise, Edin., 1831; The Sin and Danger of Union between the . . . Church and an immoral . . . Govern-
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ment, Glas., 1841; Come out and be Separate, Glas., 1843; The Sabbath and Religious Liberty, Glas., 1849; and Perils of the Present Time, Glas., 1851.
THOMAS HALLIDAY
Thomas Halliday belonged to an old Cameronian stock: his grand-uncle, John Henderson, died before he received license to preach. He was born on November 18, 1799, at Farthingwell, Dunscore, Dumfriesshire, a small property belonging to his mother. After attending Dumfries Academy, he passed to Edinburgh University, where he spent the sessions 1815–18. The death of Professor M‘Millan caused some dislocation in the meetings of the Hall, and Halliday remained one year at private study. When the Hall was again constituted at Paisley he attended sessions 1821–3, although he had been licensed on April 1, 1823. Competing calls were presented to him by Kilmalcolm, Whithorn, and Airdrie, but at the meeting of Synod in May 1824 he accepted Airdrie. He was ordained on August 23. Halliday has left it on record that while he was a probationer he “delivered 156 discourses including a few which I was called on to deliver on week days, assisted at ten sacramental occasions, and travelled 3150 miles.” His ministry at Airdrie was short, for he fell into a decline and died on February 11, 1827.
Halliday was a diligent student all his days. Dr Symington, in a memoir which appears in Sermons by the Late Rev. Thomas Halliday, states that he was a most acceptable preacher. “His delivery was distinct, but rather monotonous and tending to rapidity. He had no gesticulation and obviously paid little attention to the niceties of elocution, but this want was compensated by the excellence of his matter.” The Synod records that his “ministrations were becoming more and more acceptable,” and his early death was sincerely mourned throughout the Church.
WILLIAM M‘LACHLAN
William M‘Lachlan was born in the Island of Seil, Argyleshire, and belonged to the Lorn congregation. He proceeded to Glasgow University, and entered the Hall at Paisley in 1820, finishing in 1823. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on August 11, 1824. Two calls came to him—Whithorn in April, and Kilmalcolm in May. At the meeting of Synod he accepted Kilmalcolm, and was ordained there on September 28, 1825.
Being a Gaelic preacher, M‘Lachlan was very useful in supplying those parts of the Highlands which adhered to the Reformed Presbytery. His own congregation was scattered though it had its centre in Kilmalcolm, and he suggested its transference to Port-Glasgow. A new church was
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built there and opened in 1856, and it is said that M‘Lachlan raised most of the money required, the church being opened almost free of debt.
The on-coming of old age made him ask for a colleague, and in 1866 Robert M‘Kenna was settled at Kilmalcolm, followed by Alexander Baird. In 1875 he celebrated his jubilee, when he was presented with addresses by both the congregation and the Presbytery. At the congregational soiree he received a cheque for £296. He died in the following year on March 22, aged 81.
ROBERT WINNING, M.A.
Robert Winning was born in Paisley in 1795, his father belonging to the Established Church and his mother to the Reformed Presbyterian. He went to Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1816. He then spent 1816, 1817, and 1819 in the Hall at Stirling. He was licensed on July 7, 1820, and for the next six years acted as a probationer. He accepted a call to Eaglesham, as its first minister, on June 6, 1826, and was ordained on August 29.
Winning was a scholarly man and kept up his stores of learning, the Hebrew Psalter being his companion when travelling. “His pithy sayings, his packet of tracts (for he was an energetic tract distributor from his youth), even his white pony and his camlet cloak are well remembered in many a farm house in the south.” He was a preacher of uncommon skill, and besides being attractive to children, drew many students to his manse. Being naturally retiring, he avoided ecclesiastical prominence.
He died on November 15, 1856, his last sermon being preached on the thirtieth anniversary of his settlement. The Presbytery described him as “a scholar of a high order, a sound theologian, a diligent pastor, and an earnest and faithful preacher.”
GAVIN ROWATT, M.A.
Gavin Rowatt was the eldest son of Thomas Rowatt, minister of Penpont, in which manse he was born in 1802. He graduated M.A. at Glasgow University in 1821, and attended the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1821–4. He was licensed by the Southern Presbytery on April 27, 1825. In the following spring he was presented with four calls—Whithorn, Strathmiglo, Stirling, and Kilbirnie. At the Synod of 1826 he preferred Whithorn, and was ordained there on September 13, his father taking the chief place in the ceremony.
Rowatt’s course was short, for he unexpectedly died on November 2, 1832. In recording his death the Presbytery did so with “deep and
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poignant grief,” and the Synod spoke of his “very promising talent and unaffected piety.” An impromptu poem, by Rev. Andrew Gilmour, on his sudden death was printed long afterwards in Reformed Presbyterian Witness, III, 459.
JAMES M‘LACHLAN
James M‘Lachlan was a native of Glasgow, where he was born about 1798. He was trained in the University, and was licensed by the Original Secession Presbytery of the city on February 14, 1826. On November 7 he was ordained for foreign mission service in South Africa. After two years’ residence there his wife’s health broke down and he returned to Scotland, and for the next four years acted as chaplain to the Seaman’s Mission in Glasgow. In 1833 he acceded to the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and was admitted a probationer by the Western Presbytery on February 27. He was then sent as the first missionary to Canada, and represented the Church there until she withdrew from the field in 1851.
He afterwards joined the Presbytery of Rochester of the Reformed Presbyterian Synod of America, and was settled at Lisbon, New York. He died on November 19, 1864.
JAMES FERGUSON
James Ferguson was born at Courance, Dumfriesshire, in 1797. His University course was taken at Glasgow, and he attended at the Reformed Presbyterian Hall in Paisley for the sessions 1821–4. He was licensed by the Southern Presbytery on April 12, 1826, after some doctrinal hesitation on his part. On January 23, 1827, he was elected to Kilbirnie, and was ordained there on September 5. Ferguson proved himself an energetic pastor, and carried with him the confidence of his brethren as an administrator and scholar. He set up the only Sabbath School in the parish. The membership of the congregation had increased to 145 at the time of his death.
He preached on his thirty-fifth anniversary, and next day went on holiday to his native place, where he died suddenly on September 15, 1862. He was a good preacher, though somewhat metaphysical and doctrinal, and with little fluency. His published works are mainly ephemeral, consisting of a lecture on the Headship of Christ, an address on “The Supremacy of Scripture,” delivered from the chair of the Synod in 1859, an “Exposition of the National Covenant,” prepared for the public celebration of the bi-centenary of the Westminster Confession, and a Pastoral Address in 1855.
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He left his library to the Reformed Presbyterian Hall, and, after a life-rent by his wife, who died in 1886, a considerable sum to the general purposes of the Church. To prevent litigation the amount was divided between the two Synods.
See Couper’s Kilbirnie West, 1923, with portrait.
WILLIAM STEVENSON
William Stevenson, the history of whose ministry is sad, belonged to the Kilmarnock congregation. He passed through Glasgow University and attended the Hall at Paisley for the four sessions, 1822–5. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on April 27, 1826, and was elected minister of Stirling on May 15, 1827, accepting the charge the same day. He was ordained on September 12. Stevenson had a fine presence, and was much esteemed as a preacher. “On entering the pulpit, his practice was to begin the service by a commentary on the signs of the times and aspects of Divine Providence,” and these special addresses were greatly appreciated. Unfortunately he was more than once accused of too great a fondness for strong drink, and he did much to create discontent in his congregation. In 1848 he was formally tried and was suspended sine die, his connection with Stirling being brought to a close.
In 1851 he was chosen to conduct services in the vacant congregation at Dundee for six months, and so commended himself that he was elected pastor. He was inducted on June 10, 1852. In 1857 there was a recrudescence of complaints about his behaviour, and he was finally deposed from the ministry on March 2, 1858. He subsequently withdrew to Australia, “where he preached and taught with much acceptance.” He died in 1879 at South Yarra, Melbourne, aged 79. In 1831 he had married a daughter of the Rev. William Goold of Edinburgh.
See Ormond’s A Kirk and College in the Craigs of Stirling, with portrait.
JAMES M‘GILL
James M‘Gill was the son of a farmer at Portpatrick, where he was born about 1810, and belonged to the congregation of Stranraer. He entered Glasgow University in 1820, and attended the Hall at Paisley for the sessions 1824–7. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on November 4, 1828. He accepted a call to Hightae on April 22, 1829, and was ordained there by the Southern Presbytery on July 21, 1829.
For over thirty years he exercised a gracious ministry at Hightae, but the ill-health of his wife forced his resignation on October 4, 1864. His
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Presbytery recorded that his had been “a most able, faithful and disinterested ministry,” and the Free Church Presbytery of the district made him a presentation to show their esteem for him. He removed to the south of England, where he was almost immediately called to the English Presbyterian charge at Bournemouth. He resigned in 1883, and died in October 1888.
M‘Gill showed considerable skill in authorship, and published the following:—Letter to Ministers . . . upon . . . Temperance, Dumfries, 1834; Memorial to James Broyen, 1837; Prayer of Habakkuk for Revival, Glasgow, 1840, delivered as Moderator of Synod; Enter into Thy Closet, or Secret Prayer, Glasgow, 1843; The Four Centurions, Glasgow, 1857.
THOMAS MARTIN
Thomas Martin was born in the parish of Shotts on May 17, 1805. He entered Glasgow University and attended the Hall at Paisley for the sessions 1824–7. He was licensed by the North-Eastern Presbytery at Airdrie on July 8, 1828.
On March 30, 1829, he was elected minister of Strathmiglo, and was ordained there on July 28, 1829. Mainly through his exertions a church was built. The congregation came from no fewer than seventeen parishes. Nathan Cosh was appointed colleague and successor in 1873, and Martin died on January 25, 1879.
He was counted an able and earnest minister, and was specially interested in the principles of the Church. In 1855 he published Jesus Crowned with Glory and Honour, The Prize Catechism on the Principles and Position of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland.
He married Margaret M‘Indoe. One of his sons was killed when a student of divinity, and another became minister of Kilbirnie.
JOHN CARSLAW, M.A.
John Carslaw, the eldest son of a farmer at Carmunnock, near Glasgow, was born about 1800, and was connected with the congregation at Eaglesham. He graduated at Glasgow in 1823. He attended the Hall at Paisley during the sessions 1823–4, 1826–8, and was licensed on November 4, 1828. Elected to Airdrie on April 14, 1829, he was ordained on August 18.
Carslaw was much troubled with bronchitis, and during the last two years of his life visited England and the Continent for relief. He preached on the Sabbath immediately preceding his death on March 19, 1847. An account of his last illness is given in Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, 1847.
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He edited an edition of the Scots Worthies, with Life of John Howie, in 1835, and re-published The Cloud of Witnesses, Glasgow, 1836. His son, Dr W. H. Carslaw, minister at Helensburgh, since 1862, has followed him in his investigations into the history of the Covenanting period.
THOMAS NEILSON, M.A.
Thomas Neilson was born near New Luce, Wigtonshire, in 1801. He took his Arts course at Edinburgh and Glasgow: he is usually assigned the degree of M.A., but his name does not appear in the printed lists of either University. “He was an excellent scholar, and attained distinction in Hebrew.” He attended the Hall in Paisley for the sessions 1824–7, and was licensed by the Southern Presbytery on April 15, 1828. Competing calls came to him from Ayr, New Cumnock, and Rothesay, all in the same Presbytery, and after much hesitation he accepted the last on March 16, 1830. He was ordained there on May 25, over a very small congregation.
Neilson proved a very useful member of Synod and was entrusted, as convener of the Committee, with the effort to reduce the debt that lay on congregational property, an effort in which he proved very successful. In 1868 he was thanked for the “value of the services he had rendered the Church.” His interest in Foreign Missions is shown by his son, Thomas, proceeding to the New Hebrides. In Rothesay he took part in several movements for the good of the community, and was the first president of the local branch of the National Bible Society. In 1868 he retired on account of the state of his health, and in 1870 Allan M‘Dougall was ordained as his successor. He died at Rothesay on December 20, 1872, and his Presbytery recorded their sense of “his clearness of intellect, his admirable perspicacity, his aptness for business and his invariable courtesy.” The Synod declared he had “natural gifts of a high order.”
JOSEPH HENDERSON
Joseph Henderson came from Dumfries. He attended the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1824–7, and was licensed by the Southern Presbytery at Newton-Stewart on April 15, 1828. On May 4, 1830, he was unanimously elected minister at Ayr, and was ordained there on September 8. He acted as clerk to his Presbytery from 1835 to 1843. At the Synod of 1844 it was reported that he had voluntarily resigned his charge “from a combination of circumstances,” and that his withdrawal had been accepted with regret. In July 1847 he was formally placed on the roll of preachers. At the Synod of 1848 letters were received from
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him from America, with testimonials of character. Before this, however, the Presbyteries of Glasgow, Paisley, and Newton-Stewart had been investigating rumours regarding his behaviour, and the Synod resolved to suspend him. Next year, on the report of a special Committee of Synod, it was agreed “to transmit all the documents in the case to the American Presbytery “to be disposed of by them as they may think proper.” He then disappears from view.
JOHN CAMPBELL
John Campbell was a native of Lorn, where, at Kilninver, he was born in 1785. In early life he was engaged in trade near Glasgow. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on May 14, 1824, being thus considerably over the average age of licentiates of the Church. He was called to Newton-Stewart on March 15, 1830, and ordained there on October 7, some petitioning the Presbytery against the act on the ground of “apprehension that it would not be for the prosperity of the congregation.” In 1839 he intimated to the Synod his intention to resign, and the Presbytery formally loosed him from his charge on June 11. The reason assigned for the withdrawal was that the congregation had not been able to provide him with reasonable financial support, the old objection to him being apparently still valid.
