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Prefatory Note to
Volume 7
With the present Volume the work of preparing a new edition of Fasti
Ecclesice Scoticance comes to a completion. The genesis of the
undertaking may be recalled. An Overture was presented to the General
Assembly in the following terms:—
“Whereas the publication known as Dr Hew Scott’s Fasti Ecclesiae.
Scoticance contains valuable information relative to the ministers of
the Church from an early period; whereas it is desirable to continue a
record of the succession of ministers in the various parishes since the
date of that publication; and whereas this can be most conveniently
carried out by a Committee representing the Church: It is humbly
Overtured by the undersigned Members of the House to the Venerable the
General Assembly to appoint a Committee to collect material for the
continuance of the record up to the present date; or to do otherwise as
the Assembly may see fit.”
Of eight signatories it may be stated that three only survive, while of
ten members who constituted the Editorial Committee of 1914, four only
remain.
During the earlier stages of conference as to the precise arrangement of
the work, a decision was arrived at which entirely altered its original
design of merely continuing Dr Hew Scott’s Fasti from 1839 to the
present time. That decision involved a complete revision of all Dr
Scott’s Volumes, and to this extended scheme the General Assembly gave
cordial approval. The seven Volumes now issued, therefore, have been
compiled and re-written following a careful perusal, not only of the
documents (chiefly Presbytery Registers) available to Dr Scott, but also
of numerous others to which he had no access, and which, indeed, were
unknown to him, many of them having been discovered within recent years.
In addition, the Editors have had the advantage of reading a very large
number of Local, Family and General Histories published since Dr Scott’s
day. Full use has been made of the important Separate Registers
belonging to the different Presbyteries: thus most of what is purely
domestic information in the shape of family details, etc., has been
derived from official sources. Further, much genealogical data has come
from the parochial and other documents preserved in H.M. General
Register House, Edinburgh, to which the officials thereof gave courteous
and ready access. An extensive correspondence with surviving relatives
and friends of ministers has also ensured completeness and correctness
as far as possible, for the records here brought together.
These Volumes, possible only through much arduous research, have been
undertaken by the Editors as a labour of love, and the work has been
published without expense to the Church. The Editors think it right to
say that the publishers, Messrs Oliver & Boyd, have borne the brunt of
the printing costs which have been considerable, aided by small bonuses
provided by friends of the Church.
Having now reached the end of their long and difficult task, the Editors
rejoice to be able to place before the Church and the public a
compilation of much more than ecclesiastical importance, and of which
critics have declared that it is a work necessary for a true elucidation
of the national spirit and of the national history.
The present Volume (in which Dr Scott’s original work ends at page 320)
contains material assembled from many quarters and from many lands.
Never before has the story of the Church of Scotland in England,
Ireland, on the Continent of Europe, in the British Colonies, and in
America, been told in biographical detail, and the notices of Indian
Chaplains, Foreign and Jewish Missionaries are here given for the first
time. The biographies of the Episcopal period, as also those pertaining
to the Scottish Universities, and the carefully-collated list of
Moderators, have been added in order to make this Fasti of the Church a
full record of all who have served her in the ministry from the
Reformation to the present year. The Volume now issued has been brought
up to date.
Many helpers have assisted in the preparation of this Volume. Of these
the Committee record their thanks to the following:—
The various Clerks of Presbyteries; Rev. Angus Macdonald, minister of
Killearnan; Rev. Donald Beaton, minister of Free Presbyterian Church,
Wick; Rev. Donald Mackinnon, minister of Free Church, Portree; Rev.
Professor J. H. Baxter and the late James Maitland Anderson, LL.D., St
Andrews; The late Very Rev. James Nicoll Ogilvie, D.D.; Rev. John M.
Russell, D.D., Cape Town; Rev. John Burgess, D.D., Clerk of New South
Wales General Assembly; Rev. W. Floyd Shannon, Clerk of Presbyterian
Church in South Australia; Rev. James H. Mackenzie, Clerk of Assembly of
Presbyterian Church of New Zealand; Rev. Professor John T. M'Neill, D.D.,
Toronto, Canada; Rev. Ewen M'Dougall, Charlottetown, Prince Edward
Island; Rev. J. M. Hunt, Kingston, Jamaica; Rev. Duncan Macfarlane,
Grenada, Rev. J. W. MacGill, Colvend (formerly of British Guiana);
Kenneth Macleod Black, London; R. S. Robson, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; John
Mark, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Robert Hyslop, Sunderland; William R. Shaw,
Manchester; W. M. M‘Lachlan, M.A., W.S., Secretary of Foreign Mission
Committee; Thomas Henderson, Secretary of Church Overseas Committee;
Rev. William Deans, Secretary of Jewish Mission Committee, and the
Superintendent of Records, India Office, Whitehall, London.
W. S. Crockett.
Francis J. Grant.
April 1928.
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6 | Vol 7
Prefatory Note to
Volume 8
During the years 1915 to 1928 were published the seven volumes of this
work containing the record of the Ministers of the Church of Scotland
from 1560 to the date of the issue of the various volumes, viz. I Synods
of Lothian and Tweeddale, 1915; II Merse and Teviotdale, Dumfries and
Galloway, 1917; III Glasgow and Ayr, 1920; IV Argyll and Perth and
Stirling, 1923; V Fife and Angus and Mearns, 1925; VI Aberdeen and
Moray, 1926; VII Ross,'Sutherland and Caithness; Orkney and Shetland,
with Churches Overseas, also University Principals and Professors in the
Faculties of Divinity, 1928.
