Articles
This section is set aside for articles that cannot conveniently be placed in any other of the main sections of this web-site. In general these articles are peripheral to the main goals of the web-site but are adjudged to be worthy of preservation. One of these is an excerpt from a relevant book; and appears here so that it may the more conveniently be linked to the General Index of ministers. The others are written by the web-site manager. The fact is that in preparing this material, my attention has frequently been diverted to byways. I go down the byway for a bit; then remind myself what the main path is and go back to it with the promise that one day I will explore the byways properly. These articles in general are the result of exploring the byways.
This section contains the following articles:
Dr Donald Munro: information about this character cropped up so constantly in the affairs of the United Original Secession Church that I decided to deal with him in a separate article, rather than to record his antics here and there in the congregations with which he was associated.
The Roll of Probationers – who they were: it is often stated that 192 probationers of the Church of Scotland committed themselves to joining the Free Church at the Disruption. This article deals with the question of how many did promise commitment to the Free Church cause and seeks to identify who they were.
The Roll of Probationers – what became of them: this is a follow-on from the previous article. What actually became of those probationers who had expressed commitment to non-intrusion principles prior to the Disruption. Did they remain firm to their commitment or did they renege on it?
Disruption Ministers: in dealing with the subject of probationers committed to the Free Church, I asked myself the question: were there enough probationers left in connection with the Established Church to fill all the vacancies which were left in the pastoral ministry of the Scottish Church. But I couldn’t answer the question without establishing first how many pastoral positions were in fact left vacant by the Free Church men demitting office. This article discusses that question.
Filling Vacancies in the post-Disruption Church of Scotland: this discusses how the pastoral vacancies left by the Free Church men demitting office were in fact filled.
Robert Gordon: Student – Probationer: this man was minister of the High Kirk, Edinburgh, at the Disruption and was generally recognised to be a significant figure in that event. But no full scale biography was ever produced. Moreover his early years as student and probationer were never clearly depicted in the accounts that there are of his life. This is an attempt to bring Gordon out of his obscurity. The article draws extensively on his own personal papers that have been preserved in the National Records of Scotland.
The Presbyterian Church in Douglas, Isle of Man: this is a discussion of the early history of the Presbyterian Church in Douglas in the Isle of Man. It assesses the accepted account of the origin of that congregation in the light of newspaper evidence and the (unpublished) letters of a probationer of the Church of Scotland who preached there at an early stage of the congregation’s history.
Irish Congregations in the Free Presbytery of Glasgow: this fills a gap in Ewing’s Annals of the Free Church of Scotland, 1843-1900. There were three Irish congregations attached briefly to the Free Church Presbytery of Glasgow; these are not included in Ewing’s Annals so a short account of them is given in this article.