He retired to Lorn where considerable friction ensued between him and the local congregation for his non-attendance at their services, and later for preaching in Free Church congregations and throughout the district without the Session’s consent. In 1847 an arrangement was come to, and for the next thirteen years he acted as an ordained missionary among the people, his salary being comparatively small.
He died at Balachuan on January 3, 1867. In the Synod his “great simplicity of character” was noted.
JAMES BROWN
James Brown belonged to Douglas Water, and attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1827–30. He was licensed by the Southern Presbytery on April 31, 1831. On June 21 of the same year he was elected minister of Dumfries, and was ordained on November 15.
His ministry had just begun when he was struck down with cholera in 1832, and on recovering overtasked himself with visiting. Consumption supervened, and he died on May 27, 1834, at the age of 33. The Presbytery recorded that “he was a diligent student of the Scriptures,
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a sound and faithful preacher, an affectionate and conscientious pastor, and a willing supporter of every cause that had for its object the spiritual welfare of mankind.”
See James M‘Gill’s Memorial of the late Rev. James Brown, 1837.
MALCOLM M‘LACHLAN
Malcolm M‘Lachlan belonged to Lorn, and took his Arts course at Aberdeen, and the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1827–30. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery on April 12, 1831. In 1832 a special pro re nata meeting of Synod had to be called to enable the competing claims of four different congregations for his services to be settled—Dundee, Urr and Castle-Douglas, New Cumnock, and Lorn (Lochgilphead). M‘Lachlan chose Castle-Douglas, and was ordained there on May 23.
In 1843 he was again called to Lorn, and the Synod sustained the call on the ground that he was “acknowledged to be a preacher of very distinguished powers in the Gaelic language,” but he declined it. In 1844 it was stated to the Presbytery for a second time that there were “rumours” against him. After a long process by the Presbytery, during which M‘Lachlan resigned from his ministry and membership of the Church and additional charges were brought against him, the Synod, on July 9, 1845, declared him no longer a minister of the Reformed Presbyterian Church nor “entitled to exercise the functions of the holy ministry.”
JOHN GRAHAM, D.D.
John Graham, one of the most versatile of the ministers of the Church, was born in the Island of Bute and was of Lorn extraction. He attended Glasgow University, and the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1822, 1826–9. He was licensed by the Western Presbytery in 1830. Having been called by Wishawtown and New Cumnock, he at the Synod of 1832 chose the former, and was ordained there on August 14, the stipend being £70 with a manse and glebe. Graham remained in Wishaw till 1846, when he was inducted at Ayr on August 13. In 1845 he had declined a call to Lesmahagow. In 1858 he was elected by the recently organised congregation at Liverpool, and was inducted there on March 10. From 1850 he had been Clerk of the Synod, but his removal to a distance necessitated his resignation, although his congregation was assigned to the Presbytery of Glasgow. He died suddenly on September 8, 1876, at Shrewsbury, aged 68, having just retired from active service and a successor having been chosen. His congregation had a few months before joined the newly constituted Presbyterian Church of England, the way having been
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made open by the Scottish Union of that year. Graham received the degree of D.D. from an American College in 1856.
Dr Graham took part in many social and evangelistic efforts. He was Editor of the Scottish Presbyterian from 1838 to 1854, and was Moderator of Synod on two occasions—1842 and 1863. “Besides his ability as a preacher Dr Graham did much to guide the counsels and direct the energies of the Church.” He was an excellent platform speaker. He was ready with his pen, but the number of his publications is not great. They include the following sermons and addresses: The Revolution Settlement of the Church of Scotland, Glas., 1841; Death the Believer’s Gain, Glas., 1850; A Plea for the Proper Observance of the Sabbath, Liverpool, 1859; The End is not Yet, Liverpool, 1862; Contending for the Faith, London, 1864, and The Light of Prophecy and Passing Events, London, 1867.
ANDREW GILMORE
Andrew Gilmore was a native of Chirnside, where he was born in 1794. His father’s family suffered reverses, but he was able to proceed to the University and the Hall at Paisley, where he was for sessions 1823–6. His health was never robust, and it was probably on that account that he retired to England after his divinity course was finished. When the North-eastern Presbytery took him on trial for license in 1830, he gave “satisfactory evidence of his moral conduct during his residence in England for four years.” He was licensed on June 22.
Calls came to him from Liverpool and New Cumnock, but he chose the newly-formed congregation at Greenock, and was ordained there on September 10, 1833. As a minister he was very successful. When he began the membership stood at 19; when he died it had risen to 369. His work was frequently interrupted by illness, and he more than once recruited on the Continent. He died on June 7, 1859. The local newspaper’s obituary said of him that “the ruling feature in Mr Gilmore’s life was his large and warm-hearted liberality and his untiring zeal to reclaim the outcasts of the community to the paths of rectitude and virtue. In this he spared neither his purse, nor his time nor his health: he laboured in season and out of season.” His Presbytery recorded that “possessed of rare and varied personal qualifications and accomplishments, he was a faithful, diligent, laborious and successful minister of the Gospel, and ready to every good work.” The Synod spoke of service that was “so efficient and laborious.”
Gilmore had several qualifications for literary work. From 1840 onwards he wrote much for the Scottish Presbyterian, and was the author of several short treatises: The Voice of Warning, Greenock, 1836; The
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Necessity of Scriptural Education in pagan and Mohammedan women, 1839; Our Political Oaths, Edin., 1855; Our Drinks, London, 1856; and The Supremacy of the British Crown, Edin., 1858.
PETER CARMICHAEL
The career of Peter Carmichael is one of those for which the district of Lorn is honourably responsible.
He was born at Auchnasaul, Kilninver, Argyleshire, on November 12, 1809, and spent his early days in the neighbourhood. During the years 1825 to 1830 he attended the University of Glasgow, occupying some of his time in teaching a school at Barnagarry, near his home. In 1830–4 he took his divinity course at Paisley under Dr Symington, who had baptised him. While a theological student he acted as a Glasgow city missionary for two years. He was licensed on April 17, 1834. On completing his course he was called to Dundee, Whithorn, Dumfries, and Penpont, the last of which he preferred. He was ordained on April 15, 1835. So earnest were his ministrations and so acceptable to the people that the membership became the second highest in the denomination.
In August 1860 he was called to Greenock, and was inducted there on October 17. Some—103 members and 21 adherents—did not acquiesce in the settlement, and at the same meeting at which the call was accepted, sought and obtained a disjunction. Carmichael’s ministry in Greenock was trying and strenuous, and his health broke down. He died on July 28, 1867.
Carmichael was one of those who left the Church over the decision of 1863, and with them formed the dissentient Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was an ardent advocate of Temperance, and published anonymously An Earnest Appeal in 1860. On December 28, 1836, he married Margaret M‘Cubbin, the daughter of a Glasgow merchant. His son, Peter Carmichael, B.D., who died in 1925, was the minority minister of Airdrie, and of Highbury (London) and Canterbury in the English Presbyterian Church.
JOHN M‘DERMID
John M‘Dermid was born in the Anderston district of Glasgow on March 5, 1810, but while still a child was removed first to Renton and then to Milton, near Bowling. Both his father and grandfather belonged to Lorn. He was educated at Dumbarton Academy, and at the age of sixteen became a member of the church at Kilmalcolm. He was educated at Glasgow University and at the Hall, Paisley, 1830–3. He was licensed by the Glasgow Presbytery on September 4, 1834, and was almost
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at once called to Whithorn, Dundee, and Dumfries. He chose the last, and was ordained there on October 8, 1835.
In 1855 he was called to the Southern congregation (Renwick), Glasgow, and was inducted there on November 8. He continued in this charge till his death, after a short illness, on February 20, 1882. His congregation raised a stone over his grave in the Necropolis with the inscription: “He was a good man, and full of Faith and of the Holy Ghost.”
Mr M‘Dermid was looked upon as one of the abler men of the Church, and took a considerable part in the business both of the Presbytery and of the Synod, of which he was Moderator in 1848 and 1868. He was a member of both the Committees on Union, and generally carried the confidence of his brethren. He did not publish much. Besides being a contributor to the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, he printed the sermons with which he opened the Synod, and a lecture on “The Dignity of Labour.” “Some of the most important documents in defence of the Church were from his pen,” when its decisions were challenged on the questions of the Elective Franchise and the Union. He was twice married. There is a portrait in The Rise and Progress of Renwick Free Church.
THOMAS M‘INDOE
Thomas M‘Indoe was born at Stonehouse, Lanarkshire, in 1808. His family afterwards removed to Glasgow. He attended the University there, and the Hall at Paisley, 1831–4, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on April 22, 1835. Having been called to Dundee and Whithorn, he chose the former, and was ordained there on October 12, 1836.
He resigned because of the financial condition of the congregation, his salary of £100 not having been paid in full. His retiral was accepted on December 4, 1839. The people of Whithorn renewed their call on February 24, 1840, and the matter was referred to the Synod, which sustained the call on May 13. M‘Indoe was inducted on June 23. His health gave way in 1862, and the congregation suffered in numbers. In 1863 he surrendered part of his stipend, and resigned altogether at the close of the year. He died on March 8, 1865.
M‘Indoe is described as “a simple man,” and had a wide character for saintliness. The Synod spoke of “his personal dignity, ministerial bearing and blameless life.”
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WILLIAM M‘MURTRIE
William M‘Murtrie belonged to Galloway, and received his elementary education at Leswalt, Stranraer. He attended Glasgow University, and completed his divinity course in Paisley, where he was a student for sessions 1832–5. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart on March 1, 1836, and was elected minister at Whithorn on February 7, 1837, the stipend promised being £90. He was ordained on April 19, 1837. Next year he attended the Synod, became ill on the way home and died at Port o’ Spittal, Stranraer, on October 6, being then 31 years of age. He was spoken of as a “young person of good talents, distinguished modesty and amiableness of manners, sound piety and excellent promise.”
JAMES GEGGIE
James Geggie was a native of Chirnside, where he was born in 1793. He was taught by James Phillips, the Reformed Presbyterian minister, and by John Strachan of Allanton. He took his Arts course at Edinburgh, adding Hebrew under Prof. Pillans. He attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1820–3, and was licensed on November 2, 1824. He acted as a probationer till April 1837, when it was announced that he had consented to go to Canada as a missionary. He was ordained at Edinburgh on June 27. In 1841 it is recorded that if he does not give a sufficient account of himself and his work, he will be made the subject of discipline. Apparently no communication was made by him, and the Synod of 1842 declared him no longer a member of the Church.
On going to Canada he was at first engaged in supplying vacancies, and ultimately connected himself with the Presbyterian Church of Canada, becoming pastor of Val Cartier, Quebec Province. After the Disruption of 1843 he occupied various charges—Edwardsburgh, where he was inducted in 1846, Dalhousie, Edwardsburgh again, and Spencerville. He died on January 3, 1863.
THOMAS MARSHALL
Thomas Marshall was born at Polmont in 1814. At twelve years of age he went to Glasgow to learn a trade, and during his apprenticeship prepared himself for entering the University. During his vacations he taught a school in his mother’s house, besides doing much church work at Laurieston. He attended the Hall at Paisley during the five sessions 1833–7. He was licensed on March 13, 1838. He was called to Chirn-
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side on May 2, 1839, at a stipend of £90 with a manse and garden, £4 travelling expenses and a collection at each sacrament. He was ordained on August 21.
He took ill in the pulpit in 1841 and never preached again, dying on March 11, 1842. His Presbytery spoke of his “amiable manners, unaffected piety and attention to pastoral duties.” A long obituary notice appeared in the Covenanter for May 1842.
JAMES BRYDEN
James Bryden had a most unfortunate career, and ended it under the disability of ill-health. He belonged to Eskdalemuir, and came to the Reformed Presbyterian Hall for sessions 1834–7. He was licensed by the Dumfries Presbytery on March 22, 1838. Two calls “came out” for him soon after—on February 26, 1839, he was elected to Eskdalemuir, and on March 10 to Kelso. Both calls were referred to the Synod for settlement: Bryden chose Kelso. He was ordained on July 13.
His course thereafter was erratic. He came under the notice of the Presbytery because of mental aberration in 1846 and again in 1849. There being apparently no hope of a permanent cure, he was loosed from his charge on May 6, 1850. After a time he recovered and preached as a probationer. When the Kelso congregation was dissolved in 1869, the interest on the price obtained for the property was generously voted to him in life-rent. He died on March 8, 1883.
Bryden’s preaching was described as “solemn, lucid and earnest,” while of himself it was said that, “shy and retiring in his habits, he endeared himself to those who knew him by his guileless spirit, blameless character, and sincere piety.” He was the author of The True Principles of Human Government, Kelso, 1844.
WILLIAM HENRY GOOLD, M.A., D.D.
“William Henry Goold was a large-hearted, broad-minded man, in whose case fine scholarship, eloquence in the pulpit and on the platform, tact in the management of affairs and power in debate, were all dominated by a lofty Christian character.”—M‘Crie’s The Church of Scotland: Her Divisions and Unions, p. 285.
Goold was born at Edinburgh in December 1815, the only son of the Rev. William Goold. In 1831 he was dux of the Edinburgh High School, and after attending Edinburgh University for Arts, he proceeded to the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1836–9, taking classes at Edinburgh Uni-
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versity during the winter months. He was licensed on April 14, 1840, and on October 6 he was ordained as colleague to his father.