Towards the end of 1936 the General Administration Committee decided
that a supplementary volume should be issued to complete the Record of
Ministers of the Church of Scotland as it existed before the date of the
Union of the Churches on 2nd October 1929 and also to add all the
additional information that had been collected since the above-mentioned
volumes were published. A sub-committee of the Committee on General
Administration was formed to which several others were co-opted to carry
out the work —Sir Francis J. Grant, K.C.V.O., LL.D., Convener and
General Editor.
Since these seven volumes were printed the present Convener, who had
been Joint Editor of the same, has been collecting additional
information and keeping the work up to date, and therefore the
foundation of the present volume existed and was used as a basis on
which to work.
Certain records of the immediate Post-Reformation Period which had not
been systematically gone over have now been done so, and many new names
and information as to the Clergy, Readers, and Exhorters previous to
1600 have been recovered and many blanks filled in. In regard to these
the Committee are indebted to Dr Gordon Donaldson, formerly of the
Historical Department of H.M. Register House, and the late Rev. William
Stephen, D.D., Inverkeithing. For the continuation of the accounts of
the various parishes, presbyteries and synods the Committee have to
thank their various members who undertook this work and particularly to
the late Rev. William Burnett, B.D., for the Presbytery of Edinburgh;
the late Rev. Arthur P. Sym, D.D., for the Synods of Merse, Teviotdale
and Dumfries; the Rev. Walter R. Henderson for the Synod of Galloway;
the Rev. James P. Wilson, B.D., for the Synod of Ayr; the late Rev.
Alexander Mason Shand, M.A., for the Presbytery of Paisley; the late
Rev. John Muirhead, B.D., for the Presbytery of Hamilton; the Rev. R.
Marcus Dickson, D.D., for the Presbytery of Lanark; the Very Rev. Andrew
James Campbell, D.D., for the Presbytery of Glasgow; the Rev. William
McLauchlan Goldie for the Presbytery of Dunbarton; the Rev. Angus J.
McVicar, M.A., for the Synod of Argyll; the Rev. John Scott Macnaughton,
D.D., for the Presbytery of Perth; the Rev. David J. Maclaren, M.A., for
the Presbytery of Auchterarder; the late Rev. William Stephen, D.D., for
the Synod of Fife; the late Rev. James Taylor Cox, D.D., for the Synods
of Aberdeen and Moray; the late Rev. Archibald Macdonald, D.D., for the
Synod of Ross and Sutherland; the Rev. George Frederick Cox, B.D., for
the Synod of Orkney, and the Rev. Professor G. D. Henderson for the
University of Aberdeen. The Clerks to Presbyteries and the Officials of
H.M. Register House and the Ministers’ Widows Fund and many others have
also contributed much new matter.
The most valuable part of this volume will be the very large additional
information regarding the earlier clergy which has been gathered from
many sources too numerous to mention and involving much research in
records. The volume has further been enriched by a number of
Ecclesiological Notes on parishes by the late Dr William Stephen.
The Editor regrets that ten of his valued helpers have passed away since
the volume was first undertaken and have not seen the results of their
labours and that latterly he has had to complete the same alone.
Francis J. Grant
Convener and General Editor April 1950
Volume 8
Foreword to Volume 9
This ninth volume of the Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae will be of
particular interest, covering as it does the period 1929 to 1954. In
these years the two confluent streams of the Church of Scotland and the
United Free Church of Scotland merged in one, and as one result there
have taken place many unions of congregations and readjustments of
areas. This has necessitated numerous cross-references and notice of
alterations in the parishes concerned. This arduous task entrusted to
the Editor, the Rev. John A. Lamb, Ph.D., D.D., Librarian, New College,
Edinburgh, has been admirably undertaken and accomplished. For the
production of this volume the Church owes a debt of gratitude to him.
His meticulous scholarship and careful arrangement of data are
recognisable throughout its pages.
Thanks are also due to the General Assembly, Synod and Presbytery Clerks
for their co-operation by completing and transmitting the relative
schedules of particulars required. A generous grant from the Carnegie
Trust towards the production of this volume is hereby most gratefully
acknowledged. Mention should also be made of the continuous and careful
attention given by the members of the Special Committee on the Fasti
appointed by the General Assembly’s Committee on General Administration.
Thomas Caldwell, D.D.
Convener of the Special Committee on the Fasti.
EDITOR’S NOTE
The general arrangement follows that of previous volumes in this series,
with one exception. In earlier volumes the fullest details concerning a
minister were given under the first charge, while here they are given
under the last charge, held by him in the period covered by the volume.
While the work is a list of ordained ministers, a few ordained
missionaries are included where information has been obtained, and their
names are in italics.
In the Index of Ministers the most complete entry for any individual
(where there is more than one entry) is indicated by the page-number in
italics.
Where “Presb.” (for Presbytery) occurs, the reference is to a Presbytery
of the Church of Scotland, other denominations being named.
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