Goold took an active share in the work of the Church, so that it has been said that “Dr Goold’s life soon became more or less a history of the Reformed Presbyterian Church.” Besides taking his part in its courts he contributed to the Church journal even when a student, almost every subsequent number having something from his pen. He was elected Professor of Biblical Literature and Church History in 1854, and after lecturing for one session in Glasgow, he taught within the precincts of his own church buildings till 1876, when the Union rendered his chair no longer necessary. “His lectures were masterly: they were the delight of his students.”
His literary activity included an edition of John Owen’s works in twenty-four volumes, the publication of which began in 1850. This task was followed by an edition of M‘Laurin’s works in two volumes, 1860. In the latter year he was appointed Eastern Secretary to the National Bible Society of Scotland.
Dr Goold took a leading part in the movements for Union. He grieved that the larger projected Union of 1873 failed. What he did for the Union of 1876 was recognised by his being chosen the last Moderator of his own Church, and the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church in 1877. His speech on the day of the Union is remembered as “one of his efforts recalling the fervent eloquence of his early years,” and as an address that reached “the highest watermark” and “of marked power and historic insight.”
He celebrated his jubilee in 1890, and on October 6, 1896, John Davidson was settled as his colleague and successor. He died on June 29, 1897. In 1846 he married Margaret, daughter of Dr William Symington of Glasgow, and in 1852 he received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh.
For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
JOHN M‘LEOD
John M‘Leod was born in 1809, and belonged to Rothesay. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall at Paisley for four sessions, 1836–9. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on July 21, 1840, and was ordained at Stranraer on August 10, 1841. On December 15, 1847, he was called to Girvan, but declined.
After a ministry of eight years M‘Leod resigned his charge on January 9, 1849, with the intention of joining the Free Church. “It was indeed becoming indispensable to his own credit that he should leave the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and by parties who knew that all
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his sentiments and feelings had become alien, and that he carried about with him a carefully prepared list of all the objectionable sayings he could meet in the writings of those who have been at any time connected with her, and of reading it for the entertainment of private companies while he was yet one of her ministers, his leaving must have been fervently desired.” He was admitted to the Free Church in the same year.
In explanation and defence he published a Letter to the Elders and Members of the Reformed Presbyterian Congregation, Stranraer, Edinburgh, 1849. It was answered in a series of seven long articles in the Scottish Presbyterian Magazine, the editor explaining that M‘Leod’s withdrawal had not been followed with much sympathy by his congregation, and that the opportunity of expounding Reformed Presbyterian principles was taken.
M‘Leod was settled at Alloa, West, Free Church in 1850, and retired in 1870. He married Margaret T. Laird in 1842.
JOSEPH WILSON
Joseph Wilson was born at Newton-on-Ayr on October 4, 1807, and studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh and at the Original Secession Hall. He was licensed by that Church. At the Reformed Presbyterian Synod of 1838 he made application for admission as a probationer, and his case was referred to the Kilmarnock Presbytery for consideration. It then appeared that he had resigned from the Original Secession Presbytery of Aberdeen, both as a preacher and as a member of the Church, and that, while that Presbytery had nothing against him, he had been refused an extract of licence on the ground that by applying to the Reformed Presbyterian Church for admission he had violated his vows and “is labouring under some strong temptation.” On November 13 he was admitted a member of the Church, and on December 4, formally licensed after examination.
On March 23, 1841, he was elected minister of Dundee, and the Presbytery sustained the call, provided that adequate support was made certain for the minister. He was ordained on July 28. He remained minister till 1847, when he asked to be allowed to resign because of the financial embarrassments of the congregation, to which, nevertheless, he was “sincerely attached.” On July 8 his withdrawal was agreed to. On April 12, 1848, he applied for a certificate of ministerial standing, with the intention of joining the Free Church, which at next meeting, May 2, was granted to him, with commendation.
On August 18, 1848, he was inducted to the congregation of Abernyte,
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and he died on March 27, 1873. An account of his earnest evangelical labours is given in the Free Church Record for November 1873 by Dr Andrew A. Bonar. Wilson was the author of The Conversion of the World waiting for the Conversion of the Jew, 1845.
JAMES DUNCAN
James Duncan, the first foreign missionary of the Church, belonged to Airdrie, where he was born in 1813. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1836, and attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1839–41. On June 9, 1840, he offered himself as a foreign missionary—work which the Church was then anxious to undertake. Having finished his course, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on March 29, 1842. A sphere among the Maoris of New Zealand had been determined on after much difficulty and consideration, and Duncan, having been ordained on September 22, sailed from London on November 3, 1842.
After being for some months in Wellington, he settled on the Manawatu River, on the west coast of the North Island, to the north of Wellington, and for a time was successful. Various circumstances, however, caused the work to languish—the rivalry of other missions, the Maori wars, and the movements of population. After labouring in this state for some time, Duncan finally resigned in December 1855. Offers were made to him of similar work in the New Hebrides and as a minister to Reformed Presbyterians who had emigrated to Australia, but he elected to remain in New Zealand.
After a time “he accepted an invitation of the European population in Foxton to conduct religious ordinances among them. A church was soon erected, and a congregation formed of members of all denominations. . . . He was twice Moderator of the Northern Assembly of the Presbyterian Church; and his continued interest in the heathen was shown by the fact that for many years he was convener of the Maori and Foreign Missions Committee, and was influential in leading the New Zealand Churches to support missionaries in the New Hebrides.” He died minister of Foxton in 1908, at the advanced age of 95. He married — Struthers of Blackness in 1842.
JOHN M‘KINLAY
John M‘Kinlay came from Kincardine and was trained in the Associate (Burgher) Hall, belonging to the class of the year 1804. He was ordained minister at Renton on October 2, 1806, the call being signed by 266 members and 102 adherents. In 1839 he was one of the minority who refused
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to enter the Church of Scotland. His difficulties were threefold: the existence of lay Patronage; the non-recognition of the descending obligation of the Covenants; and the practice of private baptism. He also could not go along with the dissentients into the Associate Synod of Original Seceders in 1842. On April 26, 1842, a congregational meeting favoured union with the Reformed Presbytery, and on November 21 he and his congregation applied to the Paisley Presbytery for admission. At the meeting of Synod a few days afterwards they were cordially received. M‘Kinlay and his people were the only dissenters of the time who turned to the Reformed Presbyterian Church.
In October 1856 the congregation celebrated M‘Kinlay’s ministerial jubilee with great enthusiasm, and next month, November 17, he died suddenly at the age of 74. The Synod declared that “his unblemished character, his ability as a preacher of the Gospel of Salvation, his cordial sympathy with the principles and actings of the Church, his sincere and elevated piety, as well as his venerable form and appearance, soon gained for him the esteem and affection of the office-bearers and members of this Church.” His portrait is in Riddell’s Levenside Church.
JAMES GOOLD
James Goold was born at Lanark in 1816, and while a youth his parents removed to Campbelltown. He studied at Glasgow University and at the Hall in Paisley during sessions 1837–41. He was licensed on August 3, 1841, by the Presbytery of Paisley, and was ordained over the congregation of Newton-Stewart on January 17, 1843.
Goold took an active share in local affairs, and did much for the social and moral improvement of the community. For forty-seven years he was secretary and treasurer of the local auxiliary of the National Bible Society of Scotland. On account of failing health he was provided with an unordained assistant in 1891, and in September 1894 the Rev. W. H. Brown Douglas, B.A., was settled as his colleague and successor. He celebrated his jubilee in 1893, when liberal presentations were made to him. He died on September 7, 1895. In 1847 he married Christian M. Frame, daughter of Dr Frame, minister of Lesmahagow, and niece of Dr Mason of Wishaw.
THOMAS M‘KEACHIE
Thomas M‘Keachie was born at Darskelpine, Old Luce, Wigton, on November 13, 1810. He was attached to Stranraer congregation and was educated at Leswalt. He entered Glasgow University in 1829 and attended the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1834–7. He was licensed by
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the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart on October 3, 1838. Invited by the Missionary Committee to proceed to Canada as a missionary, he was ordained by the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart and Kilmarnock on May 2, 1843, and on June 26 sailed with his wife from Glasgow. He was settled in the neighbourhood of Toronto, and died there of fever on August 14, 1844. For some years he had been in ill-health. A local paper characterised him as a “zealous, active and faithful preacher,” a judgment endorsed by the Home Committee, who spoke of him as “an upright, devoted and zealous minister,” besides commending “his prudence, diligence and energy.”
JOHN INGLIS, D.D.
John Inglis was a distinguished missionary. He was born at Moniaive, and began life as a mason. After attending Glasgow University, and the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1838–41, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on June 14, 1842. During the recesses he had engaged in tutoring and kept school at Rothesay. The proposal that he should proceed to the foreign field came from the Mission Committee of the Church, and after some hesitation the proposal was accepted and he was ordained as a missionary on September 26, 1843, the field to which he was designated being New Zealand.
Owing to the difficulties of the field and the competition of other missions, it was found advisable to abandon New Zealand after he had devoted some time to preaching in Wellington. Inglis was then sent on a tour of inspection among the Southern Islands to look out for a suitable field of operations. After due consideration the New Hebrides was selected, and in 1852 he was settled on the Island of Aneityum. So successful was his work there that before he left the island was wholly Christianised. He retired in 1876, and died at Kirkcowan on July 18, 1891, aged 84. In 1883 he received the degree of D.D. from Glasgow University. He was Moderator of Synod in 1861.
Dr Inglis was “distinguished for industry, exactness and thoroughness.” Besides the ordinary work of an evangelist he did much translation. Along with another missionary, Dr Geddie of Nova Scotia, he translated the Scriptures into Aneityumese, and followed that with renderings of the Pilgrim’s Progress and the Shorter Catechism. During his retirement he prepared a Dictionary of Aneityumese, London, 1882, and wrote two volumes, In the New Hebrides, London, 1887, and Bible Illustrations from the New Hebrides, London, 1888.
In 1844 he married Jessie M‘Clymont. There is a portrait as frontispiece to the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, 1868.
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DAVID HENDERSON
David Henderson was born at Hightae in 1814, and attended Edinburgh University. His theological course was taken at Paisley, 1836–9, and he was licensed by the Dumfries Presbytery on March 31, 1840. In 1842 he was elected to Wick on a vote of 23 as against 21 for another candidate. A protest against the choice was lodged by the minority. The Presbytery did not sustain the call, and intimation was given of an appeal to the Synod against the decision, but it was withdrawn. Some procedure by the Presbytery was thereafter necessary because of Henderson’s injudicious conduct in corresponding with certain persons in Wick, after the call had been rejected, but he admitted wrongdoing and the matter was dropped.
He was again elected by a majority at Chirnside in June 1843, some persons intimating that they would join the congregation if he was settled over it. There was, however, a strong minority against the settlement, but the Synod sustained the call. The Presbytery at first hesitated to sustain his trials, so imperfect were they, but his ordination was finally carried out on October 11, 1843. In 1860 he was called to Airdrie, again by a majority vote. He was inducted on June 5.
It was declared that Henderson “was not a debater in Church courts but always was a wise and reliable counsellor.” He was nevertheless one of the minority in 1863, and disowned the Synod. It is said that the step cost him one-third of his annual stipend. Disease struck him in 1867, and after struggling along till 1871, Peter Carmichael, B.D., the son of the minister at Greenock, was appointed his colleague. He died at Airdrie on March 6, 1875.
WILLIAM SYMINGTON II., D.D.
William Symington was a son of Dr William Symington, and was born in the manse at Stranraer on February 14, 1824. He received his early training from his father at home. In 1838 he proceeded to Glasgow University, and studied theology at Paisley during 1841–4 under his uncle. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on April 28, 1845. Within a few months he was presented with three calls—Colmonell, Lesmahagow, and Castle-Douglas where the call was signed by 133 members. He accepted the last, and was ordained on April 23, 1846. From 1850 to 1856 he acted as clerk of the Dumfries Presbytery.
On March 3, 1857, he was elected by a majority as successor to his father in Glasgow, but he declined although the call was signed by 503 members and 83 adherents. Next year, on April 24, he was called to West Campbell Street, Glasgow, by 282 members and 101 adherents,
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but he could not accept. On the following year the call was renewed from Great Hamilton Street, Symington having received greater support than another candidate. This time he accepted, and was inducted on March 3, 1859. He was welcomed at a meeting that was described as “the largest assembly ever convened for any purpose connected with the Reformed Presbyterian Church since the Revolution of 1688.” In 1862 his father died and he was left sole minister.
He held the charge till March 28, 1878, when Dr S. R. Macphail was inducted as his colleague and successor. During the last year of his life his health had been uncertain, and he died on January 12, 1879. In 1874 he received the degree of D.D. from Washington College, U.S.A. He was described as “a man of highly cultured mind, of excellent judgment, of most amiable disposition, of dignified, self-possessed, kind and courteous bearing.” In 1850 he married Christian E. M‘Ritchie.
For a portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
JOHN CUNNINGHAM, M.A., LL.D.
Dr Cunningham is a unique figure in the Reformed Presbyterian ministry on various grounds, but especially in that he alone found his life’s work among Jews.
A native of Newtonlimavady, Ireland, he came to Scotland early in life. As a student at Glasgow University he had a distinguished course, graduating M.A. in 1836. In 1845–6 he conducted the class of Natural Philosophy, and in the following year received the degree of LL.D. All through life he was a student of the consecrated kind. Determining to become a preacher he took the divinity classes at Paisley for sessions 1834–7, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on June 13, 1838. In April 1839 he declined a unanimous call to Kelso, and for the next six years acted as a probationer. A call having come to the Church for missionary effort among the Jews, Cunningham, after some hesitation, responded to the Committee’s request in 1846, proceeding to London to work among them in May of that year. He was ordained on October 26 following.
Dr Cunningham was a most laborious missionary, the journal of his doings being most elaborately kept. Parts of it were published in the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine. During his whole service he continued his investigations and was counted a great teacher. Adherents of the Church in London tried to secure him as their minister, but the attempt failed. On July 6, 1858, he suddenly resigned, chiefly because he was out of harmony with the teaching of the Church on her relation with the State, and demitted office and membership in May 1859. “He adopted the
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views that ultimately prevented his holding ministerial fellowship with any church,” though he continued to labour among a number of like-minded people. In spite of everything he retained the respect and affection of his former fellow-workers. He died in London on April 24, 1872, and was buried in the Necropolis of Glasgow, ministers of his old fellowship conducting the services.
He wrote an elaborate volume on The Ordinance of Covenanting, Glasgow, 1843. He was Moderator of Synod in 1853, and his opening sermon was published—An Open Door which no Man can Shut.
JOHN M‘LACHLAN
John M‘Lachlan was born at Auchnaclach, Kilbrandon, about 1805, and was one of the family that gave several sons to the ministry. He took his University course partly at Aberdeen and partly at Glasgow. He attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1830–3, and was licensed on April 15, 1834, by the Western Presbytery. He was called by the congregation at Lorn on December 26, 1844, but on April 1, 1845, he declined the invitation. At the request of the Missionary Committee he was ordained at Glasgow on October 26, 1846, as a missionary to the districts of Galt and Guelph, Canada West, to take the place of Thomas M‘Keachie. After labouring for some time he joined the Presbyterian Church of Canada, and was settled at Acton, Toronto. In February 1861 he was translated to Beaverton, Ontario, where he died on June 3, 1870.
JOHN WEST MACMEEKEN
Named after John West, minister of Colmonell, Macmeeken was born in the parish of Ballantrae, Ayrshire. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall at Paisley during sessions 1842–5. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on April 28, 1846. On August 10 he was elected to Lesmahagow, and was ordained on December 30.
Macmeeken was a business man, and acted as Clerk of Presbytery with great efficiency from 1847 to 1868. Only on one occasion did he seem to fail. In 1854 he confessed some indiscretion, and was admonished by the Presbytery. In 1868 he was forced to tender his resignation owing to the state of the congregation, and it was accepted on August 18. As compensation for arrears of stipend the congregational property was conveyed to him for the remainder of the lease. He died on March 31, 1880, aged 56.
Besides being the author of several printed sermons preached on special occasions, Macmeeken published a History of the Scottish Metrical Psalms, Glasgow, 1872.
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ROBERT HARKNESS
Robert Harkness was from Stranraer, and after attending the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1836–9, was licensed by the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart on March 31, 1840. He accepted a call to Colmonell, and was ordained on March 23, 1847. Harkness commended himself to his people, but the congregation was in a struggling condition, and its position was before the Presbytery on more than one occasion. Finally he resigned on the ground that the membership was reduced. His withdrawal was accepted on June 29, 1857.
Some soreness evidently remained, for Harkness wrote a letter which brought “serious charges” against three of his co-presbyters. The Synod of 1858 ordered his certificate to be cancelled. But the charges were “unconditionally and without reserve” withdrawn, and Harkness apologised for making them. The certificate was restored, and he disappeared from knowledge.
JAMES MORRISON
James Morrison was born at Laurieston in 1812. He proceeded to the University of Edinburgh, where he specially distinguished himself in philosophy. He attended the Hall at Paisley for 1839–42. On July 5, 1843, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley, to which he had been transferred from Edinburgh. He was ordained at Davington on June 2, 1847, as first minister over the congregation of Eskdalemuir and Ettrick. Here “no storm of wind or rain or snow, whatever number of miles he had to travel, could keep him from an engagement he had made, whether it might be a marriage or a funeral or the visitation of some sick person.” In this sparsely populated area he remained till his death on October 23, 1878. He is said to have done much in “aiding young men in their preparation for the work of the ministry.”
MATTHEW GEORGE EASTON, M.A., D.D.
Matthew George Easton was born at Crossford, Lanarkshire, in 1823, one of two brothers who became ministers of the Church. He studied at Glasgow University with distinction, graduating M.A. in 1843. He attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1843–6, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on April 7, 1847. Within the next year he received calls to Wick, Wishaw, and Girvan. Wick he declined, and the Synod of 1848 ordered that the invitation from Wishaw should be dropped owing to informality in the procedure, and the consequent opposition
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that had arisen. The call to Girvan, which was signed by all the members, an unusual circumstance, and by 25 adherents, was accepted, and he was ordained on November 22, 1848.
On October 17, 1861, he was elected to Darvel, and inducted there on December 12. “For many years Dr Easton was the only minister resident in Darvel, and his church was the only church. He was the bishop of the town, giving what was really pastoral care to many who were members of other churches, or members of no church at all. Even when other churches were erected in Darvel Dr Easton retained his old place in the affection of the community.” He acted as Clerk of Presbytery from his induction to 1866, and died on February 27, 1894.
Dr Easton was known to the Church at large for his literary labours. In his younger days he did translations from the German. Among his original books were Unitarianism, 1851, and The Doctrine of the Trinity, in the same year. He published The Bible Reader’s Assistant, which he followed up with Nelson’s Bible Dictionary, chiefly intended for the use of Sabbath School teachers. For these labours, and especially for his Life of Krummacher, he received the honour of D.D. from his Alma Mater in 1874. In 1849 he married Ann Dobie.
WILLIAM BINNIE, M.A., D.D.
William Binnie was born in Glasgow on August 20, 1823, the second son of an elder of the Church who took a prominent part in all its affairs. He was trained in Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1844, and at the Reformed Presbyterian Hall in Paisley, 1843–6. Next winter he proceeded to Berlin for a year, and there heard lectures by Neander and Hengstenberg. Illness shortened his term of study on the Continent, and he was forced to return home before he could take a second session. He was licensed by the Glasgow Presbytery on September 1, 1847, and on May 24, 1849, was ordained at Stirling.
During the course of his ministry at Stirling he maintained studious habits, and in 1862, on the death of Dr Symington, he was elected, by a large majority over two other nominees, to the chair of Systematic Theology in the Reformed Presbyterian Hall, which met for a session in the church of his youth before removing to Edinburgh. In 1860 the University of Glasgow recognised his scholarship by conferring the degree of D.D. upon him. In Stirling he added considerable service to the community to his congregational work, being chosen chairman of the School Board in 1873, an appointment he held till he left the town.
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In 1875 the chair of Church History in Aberdeen Free Church College fell vacant, and under the Mutual Eligibility Act Dr Binnie was elected to the post by the General Assembly. Commissioners in support of the call appeared before the Presbytery of Glasgow on September 14, and Dr Binnie then formally accepted office. In loosing him from his chair and his congregation, the Presbytery recorded “the deep sense they entertain, and have long entertained, of his high excellence as a man, a Christian, a minister of the Gospel and a Professor of Theology.” On leaving Stirling he was entertained to a public breakfast.
Professor Binnie died unexpectedly at Glasgow while on a visit, September 22, 1886. He was married to Janet, sister of Rev. John Fairbairn of Allanton, who died in the same year as her husband.
As an author Dr Binnie did not publish extensively. He is best known by his studies on The Psalms, which he issued in 1870, and by the volume in the “Bible Class Handbooks” on The Church, 1882. As Moderator of the Synod in 1860, he published his opening sermon on The First Christian Synod, which dealt with the then agitated state of the ecclesiastical world. In 1880 he wrote on The Proposed Reconstruction of the Old Testament Writings. He made occasional contributions to the periodical press.
For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
ALEXANDER YOUNG
Alexander Young belonged to the congregation of Laurieston. He attended the Hall at Paisley for the sessions 1844–7. When he appeared for license before the Presbytery of Glasgow it was noted that “he had finished his course though in peculiar circumstances, having entered the Hall a year before the usual period,” which probably means he had begun Divinity before he had ended Arts. He was licensed on August 8, 1848. At the Synod of 1849 three calls were presented to him—Wishaw, Darvel, and Dundee—and he accepted Darvel, the most numerously signed. He was ordained on August 28, as colleague and successor to Rev. A. W. Rogerson. For 1850–9 he acted as Clerk of Presbytery.
Questions regarding his conduct were officially raised before the Presbytery on June 13, 1861, when there was a petition from certain members of his congregation for the dissolution of the pastoral tie. The indictment was confessed true, and on July 11, 1861, Young was suspended sine die and loosed from his charge. In 1862 he applied to be restored and the case was referred to the Glasgow Presbytery within whose bounds he was residing, but it was sent back to the Kilmarnock
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Presbytery. On investigation it was agreed that the term of probation was too short for a final judgment on the case. In 1865 it was again considered, but on January 30, 1866, it was determined nothing could be done towards reinstatement. Thereafter Young disappears ecclesiastically.
THOMAS EASTON
Thomas Easton was the brother of Dr Easton of Darvel, and was born at Crossford, Lanarkshire, in 1825. He was educated at the parish school of Lesmahagow and Ayr Academy, after which he proceeded to Glasgow University, where in addition to the Arts course, he took classes in Hebrew and Divinity. He attended the Hall at Paisley, 1844–7, and was licensed on August 8, 1848. Before the next meeting of Synod he had been elected minister of Airdrie, Stranraer, and New Cumnock, but at the Synod he declined them all on the ground that he “could be more useful as a preacher itinerating for some time longer.” On December 11, 1849, Stranraer renewed the call, and it was accepted. He was ordained on March 19, 1850. In 1854 he was called to the newly-formed Southern congregation, Glasgow, but declined.
Easton proved an energetic and resourceful minister, extending the influence of the congregation, which erected a new place of worship at New Luce for those living in that quarter. He took an active part in the discussion on the Elective Franchise which resulted in the disruption of 1863, and adhered to the majority. On the Union with the Free Church in 1876, however, he protested; in which course he was followed by the majority of his congregation. He afterwards had repeated meetings with the protesting Synod, but no agreement was reached, and he continued in a state of separation ecclesiastically till his death on March 12, 1887, when his congregation joined the minority Synod.
He was the author of The Cardross Case in the Light of the Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, Edin., 1860.
JOHN KAY, D.D.
John Kay followed a course that was somewhat unusual, for before the close he found himself a minister of the United Presbyterian Church.
He was born at Greenock, where his father was an elder of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation. Unlike most Reformed Presbyterian students, he took his Arts classes at St Andrews. He entered the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Paisley in 1846, and continued there the usual four sessions, during the recesses acting as senior classical master at Blair
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Lodge Academy. On January 15, 1850, he was elected minister of Airdrie over two other candidates, and was ordained there on April 29. In 1859 he was called to Castle-Douglas, and was inducted on August 11. After a ministry of twelve years he was unanimously chosen minister at Coatbridge on August 3, 1871, and was inducted on September 27. At the time of the Union the membership had risen to 500, and a church and manse had been built. On March 21, 1878, he was inducted to the United Presbyterian congregation of Argyle Place, Edinburgh. Some confusion took place in sustaining the call (see Small’s United Presbyterian Congregations, I, 481).
Dr Kay proved himself a prominent minister. He was Clerk of the Synod for twenty years from 1858, besides being convener of the Foreign Missions Committee. On laying down the office of Clerk, the Synod adopted a minute that he had performed the duties with “great ability and promptitude, and with the most exemplary fidelity.” He was editor of the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine from 1861 to 1864, besides conducting the Dayspring for ten years and the Good Templar Magazine for a number of years. He received the degree of D.D. from St Andrews in 1882, and published a volume of sermons, Paulus Christifer, in 1884. His closing years were somewhat clouded by the unusual position he occupied on certain debatable questions, and he died on September 27, 1888, in his 60th year.
CHARLES NEILSON M‘CAIG
Charles Neilson M‘Caig, a nephew of Thomas Neilson of Rothesay, was born in Galloway and belonged to the Stranraer congregation. He was educated at Glasgow University and at the Hall in Paisley, 1833–8. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart on September 2, 1839. After a long probationership he was chosen minister of Lochgilphead on May 20, 1851. Under a special arrangement the call was sustained, the stipend being only £60, and he was ordained on September 9. He retired in 1876, and in May, just before the Union of that year, James M. Fulton was ordained as his successor. He died on April 6, 1880.
In spite of the Reformed Presbyterian position he acted as Chaplain to an Argyleshire volunteer regiment, and published The Christian Warfare, a sermon preached to them in 1873.
JOHN BIGGAR
John Biggar belonged at first to Eaglesham and then to Great Hamilton Street congregation, Glasgow. He attended the University and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall, the latter for the sessions 1846–9. On
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June 16, 1851, he was elected to Wishaw congregation, and was ordained on September 11. Anxiety was soon caused by the state of Biggar’s health, and on July 12, 1853, and again on May 11, 1854, the advice of the Presbytery was sought. In August 1854 he had to be placed under restraint, and the case was submitted to the Synod in the following year. The Synod advised the dissolution of the pastoral tie, and after careful consideration this was carried out by the Presbytery on June 5, 1855.
GEORGE LENNIE
George Lennie was connected with the congregation of Great Hamilton Street, Glasgow, when he entered the University and attended the Hall for sessions 1847–50. He was licensed by the Glasgow Presbytery on January 14, 1851, and on August 5 following was unanimously elected minister of Kilmarnock. The call was duly accepted, but the state of Lennie’s health prevented the hearing of his trials at once. On January 27, 1852, the Presbytery “allows his trial discourses to be read,” because he is “unable to commit them to memory.” On April 6 he was “improved though still infirm,” and on May 4 his “health was so far restored as to warrant them to proceed with his ordination.” This was carried through on July 1, but he preached only once and died on September 23. On reporting his decease the Synod recorded that “it was unprecedented in the history of the Church for the ordination and the death of a minister to be announced at the same time.” The young minister was full of promise, and was “exceedingly acceptable as a preacher.”
JOHN GUY
John Guy was a native of Paisley. He attended the University of Glasgow from 1839, and took classes at Paisley during sessions 1844–7. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on January 6, 1852, and accepted a call to the difficult congregation at Kelso on March 30, 1853. He was ordained on June 15.
In Kelso Guy was an active minister. Besides rendering considerable service to the community in various ways, he was clerk to his Presbytery from 1863 to 1867. He took an active part in the controversy (1857–8) over the question of the eligibility of ministers from Ireland to calls from Scotland, and especially in regard to a pamphlet, called Exclusion, issued in connection with the controversy. In 1867 he was called to Union Church, Valparaiso, South America, as colleague to Dr Trumbull, at a salary of $2000—a sum much in advance of Reformed Presbyterian
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stipends—and his resignation was accepted with much regret on October 9. He arrived at his new charge in January. In 1872 he was attacked by typhoid fever, from which he never fully recovered, and died on May 4, 1873.
GEORGE CLAZY
George Clazy was born in 1824 at Ecclestoun, Roxburghshire, of a staunch Reformed Presbyterian family. He studied at Edinburgh University and took his divinity at Paisley during sessions 1849–53. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on December 12, 1853. On May 2 of the following year he was unanimously elected minister of Paisley in succession to Dr Symington. After a vacancy lasting more than a year he was ordained over the congregation on October 3.
Clazy took little active interest in public affairs in the town, and devoted himself entirely to the duties of his office. He died suddenly on August 31, 1896. At the following meeting of Presbytery he was described as “one of those pure, solid, earnest-minded, noble ministers of God,” and as “an earnest, consistent, true-hearted minister of the Gospel.” In 1856 he married Janet K. Orr, and in 1863 Jessie Smith. One of his sons was Robert Smith Clazy, Free Church minister at Dunning.
DAVID BERRY
David Berry was born at Edinburgh in 1820, and studied at the Original Secession Hall. In 1848 he was ordained at Dundee. In July 1849 he and his congregation petitioned the Edinburgh Presbytery for admission to the Church, which was the more extraordinary as at that time negotiations were proceeding for union between the two Churches. Berry was received by the Synod of May 1850 as an ordained probationer. For the next six years he was employed in preaching, and on April 2, 1856, he was elected to Wick, where he was inducted on June 11. It is a curious fact that he presided at his own election. He remained at Wick till June 3, 1873, when his resignation was accepted by the Edinburgh Presbytery. His reasons for leaving Wick were the reluctance of apparently qualified persons to become members, emigration, and the division that existed since the vote of the Synod of 1863. On retirement Berry went to reside in Edinburgh, where he engaged in literary work.
While in Wick Berry interested himself greatly in the fishermen and seamen who came from Norway and Denmark. He learned their language and paid visits to the Continent to perfect himself in it. He hired a room for meetings with them, and supplied Bibles and hymn-books—
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all at his own expense and working without reward of any kind. No collections were taken. “It is deeds of this kind that give Mr Berry a unique place among the ministers of Caithness.”
He joined the Free Church at the Union of 1876, and in the same year received two calls. He accepted Graham Street, Airdrie. He resigned in 1886, and died in London on April 2, 1887. He was the author of several articles on Scandinavian subjects in the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, and of a translation from the Danish of Schiern’s James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, 1880, originally published in 1863 and 1875.
ALEXANDER MACLEOD SYMINGTON, B.A., D.D.
Alexander Macleod Symington was the youngest son of the first Dr William Symington of Glasgow. He was born in the manse of Stranraer in 1832, and was trained by his father. He attended Glasgow University, where he graduated B.A. in 1852. His Divinity course was taken partly in Paisley under his uncle and partly in Glasgow under his father and Dr Goold during the sessions 1851–5. He was licensed on October 16, 1855, by the Presbytery of Glasgow. On March 4, 1856, he was unanimously called by the congregation at Dumfries, and was ordained there on June 12. From 1857 to 1860 he acted as Clerk of Presbytery. In 1860 he was called by Greenock, but refused the call.
In 1867 he was invited to St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Birkenhead, and at the meeting of Presbytery on March 27 he accepted the call. In loosing him from his charge the Presbytery recorded their sense of the “ability and success” with which he had fulfilled his ministry. He died at Birkenhead on April 14, 1891. Symington was a considerable author and specialised in the lives of Biblical characters—The Apostles of the Lord, Life of John the Baptist, and The Story of Joseph. A portrait is in A Century of Congregational Life.
ROBERT THOMSON MARTIN
Martin was the eldest son of the minister of Strathmiglo, where he was born on February 29, 1832. He was educated at the parish school, and for a time was engaged in business at Dundee. Having turned his attention to the Church, he entered Edinburgh University in 1848, where he gained prizes in Latin and Greek. He attended the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Paisley and Glasgow during 1851–5, and was licensed on October 30, 1855. He asked not to be placed at once on the list of probationers, as he had accepted a situation which rendered regular employment on it impossible. On March 11, 1856, he was elected minister
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at Wishaw. On the following April 11 he was similarly elected by Kilmarnock. At the Synod he accepted Wishaw, and was ordained on July 30.
He was one of the four ministers who withdrew from the Church on the passing of the legislation of 1863. He did not long survive the separation, and died of typhoid fever on June 11, 1867.
He was appointed to edit the new organ of those who had withdrawn from the Synod—the Reformed Presbyterian Witness—the first number of which appeared in July 1864. Just before his death he published Sermons, Prayers, and Pulpit Addresses by Alexander Henderson, 1638, the manuscript of which he found in the course of visitation,—“its appearance created quite a sensation in the ecclesiastical and literary world.” He also prepared The Life and Times of Henderson, but it never saw the light. In October 1857 he married Agnes Murray, daughter of Rev. William Anderson of Loanhead.
THOMAS RAMAGE
Thomas Ramage claimed descent from certain Frenchmen who settled in the neighbourhood of Biggar after the Massacre of St Bartholomew. He was born at Busby, near Glasgow, in 1831, and attended Glasgow High School, the University, and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Paisley, 1851–5. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 16, 1855. On August 7, 1856, he was elected minister at Kilmarnock, and on December 8 he was duly ordained. He was in active sympathy with the Revival of 1859–60. In 1874 he was called to Douglas Water. At the Union of 1876 a strenuous effort on the part of some of the congregation was made to cause Ramage to oppose the movement, but he remained faithful. On being evicted from his manse Ramage removed to Lanark, sixteen miles distant, and from there ministered to those who adhered to the Union. In 1883 he was called to Clelland, and from there he removed to Skirling in 1887. In his new charge he ministered only for seventeen months, dying on October 21, 1888. In 1861 he married Isabella W. M‘Geachan.
JOHN HAMILTON
John Hamilton was born at Stranraer in May 1830, and was brought up in the congregation of Dr William Symington. He belonged to an old Cameronian stock, his maternal uncle being the Rev. James Brown of Dumfries. At first he worked in a printing office, but afterwards took to tutoring in private families. He attended Glasgow University for one
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session, 1847–8, and, missing a year because of his scholastic engagements, finished at Edinburgh, 1849–52. For a time he was a teacher in a school in Whithorn. He thereafter passed to the Hall in Paisley and Glasgow, where he spent the five sessions, 1852–6. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on October 14, 1856. On August 25, 1857, he was ordained at Renton. While minister at Renton he had many offers to change his charge—in July 1860 he was elected to St George’s Road, Glasgow—but he refused all offers, till June 4, 1874. On that date he was translated to the West Free Church, Glasgow, under the Mutual Eligibility Act, the first of his Church to be so moved. He died on August 21, 1878. He was unmarried.
Hamilton was of outstanding character both for his preaching gifts and for his personal piety. It was said that his “ministry in the Vale of Leven was from the first an influential one, more so than was common in Reformed Presbyterian Churches.” He was convener of the Synod’s Committee on Signs of the Times (Public Questions) from 1864 to 1873, and during that time contributed gratuitously illuminating notes on passing affairs to the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine.
See Memorials of Rev. John Hamilton, Glasgow, 1881, edited with a short biography by Prof. John Laidlaw, D.D., his brother-in-law. There is a portrait in Levenside Church.
JOHN HENDERSON THOMSON
John H. Thomson may be called the historian and antiquary of the Church.
He was born in Edinburgh on October 7, 1824, his mother claiming descent from the famous Covenanting leader, Alexander Henderson: hence his middle name. His father belonged to the Secession Church, and his mother to the Reformed Presbyterian Church, then under the charge of William Goold. He was trained at the University of Edinburgh and the Hall at Paisley, which latter he attended 1846–50. While a student he acted as teacher of classics and was tutor in several families of distinction. It was commonly said that he would have risen in that profession, had he chosen it as a career. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on March 2, 1852, and elected by the congregation of Eaglesham on August 25, 1857. He was ordained on November 3. After the Union he was called to Hightae and inducted there on November 6, 1877. On August 6, 1900, Charles Davidson, late of Strathmiglo, was settled as his colleague and successor, and he died on January 19, 1901, at Lochmaben. In 1890 he married Mary Cunningham, daughter of Dr James Young, Edinburgh.
At Eaglesham Thomson’s taste for historical research was whetted by
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the district in which he lived, the Howies of Lochgoin and other members of his congregation having a long connection with the Covenanters. He was for many years editor of the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, in which he wrote extensively on historical subjects, and also conducted the Christian Treasury and the Free Church Children’s Record for a time. He will chiefly be remembered, however, by The Martyr Graves of Scotland, which he published in two volumes after some of the sketches had run through a local paper. In all he wrote he was painstaking and accurate.
In the obituary notice adopted by the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, quoad civilia, it was said that “his name was a household word throughout the Reformed Presbyterian Church. He was a man greatly beloved, of a kindly, genial disposition, a sincere friend, a devoted pastor, an earnest evangelical preacher, a man of wide catholicity of spirit, and an ardent promoter of the reunion of the scattered branches of the Scottish Presbyterian Church.”
GEORGE PROUDFOOT
George Proudfoot was born at Moniaive, and belonged to the congregation of Penpont. He took classes at the Paisley Hall for sessions 1846–50, and was licensed on July 2, 1851, but craved indulgence on the ground that his health was not good. In May 1855 he was appointed chaplain to the Glasgow Workhouse: “Only one member of the Parochial Board took exception to the appointment, on the ground that he did not belong to the Established Church.” His ordination was recommended by the Synod of 1857, and was carried out on November 4, 1857. In 1861 he was called to Colmonell, but declined.
Proudfoot devoted his whole life to his chaplaincy. He resigned on November 15, 1896, and died on February 12, 1897, aged 74. The Parish Council recorded that “he was a man of strong religious convictions. Above all things he was much appreciated for his great kindness of heart and patience with the sufferings of the poor. He was pre-eminently a true disciple of the Master whom he endeavoured to serve, and by his own example and precept tried to lead many in the ways of virtue and holiness.” He was the author of a printed sermon, Lessons for the Present from the Memorials of the Past, 1856.
JOHN BATES, M.A.
John Bates belonged to Ireland, where his father was a merchant in Co. Tyrone. He entered Glasgow University in 1848, graduating M.A. in 1853. He attended the classes at the Hall in Paisley during sessions
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1849–50, 1854–5, and also for divinity at Glasgow University during 1853–6. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 16, 1855. On March 25, 1857, he was called to New Cumnock, and in spite of a protest by certain members of the congregation, probably on account of his health, the call was sustained and trials appointed. Bates, however, was unable to come forward, and after postponing his ordination, he gave up the call on November 10. At the same time he indicated he must proceed abroad, and the Presbytery ordained him at Ayr on December 8, and “designed him to New South Wales as a field of missionary labour.” On August 5, 1858, he expired suddenly in Sydney Railway Station, having just arrived in the city. He was 26 years of age.
JOHN GIBSON PATON, D.D.
John G. Paton is perhaps the most famous of all the ministers of the Reformed Presbyterian Church, his name being familiar in all English-speaking lands. His Autobiography, published in two parts, gives the essentials of his life.
Paton was born at Braehead, Kirkmahoe, Dumfriesshire, on May 24, 1824, and he died at Canterbury, Victoria, Australia, on January 28, 1907. For a time he acted as a teacher at Girvan, but came in to Glasgow, where he ultimately became a City missionary in connection with Great Hamilton Street congregation, of which he was chosen an elder. At the same time he enrolled as a student at Glasgow University. He entered the Reformed Presbyterian Hall in 1854, and took also the sessions for 1856–7. In consideration of his having volunteered for the Foreign Field, his course in divinity was shortened, and along with Joseph Copeland he was licensed on December 1, 1857. They were ordained by the Presbytery of Glasgow on March 23, 1858. In order to fit himself for the work, Paton took classes at the Andersonian Medical College.
The story of Paton’s work in the New Hebrides is told at length in his Autobiography, which has had an extensive sale. His first station was on the Island of Tanna, but because of the difficulty of the work there, he was removed to the neighbouring Island of Aniwa. In 1866 he was taken over by the Victorian Presbyterian Church, and in his last days spent much time in raising funds for the Mission throughout the world. He received the degree of D.D. from Edinburgh University in 1891.
His work is commemorated in the John G. Paton Mission Fund for the New Hebrides. Two sons followed in his footsteps. His centenary was celebrated with great enthusiasm in Melbourne in May 1924. For a portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
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JOSEPH COPELAND
Joseph Copeland belonged to the congregation at Dumfries, and took classes at Glasgow University. He was only twenty years of age when he joined the Divinity Hall at Glasgow in 1854. He attended for the years 1854, 1855, and 1857, during which time he acted as a Glasgow City missionary. In the last year, along with John G. Paton, he volunteered for Foreign Mission work in the New Hebrides. The Synod of 1857 gave authority to their Mission Committee to dispense with the full curriculum and to send out the two volunteers as soon as possible. Copeland was licensed on December 1, and ordained on March 23 following. Along with his fellow-missionary he sailed on April 15, and on reaching the Islands was appointed to Aneityum, where he did much to consolidate the work, and in acting as “sailing missionary.” In 1867 he was stationed at Ipau in the Island of Futuna. “Through his labours the backbone of heathenism was broken, but no one was baptised.”
In 1876 he left the Mission owing to a breakdown in health, and thereafter only returned on short visits. He became editor of the Southern Cross, the organ of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales, and died at Strathfield near Sydney in 1908.
Copeland was much esteemed as an earnest missionary. The New Zealand Presbyterian Church wanted to adopt him as their missionary in the Islands, but the Scottish Synod could not see their way to consent. He did much to reduce the native languages to writing, and acquired a thoroughly idiomatic knowledge of their speech. For the use of his scholars he prepared a primer which contained the Catechism and a few hymns: it was printed in Aneityum. He also translated the Gospel of Mark, which was printed in Sydney. He co-operated in preparing the Aneityumese Bible, translating part, and revising the whole, of the Old Testament. Before leaving Futuna he prepared a Harmony of the Gospels for the use of the natives.
In 1863 he married Elizabeth O’Brien, widow of the Rev. S. F. Johnston, a missionary who had been sent out by the Nova Scotian Church and had died in 1860, six months after landing. She died in 1876. See her life, Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, 1876.
See Gunn’s The Gospel in Futuna, 1914; John G. Paton’s Autobiography. The Reformed Presbyterian Magazine contains numerous letters by him from the mission field. A portrait is in A Century of Congregational Life.
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ANDREW CLOKIE
Andrew Clokie came from Whithorn, where he was born in 1835–6, and spent sessions 1852–7 at the Hall in Paisley and Glasgow. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart on October 13, 1857. Clokie’s career was a very troubled one, and its disturbance began almost at once.
On October 19, 1858, he was elected minister of West Campbell Street, Glasgow. When the call came before the Presbytery, a dissent by 50 members was also presented. The call was sustained, and the dissentients immediately seceded to form what was afterwards St George’s Road (Grant Street) congregation. The ordination was carried through on December 8, 1858. The charge against Clokie had been one of unveracity, and the trouble broke out again almost at once. The old charge was renewed, and complaint was also made against him in connection with a breach of promise of marriage. After much investigation, the Presbytery suspended him sine die, and ultimately loosed him from his charge on October 26, 1859. Against this decision an appeal was taken to the Synod of May 1860, and after a debate lasting two days the verdict of the Presbytery was reversed. See Mr Clokie’s Case, 1860, where the proceedings before the Synod are given verbatim.
Matters settled down, and Clokie continued till 1868, when the congregation seemed to the Presbytery “to require immediate attention.” Proceedings were short, for on August 4 his resignation was accepted. He afterwards became Congregational minister at Normanton, Yorkshire, and died in 1872.
JOHN TORRANCE
John Torrance was born in 1828, and belonged to the congregation of Wishaw. At fifteen years of age he came to Glasgow to enter on a business career, but was drawn to the ministry. He entered Glasgow University in 1850, and attended the Hall at Paisley for sessions 1853–7. For a time he taught in Glasgow Academy. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 13, 1857.
On July 20, 1858, Torrance was elected minister of Colmonell, and in sustaining the call the Presbytery of Newton-Stewart instructed the Moderator to communicate all the facts to him—a unanimous call signed by all the members, 47 in number, and by 15 adherents, and a stipend of £50, which might be increased to £100. On December 9 Torrance accepted the call, and was ordained on January 18, 1859. In 1861 he was called to both Greenock and the new charge at Glasgow—St George’s
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Road or Grant Street. Later another came from Paisley, but he accepted Glasgow, and was inducted there on May 30. He died on June 28, 1901.
Torrance was described as a “man of vigorous intellect, warm affections and singular conscientiousness. . . . He was a diligent student, an effective preacher, a faithful and sympathetic pastor, and especially a man of prayer.” Through his exertions a ministerial meeting for prayer was begun. In 1866 he married Margaret M. Symington. A daughter was the wife of a missionary teacher at Blythswood, South Africa, and a son, after being a missionary in India, was settled in a home charge.
DAVID TAYLOR
David Taylor was the son of a Great Hamilton Street elder, and was born in Glasgow in 1834. He attended Glasgow University and entered the Hall in 1854, remaining till 1857. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 12, 1858. On January 18, 1859, he was called to Ayr. The settlement at Greenock of Peter Carmichael caused the formation of a second congregation, and on July 25, 1861, Taylor was unanimously elected its minister. He was inducted on October 16. On January 29, 1869, he was called to West Campbell Street, Glasgow, and inducted on March 18.
Taylor’s procedure at the Union of 1876 was peculiar. A new church was on the point of being opened in Dover Street, and both minister and congregation entered heartily into the Union. Taylor appeared and took part in the first Free Church Presbytery in June 1876. Before three months had passed he and his congregation applied for admission to the Church of Scotland on the plea, amongst others, that the abolition of patronage had removed all objections. They carried the property with them. In the motion declaring Taylor no longer a minister of the Church, M‘Dermid pointedly spoke of the responsibilities “for fair, upright and honourable dealing.” Some proceedings at law were taken, but nothing came of them. He died on June 27, 1881.
MATTHEW HUTCHISON
Matthew Hutchison, the historian of the Church, was born at Loanhead on August 12, 1828. In his younger days he became a country schoolmaster, but always had the ministry in view. Passing through the Arts course at Edinburgh, he proceeded to the Hall in Glasgow for sessions
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1854–8. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on October 13, 1858. On April 19, 1859, he was unanimously elected minister of New Cumnock, and was ordained there on August 3. It was his only charge. A colleague was appointed in 1902, and Hutchison died on July 14, 1913.
He was a literary man from his youth, and contributed much to the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine, and to other journals. After Dr W. H. Goold had declined to write the history of the Church, it was undertaken by Hutchison, and The Reformed Presbyterian Church in Scotland was published in 1893. In 1903 he issued a new edition of Thomson’s Martyr Graves with an introduction, and during his ministry published two prize sermons. He was Clerk of the Reformed Presbyterian Presbytery of Kilmarnock, 1874–6, and the Free Church and United Free Church Presbytery of Ayr from 1891 to 1905.
ALEXANDER DAVIDSON
Alexander Davidson was born in Glasgow in 1832, and was attached to Great Hamilton Street congregation. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall in Glasgow from 1854 to 1858, missing the year 1855. While a student he acted as an agent of the Glasgow City Mission. He was licensed on April 12, 1859, and in the autumn of the same year was called to Stromness, where a congregation had been organised in the preceding May. The call was declined, and he was invited to Douglas Water. That call was refused on May 7, 1860, and the Stromness people renewed their invitation on June 13. It was this time accepted, and he was ordained on August 10, being received by the small body of people with great cordiality. He remained in the Orkneys for ten years, and was called to Kilbirnie on June 7, 1870, having refused a similar invitation from Rothesay in the preceding year. He was inducted on July 7. Under his ministry the membership of Kilbirnie increased, until by the time of his retirement it was doubled.
A new church was built on the site of the old in 1889. His health gave way in 1900 and a colleague was ordained on September 16, 1902. Davidson retired from active duty in the preceding April, when a gift of £440 was made to him. He died at Ardrossan on May 8, 1904. Davidson was widely known for his wit, being described as “a man of a singularly rich and pleasant humour.” He is survived by his widow, Margaret Skinner, whom he had married in 1869.
See Couper’s Kilbirnie West, 1923, with portrait.
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ROBERT NAISMITH
Robert Naismith, who had Covenanting ancestry, was born at Cambusnethan, Lanarkshire, on August 4, 1822, and was baptised by Dr Mason of Wishaw. While a mere child he narrowly escaped drowning in the Clyde. His parents removed afterwards to Lesmahagow. At fifteen years of age he entered a Glasgow writer’s office, but preferred teaching, to which he devoted himself. Entering Glasgow University and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall, where he studied for the five years, 1850–4, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on February 6, 1855. He received several calls as a probationer, and it was only when elected a second time at Chirnside that he accepted the invitation. He was ordained on May 2, 1861. He died at Chirnside on January 31, 1891. He married as his second wife, Mary Bertram, and left her a widow with several children.
Naismith was literary, and published a Historical Sketch of the Church (1877), besides a number of hymns and poetical pieces, specimens of which are given in Crockett’s Minstrelsy of the Merse. He also printed a small volume of sermons which he dedicated to his congregation.
THOMAS HALLIDAY LANG
Thomas Halliday Lang was born in the parish of Shotts in 1834, and came to the University of Glasgow from Linlithgow in 1851. He was a student at the Hall in Glasgow during 1854–9, and took a session of theology at the University, 1858–9. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on January 10, 1860. He was called to Ayr on October 31, 1861, and ordained there on December 18. It was his only charge.
In 1904 Lang retired, and his congregation was united with St John’s. In 1911 he celebrated his jubilee, and on March 7, 1919, he died. He was unmarried.
Lang “had a literary bent, was a keen student, a lover of books, widely read, and possessed a library consisting of an exceptionally large and varied collection of valuable books.” He took an active share in public affairs, and was specially interested in the Industrial Boys’ School. No old man, it was said, had a fresher heart and an opener mind.
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JAMES NAISMITH
James Naismith was born at Mossneuk, Wishaw, on February 21, 1827, and was baptised by Dr Mason, as his father had been before him. His brother, Robert, became minister of Chirnside. At the age of fifteen he began life in a law office in Glasgow, where he joined West Campbell Street congregation. He was “long and honourably known as one of the most active members who had taken a full share in all the schemes of usefulness which the congregation aimed to promote.” He actively shared in the defence of Andrew Clokie, and appeared before the Synod on his behalf.
While still engaged in office work he succeeded in taking classes in the University and in attending the Hall during 1852–6. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on May 6, 1861. Having been unanimously called to Douglas Water, he was ordained there on July 14, 1862. During his short ministry he did much to build up the congregation in numbers and in effectiveness. In its obituary notice of him, the Synod spoke of the fact that “labouring among a widely scattered people, he spared no pains in his efforts to carry the Gospel into the homes of those who, from whatever reason, were rarely in the House of God.” In the district there was no church but his own, and he had latterly no fewer than sixteen prayer meetings, most of which he originated. The membership was trebled, and through his exertions a manse was built. He had the gift of song and frequently led the praise of the Synod. His death on May 31, 1870, was unexpected.
WILLIAM MILROY, A.B.
William Milroy was the only minister trained in America who was included in the ranks of the Scottish Reformed Presbyterian ministry. He was a native of Wigtonshire, where he was born in 1831. Emigrating to Canada at an early age, he studied at the University of Toronto, where he graduated A.B. He was licensed at Alleghany, U.S.A., by the Reformed Presbyterian Presbytery of Pittsburg on April 3, 1861; and at once crossed over to this country and attended the Hall for session 1861. He applied for admission to the Church as a licentiate, and was so admitted by the Synod of May 1862. He was almost immediately called by the congregation of Penpont. He accepted the call on July 2, and was ordained on August 7.
Milroy proved an original thinker and a good scholar. He was particularly well versed in the older divines, and a thoroughgoing exponent of Reformed Presbyterian principles. He did what he could to delay
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Union with the Free Church in 1876, even editing against it a bitter little journal, The Reformed Presbyterian Watchman, which began publication in January 1873, and published twenty-one numbers, the last being issued in May 1876, just before the Union was consummated. He came, however, into the Union, and died at Scaurbridge on February 18, 1893, after a lingering illness. He was Clerk of the Free Church Presbytery of Dumfries from 1891. In 1867 he married Eliza M‘T. Cunningham. He published A Scottish Communion, Paisley, 1882.
DONALD M‘LACHLAN
Donald M‘Lachlan was the youngest of four brothers who became ministers, from the small island of Seil. He entered Glasgow University in 1829, and spent 1834–7 at the Hall in Paisley. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dumfries on March 20, 1838, and for the next twenty years acted as probationer. In 1862 he was asked by the Presbytery of Paisley to undertake the oversight of the Mission in Lorn, and on the recommendation of the Synod was ordained there as missionary on August 20, 1862. He had two churches in the island of Luing, where he was the only minister, and served them till his death. At the Union of 1876 he was transferred along with his Mission to the Free Church, which continued to him his status as an ordained missionary. He died at Toberonchy, Luing, on May 12, 1878, aged 71. The Synod declared that he “preached in his native tongue with much power and unction.”
PETER M‘INDOE MARTIN
Martin was the son of the minister of Strathmiglo, where he was born in 1837. He attended Edinburgh University and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Paisley and Edinburgh during sessions 1858–62. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on October 1, 1862, and on February 17, 1853, he was unanimously elected to Kilbirnie. He had already been called to Girvan, which he refused, and to Carnoustie. On February 25 he accepted Kilbirnie, and was ordained there on April 16. During his ministry the membership increased from 150 to 226 in 1865, but soon after his leaving the town it dropped back to normal. He was an earnest and vigorous worker. In the midst of his success a dispute broke out about the condition of the manse. To satisfy his claims, a house was rented for him at Lochwinnoch till Whitsunday 1869. Before the expiry of that term he resigned, and was released by the Presbytery on January 15. A somewhat bitter civil dispute afterwards broke out concerning a payment made to him for stipend.
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He was admitted a member of the Presbyterian Church of England at the Synod of 1869, and on June 18 of that year was elected minister of a new charge at Ipswich. He resigned in July 1880 to go to Durban, Natal, where he had been called. He died in April 1888. It is said that the success of the Presbyterian Church in the Colony is largely due to him.
See Couper’s Kilbirnie West, 1823, with portrait.
JOHN JACKSON
John Jackson was born in Edinburgh in 1837, and belonged to the congregation of Dr Goold. He entered Edinburgh University in 1855, and attended the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Glasgow from 1858 to 1862. He was licensed on January 14, 1863, and ordained at Girvan on April 17 of the same year. In 1872 he was called to a newly-formed congregation at Manchester, but declined. He resigned in 1876, on accepting a call to Belize, British Honduras. During his ministry there the congregation increased in membership from 110 to 170. He was described as a “born teacher,” and, along with his ministerial duties, undertook “the duties of Government inspector of schools,” besides giving himself much to open-air preaching. He had resigned his charge and was waiting the arrival of his successor when he caught a chill and died in less than a week, on December 13, 1888. In 1876 he married Agnes M‘Cartney.
JOHN EDGAR, M.A.
John Edgar was born at Irongray in 1833, and was brought up in Dunscore in connection with the congregation at Penpont. He attended Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A. in 1858, and the Glasgow Hall for sessions 1858–62. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dumfries on January 7, 1863.
While still a student he was appointed to the oversight of Green Street Mission in connection with Great Hamilton Street congregation, Glasgow, which had been given the status of a mission station. Edgar’s engagement began in March 1861, and so successful was he that in March 1863 the mission was organised into a congregation. On May 7 a call to Edgar, signed by 69 members and 49 adherents, came before the Presbytery. On June 3 he was ordained.
Edgar’s influence in the East End of Glasgow proved to be considerable. Besides building up a large congregation, he was peculiarly successful among the young, several of whom became ministers of the Church, and three occupied College chairs. As a student he had experience of
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evangelistic work in the Revival of 1859–60, and a feature of his ministry was open-air preaching.
A colleague, J. Lindsay Robertson, B.D., was appointed in August 25, 1904, and Edgar died, full of years and honours, on October 14 of the same year. In 1865 he married Eliza Curr. For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
WALTER WHITE
Walter White was born at Tinwald, Dumfriesshire, in 1839. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1854, and attended the Hall for sessions 1859–62. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on January 7, 1863.
In the spring of 1863 he was elected minister of Carnoustie, which had just acceded to the Synod, and was ordained on June 10. He did not commend himself by his preaching, and his health was not good. A crisis was reached in 1872 when his resignation was demanded, and the Presbytery advised him to acquiesce. After some friction he retired on February 11, 1873.
White was soon afterwards admitted to the Free Church as a minister without charge. For a time he preached to the United Presbyterian congregation at Pitrodie, Perthshire, and in 1885 was formally recognised by the United Presbyterian Church. He entered the Union of 1900, and died on March 9, 1907.
ANDREW SYMINGTON
Andrew Symington was born in Paisley in 1836, the youngest son of Dr Andrew Symington. He was intended for a business career, but entered the University of Glasgow in 1852 with a view of studying for the ministry. He attended the Hall during 1860–3, partly at Glasgow, where he was under his uncle, and partly at Edinburgh. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on October 27, 1863. During his last year at Divinity he acted as missionary in the congregation at Laurieston, which had fallen in membership and influence. On December 21, 1863, he was unanimously elected minister. He was promised £100 per annum, and a manse, and was ordained on February 25, 1864. “His labours were the means of a revival of religion, which bore permanent fruit and gave the congregation a firmer hold on the population than in any previous part of its history.”
On June 23, 1869, he was called to the congregation at Greenock, and on August 10 he accepted the invitation. He was inducted on September 1,
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1869. In 1910 Symington retired, and W. Wallace Whyte, M.A., was settled over the congregation as an ordained preacher. Symington died on June 12, 1920. In recording his death the Synod, quoad civilia, described him as “an earnest preacher of the Gospel, a wise and sympathetic pastor and a faithful and loving friend.”
In 1864 he married Mary Struthers. One daughter is engaged in Foreign Mission work, and a son is T. Struthers Symington, M.A., Glasgow.
JAMES NIVEN
On July 12, 1864, James Niven, who is described as a licentiate of the United Presbyterian Church, and whose name appears in their list of students for 1858, wrote to the Mission Committee of the Church offering himself as a missionary. His father and brother were both missionaries in Jamaica, where he himself had been born. He was accepted, and, after being ordained in Edinburgh on October 4, sailed for the New Hebrides at the beginning of March 1865. On August 9 of the same year, a short time after landing, he resigned on the ground that he did “not possess the qualifications which would enable him to labour with success in the New Hebrides.” The Committee adjudged his action precipitate, and recorded that he “had resigned on insufficient grounds, and has not acted with that energy and perseverance that might have been expected of him.” His subsequent history is not known.
JOHN RIDDELL, B.A.
John Riddell belongs to Eskdalemuir, and was born in 1840. He attended Glasgow University, where he graduated B.A. in 1861, and the Hall in Edinburgh during 1861–4. While still in Divinity he was nominated by his fellow-students to take charge of the Mission at Dundee, in which they were interested. He began work there in November 1862, and the Synod shortened his Divinity course by one year. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dumfries on August 10, 1864, and having been elected by the congregation at Dundee, which he had quadrupled in number, he was ordained over it on December 14 of the same year.
After three years of successful work he found himself out of harmony with the doctrinal position of the Church. He resigned on April 14, 1868, for the purpose of joining the Free Church. Being dissatisfied with certain transactions, the Presbytery referred the whole matter to the Synod of 1868, which accepted his resignation while they “disapproved of the irregularities” accompanying it. He took the majority of his congrega-
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tion with him. Before the end of the year he accepted a call to Glasgow, where he was successively minister of the Wynd, 1868; Augustine, 1872; Paisley Road, 1875; and the New Wynd, 1887. In 1865 he married Agnes M. Robertson.
JAMES PATON, B.A., D.D.
James Paton was the brother of Dr John G. Paton, and like him came from Dumfriesshire, being born at Torthorwald on April 2, 1843. He attended Glasgow University, graduating B.A. in 1860. He was only seventeen years of age when he entered the Hall and spent there the sessions 1860–4. He was licensed on October 4, 1864, by the Presbytery of Dumfries. The decision of 1863 had done much to reduce the size of the congregation at Airdrie, but they unanimously called Paton on March 14, 1865. He was ordained on June 1.
Under his care the congregation increased in numbers until it was over 500 at the close of his ministry as a Reformed Presbyterian. The year after his ordination Paton was the subject of a strange discipline case, but he was found guilty only of some indiscretions. At the beginning of 1873 it was ascertained that he had applied for admission to the Church of Scotland because he had changed his views on some fundamental doctrines. He was forthwith separated from his congregation on March 11, 1873, but he carried most of them with him into his new connection. After being minister of several congregations he died on December 22, 1906. Six years previously he had received the degree of D.D. from his Alma Mater.
Dr Paton was an author. He became well known as the editor of the autobiography of his brother and the letters of his sister-in-law, but he also did original work. Besides producing some prose, he was a poet, publishing among other volumes Leila and Other Poems, 1875. His most ambitious work was British History and Papal Claims, 1893, in two volumes. “It will probably be in connection with the Church’s movement for social reform that his name will be most gratefully remembered.”
MATTHEW BROWN
Matthew Brown was born at Glasgow in January 1838, and belonged to Great Hamilton Street congregation. Starting life in business, he ultimately attended the University, where he also took the Divinity classes in 1862–3, and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall in Glasgow, 1860–4, besides spending a winter at study in Berlin. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on September 13, 1864. He was elected by Hightae on March 6, 1865, and on the same evening by Whithorn. At the Presbytery next day
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satisfactory assurances were given about accommodation for the minister, and the call to Hightae was accepted. He was ordained on May 2. During his ministry the church was remodelled and the manse finished. He laboured at Hightae till failing health forced him to seek a warmer climate. A voyage to New Zealand in 1875 produced little improvement.
On being called to East London, South Africa, he demitted his charge on March 6, 1877, and after a year’s service in the South died on October 16, 1878. His wife, Jessie Johnstone, whom he had married in 1867, predeceased him by a few months. Brown published several booklets for children.
His portrait is in A Century of Congregational Life.
JAMES COSH, M.A., D.D.
James Cosh was born in 1839, and belonged to the Renton congregation. His college course was taken at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1861, and his theological at the Reformed Presbyterian Hall, Glasgow, 1861–5. Along with Thomas Neilson he was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on October 4, 1865, and on November 28 was one of three missionaries ordained by the same Presbytery for work in the New Hebrides. With them he sailed on March 1, 1866.
On arriving in Melbourne he was taken over by the Presbyterian Church of Victoria, Australia, and by them stationed on the Island of Efaté. Owing to the bad health of his wife he took an extended furlough in 1871–2, and had charge of St Andrews Church, Auckland, New Zealand, during the absence of its minister. He was, however, compelled to resign his missionary charge in the latter year.
He afterwards settled as minister of the Presbyterian Church, Balmain, Sydney, and later became Theological Tutor for the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales. He was Moderator of the first General Assembly of the Federated Churches of Australia. He received the degree of D.D. from Glasgow University in 1892, and died at Strathendrick, Turramurra, Sydney, on September 20, 1900.
His portrait, along with those of M‘Nair and Neilson, may be found in the Reformed Presbyterian Magazine for 1867.
JAMES M‘NAIR
James M‘Nair was born at Lochstrivenhead, Argyleshire, in October 1829. As a youth he was engaged in the Post Office at Dunoon, both as an ordinary postman and afterwards as postmaster. He took a deep interest in all Church work. Coming under the notice of Sir Rowland
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Hill, he was allowed, by his influence, to attend classes in order to qualify for the ministry. He proceeded to Edinburgh, where he entered the University and the Free Church College, adding to the ordinary curriculum certain medical classes. In 1865 he attended the Reformed Presbyterian Hall in Glasgow, and was invited by the Board of Missions to offer himself for the foreign field. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on October 31, 1865, and ordained along with others in Glasgow by the Presbytery of Paisley on November 28. With the other missionaries, he and his wife sailed from Liverpool for the New Hebrides on March 1, 1866.
In Australia he was taken over by the Presbyterian Church of the Lower Provinces of Canada as their missionary, and was settled on the Island of Erromango. His course as a missionary was short, for he succumbed to ague and fever on July 11, 1870, being buried beside the martyred Gordons in Erromango.
THOMAS NEILSON, JUN.
Thomas Neilson was the son of the minister of Rothesay, where he was born in 1839. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall in the same city during sessions 1862–5. He volunteered for mission work in the New Hebrides, and on that account his Divinity course was shortened by a year. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on October 4, 1865, and on November 28 was with the others ordained by the same Presbytery in Glasgow. On March 1, 1866, the new missionaries sailed for the New Hebrides.
After a short stay for preparation in Aneityum, he attempted to land on Tanna, from which John G. Paton had been driven. He failed to secure a footing owing to the hostility of the natives, but returned the following year, and succeeded in beginning work. He completed his missionary service on Tanna. He retired in 1883 and went to live in Australia. Shortly after reaching the Islands he married a daughter of Dr Geddie of the New Hebrides.
DAVID DOIG ROBERTSON, M.A.
David Doig Robertson belonged to a well-known Reformed Presbyterian family in Glasgow, but was born in Rothesay in 1841. He took his Arts course at Glasgow, where he graduated B.A. in 1861 and M.A. in 1862. He attended the Hall in Paisley and Glasgow during sessions 1861–5, and one session in theology at Berlin. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on September 5, 1865.
On January 9 he was unanimously elected minister of Whithorn, and
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was ordained on March 21, 1866. In 1869 he had some “scruples anent the terms of communion,” but after some discussion and an appeal to the Synod, the case was practically dismissed. The matter cropped up again at the Synod of 1872, when Robertson intimated his intention of retiring from the Church, but no further procedure was necessary, because on June 6 the Presbytery accepted his resignation on his election to the congregation of Dudley, England.
In 1875 he was called to the Free Church at Old Kilpatrick, and there and at Bowling he ministered till 1885, when he resigned on account of ill-health. He resumed work at the extension charge at Oban in 1887, where he continued with the English congregation till his death at Montreux on February 24, 1899. He married (1) in 1866 Margaret A. Govan, and (2) in 1885 Mary E. Milligan.
ROBERT M‘KENNA, M.A.
Robert M‘Kenna was a native of Girvan, where he was born in 1842, and where he was under Dr M. G. Easton during his youth. In 1858 he entered Glasgow University, and graduated M.A. in 1863. His Divinity course was taken in Glasgow during 1861–5, and he spent a session in theology in Berlin. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Kilmarnock on September 4, 1865. On December 28, 1865, he was elected colleague to William M‘Lachlan of Port-Glasgow by a majority, and was ordained on April 24. He remained only a few months, and was then elected minister of Dumfries in 1867, again by a majority. He was inducted on December 5. He acted as Clerk of Presbytery from 1869 to 1872.
M‘Kenna was a man of “exceptional ability.” He took an active interest in educational affairs, and was secretary of the National Bible Society for over forty years. In April 1912 Thomas Keir was appointed his colleague, and he celebrated his jubilee in 1915. He died on April 6, 1917.
In 1871 he married Margaret Wright. One of his daughters is the wife of the Rev. Thomas Crichton, and a son, Dr Robert, is well known as a novelist—as is appropriate, of Covenanting story. A second son, James, was knighted in 1925.
For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
WILLIAM WATT
William Watt came from Eaglesham, where he was born in 1844. He attended classes at Glasgow University, and the Hall in Edinburgh for the sessions 1863–7. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley
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on January 7, 1868. Before that date he had volunteered for the foreign field, and was accepted by the Committee. He was ordained in Glasgow by the Presbytery of Paisley on May 7, 1868, and left for the other side of the world in the following June. After spending some time in New Zealand, and having been taken over by the Presbyterian Church of the colony, he was settled at Tanna in the New Hebrides. He retired after a number of years, and is now resident in Canterbury, Australia.
JOHN WYLIE
John Wylie was born in Pollokshaws, Glasgow, in 1841. His father belonged to the Southern congregation and was a city missionary. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall at Edinburgh, where he was during sessions 1864–8. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 27, 1868. As a student he did mission work in connection with the congregation of Great Hamilton Street, and had much to do with the start of Barrowfield. Before license he was appointed to the charge of the mission congregation at Dundee, which by a recent defection had been reduced to a mere handful. So successful was he that he was ordained over them on August 12, 1869. In 1875 the membership was returned at 260.
Wylie was pre-eminently a mission minister and excelled as an open-air preacher. His permanent memorial is a new church and manse. On April 26, 1871, he received a unanimous call to Coatbridge, but declined it.
He died at Dundee on October 16, 1893, predeceasing by a few months his wife, Margaret Pettigrew, whom he married in 1871. He had “perseverance amounting almost to genius.”
For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
ALEXANDER BAIRD
Alexander Baird was born at Louden Hill in 1839, of an old Covenanting stock. He was brought up in connection with the congregation at Darvel, and was educated at Glasgow University. He attended the Hall in Edinburgh for the five sessions 1865–9, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Kilmarnock on August 31, 1869. After acting as an assistant at Port-Glasgow for a year, he was unanimously elected colleague there on September 15, 1869, and was ordained on October 26. On the death of the senior minister in 1876, he became sole pastor. In 1885 a new church was built. He retired in 1905, and J. W. Anderson was appointed colleague and successor. At the same time a union was effected with a neighbouring congregation.
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Baird died on May 25, 1919, at Rutherglen. While minister at Port-Glasgow he served several terms on the School Board, and took much interest in local affairs. The Synod, quoad civilia, spoke of “the influence of his strong personality, his home example and his helpful ministry.” In 1870 he married Agnes Miller. A son was United Free Church minister at Wollee, Hawick, afterwards of an English Presbyterian charge, and is now in the Church of Scotland.
JAMES HUNTER, M.A., B.D.
James Hunter was born at Beith, Renfrewshire, in 1841, but removed during his boyhood to Greenock, where he became connected with the Second congregation. He studied at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1863 and B.D. in 1868. He took classes in the Hall in Glasgow and Edinburgh during sessions 1862–6, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on April 2, 1867. After acting as missionary at Dunscore and assistant in Great Hamilton Street congregation, he was called to Laurieston on January 27, 1870, and was ordained on March 24. Since then Hunter has taken a prominent part in the service of the Church, having acted as Convener of the Temperance Committee. He has been Clerk both to the Free Church and United Free Presbyteries of Falkirk, as well as Clerk to the Reformed Presbyterian Synod, quoad civilia, since 1879. He celebrated his jubilee in 1920. John H. Ross, M.A., was ordained his colleague and successor in 1920.
In 1871 he married Margaret, daughter of Professor Binnie, Aberdeen. For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
WALTER ROGERSON PATON
Walter R. Paton was born at Torthorwald, Dumfries, in 1823, the brother of the well-known Patons. For a time he was engaged in business, but the difficulty of finding a successor for his brother, John, in Green Street Mission induced him to undertake the work. He thereafter attended the University and went to the Reformed Presbyterian Hall for the sessions 1864–8. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh on December 22, 1868. Though never of robust health, he took charge of the newly-formed station at Coatbridge, under the superintendence of his brother James of Airdrie. He was ordained over it on April 27, 1870. In the following January he had to resign on account of the state of his health, and his resignation was accepted on February 14. He recovered and was called to Whithorn, where he was inducted on December 4, 1872. The majority of the congregation at Whithorn was opposed to the
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Union of 1876 and Paton resigned, a course which was commended by the Synod, who had “no doubt of the wisdom and prudence of his resolution,” and acknowledged his self-denial. In the same year, 1876, he was inducted at Chapelton, Lanarkshire. He retired in 1892, and died at Londonderry on April 5, 1900. He married (1) in 1873 Janet Hinshelwood Robson, and (2) in 1881 Jessie W. Baxter. His portrait is to be found in the East Coatbridge Souvenir, 1923.
ALLAN M‘DOUGALL, M.A.
Allan M‘Dougall came from Dumbarton, where he was born in 1841. He studied at Glasgow University, where he graduated M.A. in 1867. He attended the Reformed Presbyterian Hall for the sessions 1865–9, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on August 11, 1869. On November 8 he was called to Rothesay. He had some doubt about accepting, but on May 17, 1870, closed with the offer, and was ordained on June 9.
In 1875 he was called by the Foreign Mission Committee as successor to Dr Inglis of the New Hebrides, and on April 5 accepted the call. He reached the Islands in October 1875. Here differences broke out between him and Dr Inglis over the methods he proposed to employ. Inglis, who was retiring, refused to place the mission under his charge. “It seems to the senior missionary,” he wrote, “that Mr M‘Dougall’s methods, if carried out, would go far to undo the work . . . of the last twenty-five years.” The view of Inglis prevailed with the Committee and the Synod, and M‘Dougall withdrew. He settled down in Australia.
NATHAN COSH, D.D.
Nathan or Nathaniel Cosh was born in Greenock in 1845, but in 1865 he is given as belonging to the Renton congregation. He attended the Hall in Edinburgh during the sessions 1865–9, and was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on September 1, 1869. He was called by Douglas Water, and having accepted on February 14, 1871, he was ordained on May 3. His ministry was short, for on June 19, 1873, he was called to be colleague and successor to Thomas Martin of Strathmiglo. He was translated on September 4.
In 1885 he was transferred to Dalry, and died in 1896. He received the degree of D.D. from an American college, while lecturing in the States. He married Myra Hariette Bathscombe in 1879.
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THOMAS WYLIE PATRICK
Patrick belonged to Landressy Street (Barrowfield) congregation, Glasgow, and attended the University and Hall, the latter for the years 1868–72. During his student days he was in charge of several missions. On February 9, 1869, ninety-three persons, attached to the Piccadilly Street Mission in which he was then working, petitioned the Presbytery to be taken under their charge as a congregation. After investigation, the Presbytery found it would not be expedient to do so because of the work being done by another congregation in the near neighbourhood. Soon after Patrick was engaged at Rutherglen, and in 1870 application was made that the mission there should be recognised as a station of the Reformed Presbyterian Church. Patrick had still two years of the theological curriculum to undergo, and a petition was presented to the Synod that he be allowed a remission of the last year. Consent was given on condition that he took the final year afterwards. He was accordingly licensed on October 31, 1871, and ordained on December 21 following. Next year it was necessary to enquire into a fama concerning him, but he was completely exonerated.
A year after the Union he was suspended sine die by the Free Presbytery of Glasgow, and loosed from his charge at Rutherglen. In spite of prohibition he held services in the Town Hall. He was cited to appear before the Presbytery, but at first neglected the summons. The case was reported to the General Assembly, which empowered the Presbytery to depose him.
GEORGE LAURIE
George Laurie was born in Greenock in 1843, and as a young man did much Christian work. He had Principal Denney in his Sabbath School Class at Greenock, and S. R. Crockett in his Bible Class in Castle-Douglas. He attended Glasgow University, and the Hall in Edinburgh for sessions 1866–70. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on October 4, 1870. While serving as missionary at Dunscore he was elected minister of Castle-Douglas on April 9, 1872. The ordination took place on June 6.
Though called to the city charge of Cunninghame, Glasgow, in 1884, he remained at Castle-Douglas, and retired in 1913, when Norman Nicolson, M.A., was appointed colleague. Laurie took a prominent place in the life of the town, being a leader in the Temperance Movement, as well as a J.P. and Chairman of the School Board. He passed away in Glasgow while conducting family worship on September 14, 1920. The
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Synod spoke of his “winsome personality, varied gifts and devotion to duty.” It was said that “the pastoral instinct was strong in him, a kindlier shepherd seldom led a flock in greener pastures. He had a notable gift of addressing children.” In 1877 he married Helen Fairley.
JAMES BOWIE
James Bowie was brought up in the Free Church. After license he acted as missionary at Crawfordjohn and St George’s, Glasgow. In 1854 he was sent by the Colonial Committee of the Church to Canada, where next year he was ordained at Guelph, Ontario, in which charge he remained for twenty years. His wife belonged to Great Hamilton Street congregation, and “he had early conceived a warm-hearted interest in the Reformed Presbyterian Church; her devotion to the doctrine of Christ’s headship had won his admiration; he was a diligent reader of her magazine; and it was in that magazine he first learned of the preaching station in the parish of Dunscore, and the vacancy there.” On leaving Canada he travelled home by way of Australia, New Zealand, India, and the Continent of Europe, arriving in time to have his application for admission to the Church allowed by the Synod of 1874. On June 19 he was unanimously elected to Dunscore. The induction took place on June 23. He greatly favoured the Union of 1876.
Bowie had considerable means, and lavishly expended it on the poor of the district. He continued at Dunscore till February 28, 1886, when he died after a very short illness. He married (1) Janet Brash, 1855, and (2) Catherine M. Thomson, 1880.
WILLIAM CLOW
William Clow was born in 1837 at Bonhill in the Vale of Leven, and was brought up in connection with the congregation at Renton. He attended Glasgow University and the Reformed Presbyterian Hall at Edinburgh, the latter for sessions 1869–73. While a student he acted as missionary to Dr Graham of Liverpool, and in Renwick and Great Hamilton Street, Glasgow. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on October 7, 1873. On the 28th of the same month he was unanimously called to the vacant congregation at Airdrie. At the same time a numerously signed requisition was presented to him by the people of Great Hamilton Street (Green Street) Mission, that he should remain with them. The Presbytery sustained the call, but Clow did not see his way to accept it. On July 7, 1874, he was elected to Kilmarnock. He was ordained
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on August 6. When he died on February 16, 1915, the membership stood at more than 400.
In 1900 the 125th anniversary of the origin of the congregation, the 75th of the building of the church, and the 25th of Clow’s ordination were celebrated. Up to that time “he had ordained 20 elders and 62 deacons. He had delivered 2999 discourses to the congregation and 488 to other congregations, making 3487 discourses in all. . . . He had baptised 737, married 602, and admitted to Church membership by certificate and profession 956.” It is said of him that “he was often misunderstood. His endless stories, and the hilarity generally created by him at church soirees presented to the public only one side of his character. He was a man to whom people went in their distress.” The Synod said that “his business tact, theological attainments and knowledge of Church law” were valuable. He left instructions that there should be no funeral service in the church and no special commemorative sermon. In 1887 he married Fanny Wilson. For portrait see A Century of Congregational Life.
GEORGE DAVIDSON, B.Sc.
George Davidson was born at Peterhead in 1850, and studied at Glasgow University, where he gained the B.Sc. degree in 1874. He thereafter took his Divinity course in the Free Church College in the same city. Before completing his studies for the ministry he became missionary at Renton and joined the Paisley congregation. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Paisley on April 6, 1875, and on April 20 was elected minister of Renton. He was ordained on May 18. He went with his congregation into the Union of 1876.
In September 1876 he was translated to Barony Free Church, Glasgow; in 1881 to Great Hamilton Street, of the same city; and in 1883 to St Mary’s, Edinburgh, where the remainder of his ministry has been spent. He now lives in retirement. In 1877 he married Elizabeth Miller Brown.
His portrait may be found in Levenside Church and in A Century of Congregational Life.
DAVID DUNCAN ORMOND
D. D. Ormond was born at Arbroath in 1847, and was educated at the University and Free Church College, Glasgow. While acting as Assistant in Kinning Park Free Church congregation, he was elected to Stirling on January 27, 1876. At the Presbytery meeting where the call was sustained, he was received as a probationer of the Church. He was
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ordained on March 9. In May his congregation joined the Free Church along with the others.
Ormond was Clerk of the Presbytery for many years from 1892, and Chairman of the School Board from 1897, as well as taking part in other branches of public usefulness. On his retirement in 1908 his congregation united with the North United Free Church. He died in 1920.
Ormond was the author of a history of the congregation, under the title of A Kirk and a College in the Craigs of Stirling, Stirling, 1897. It contains his portrait.
JAMES MITCHELL FULTON
James Mitchell Fulton was born in 1850. As a student he belonged to the Southern (Renwick) congregation, Glasgow. He attended Glasgow University and the Hall in Edinburgh, besides taking classes in the Free Church College. Fulton suffered from ill-health, and in October 1873 asked the Glasgow Presbytery for certificates as he had been medically recommended to take a sea voyage to Australia, and might not return. He however came back and completed his course. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Glasgow on April 25, 1876. On May 4 he was unanimously elected colleague and successor to the Rev. C. N. M‘Caig of Lochgilphead. He was ordained on May 17, the last ordination carried out before the Union of that year. In the same year he married Elizabeth Innes. He died on December 3, 1877.