Congregational Histories

 

Congregational Histories

 

Index of Congregations

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Bracadale, Skye

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, August, 1940, pp.199-201
 

For thirty years previous to the Disruption, Bracadale was highly favoured in the character of its ministers.

The Rev. John Shaw, a native of Perthshire, was settled in this parish in 1813. He was a godly man, of retiring disposition, and much given to prayer. His settlement in Bracadale was not only the beginning of a new era for the parish, but also for the whole Island. He secured for his parishioners the benefit of Society teachers, by whom a knowledge of the truths of the Gospel was extensively communicated. He also introduced to the Island the Rev. (afterwards Dr) John MacDonald of Ferintosh, whose rousing appeals to the crowds that flocked to hear him, awakened the people of Skye from their spiritual lethargy. Mr Shaw died on 16th January, 1823.

After Mr Shaw came the Rev. Roderick MacLeod, who continued the good work begun by his predecessor. Bracadale, during Mr MacLeod’s ministry, witnessed a series of revivals, and many souls were quickened into newness of life. On 9th February, 1838, he was translated to the neighbouring parish of Snizort. His successor in Bracadale was the Rev. John Robertson Glass, a native of Greenock, whose mother was a daughter of the Rev. John Robertson of Kingussie, to whose memory Dr MacDonald of Fertintosh composed the well known Gaelic Elegy: Marbhrann air Eoin Robinson. Mr Glass was a like-minded man and minister with his predecessor.

During the ministry of these eminent Evangelicals, many godly men and women, who were noted for their piety, intelligence and blameless Christian life, had arisen in Bracadale. Thus it is not difficult to explain why at the Disruption there was a universal adherence of the people of Bracadale to the Free Church.

 

Rev. John Robertson Glass

Mr Glass was still minister of Bracadale at the Disruption. He and Mr MacLeod, Snizort, were the only two Ministers in the Island who cast their lot with the Free Church.

At the first meeting of the Free Presbytery of Skye, which was held at Portree on 21st June, 1843, two Calls to Mr Glass, one from the Free Church congregation at Musselburgh, and the other from the Free Church congregation at Paisley, were laid on the table. Mr. Glass stated that “he found it difficult to decide as to the line of duty between these two Calls, but that he would come to a decision next week, and requested the Presbytery … to loosen him from his present charge with a view to his being settled either at Musselburgh or Paisley.” The Presbytery acceded to his request. He accepted the Call to Musselburgh, and was inducted there on 11th July, 1843. He died on 29th December, 1855.

 

Rev. John Finlayson

The Rev. John Finlayson, minister at Cross, Lewis, succeeded Mr Glass at Bracadale. He was a native of Mugary, Portree. After finishing his Divinity Course at Edinburgh, he succeeded John MacRae (MacRath Mor) as parish schoolmaster at Uig, Lewis. It is said that the Rev. Finlay Cook said to MacRath Mor: “Oh, John MacRae, heaven has conferred on you great intellectual gifts, and if only you had the spiritual graces of John Finlayson, you would be the most eminent man in Lewis”. As schoolmaster at Uig and minister at Cross, Mr. Finlayson was greatly beloved.

On 19th December, 1843, he was translated to Bracadale. Unable to find suitable lodgings at Bracadale, he took up residence at Portree, and during the winter and spring walked every Saturday in all weathers to Bracadale to preach to his people. In the following May, he obtained a house at Feorlig in the parish of Duirinish. At the beginning of September, while driving with his wife on a Saturday from Feorlig to Struan for the work of the following Sabbath, he was thrown out of his gig, and fractured his leg. A few days thereafter, on 11th September, he passed to his eternal reward. He was laid to rest in the burial place of his brother-in-law, Rev. Roderick MacLeod of Snizort, in the Graveyard of Bracadale, where his grave is marked by a tombstone, bearing an appropriate inscription.

His nephew, also John to name, was Free Church Minister of Coigach, Ross-shire, and afterwards of Bushgrove, New South Wales, where he died on 10th October, 1800. He was a man of his uncle’s type, and was deeply loved in the Highlands, and among his fellow-countrymen in New South Wales.

 

Rev. John Fletcher

After a vacancy of some years, the Rev. John Fletcherwas settled in Bracadale. He was from Glenhinisdale in the parish of Snizort. Licensed by the Presbytery of Dingwall, he was ordained and inducted at Bracadale on 29th December, 1849, The Rev. Mackintosh Mackay, LL.D., Dunoon, preached and presided, his text on the occasion being: “Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32).

The task of building Churches, a Manse and Schoolhouses in this wide and extensive parish devolved on Mr Fletcher. And in spite of many difficulties commodious buildings (which are still in use) were erected in due time. For twenty-seven years he continued his ministry in Bracadale with manifest tokens of blessing. On his way to the General Assembly of 1876, he became so ill at Greenock that he was unable to proceed further, and there he was called to his rest on 29th May. His remains were taken to Skye, and deposited in the family burial place in the Island-Graveyard at Snizort. It is stated in the Records of the Presbytery that “as a man he was most genial, as a Christian genuine and consistent, and as a preacher of the Gospel clear, edifying and faithful.” Mrs Fletcher, who belonged to a well known Skye Free Church family, lived for forty-seven years after her husband’s death. During her long widowhood, she presided with grace and charm over her brother’s home, first Cuidreach, then at historic Kingsburgh, and latterly at Kiltaraglen, Portree. How great a blessing she proved to Free Church Ministers through her encouragement, hospitality and liberality, during the trying and difficult times before and after 1900, is still fresh in the memory of those who survive.

 

Rev. James Ross

In the following year, Mr James Ross, Probationer, was ordained and inducted as Minister of Bracadale. A native of Abernethy, Inverness-shire, he was educated at the University of Edinburgh and the New College. His ordination at Bracadale took place on 30th August, 1877. For upwards of fourteen years with much self-denial and many mental and physical trials, he served the Lord in the Gospel in this congregation. In 1891, he published a Brief Sketch of Donald MacQueen, on which he bestowed great care. Donald MacQueen who died at the great age of one hundred years in 1885, had been catechist in Bracadale and Duirinish for seventy years. Those interested in the religious life of Skye and the Isles at the beginning of last century will find much valuable information in this little book. Mr Ross who was unmarried, died on 8th January. A granite monument, erected by his congregation marks his grave in the Church yard of Bracadale.

 

Rev. Duncan Fraser

On 9th November, 1892, Mr Duncan Fraser, was ordained and inducted to Bracadale. His call was subscribed by four hundred and ninety-eight persons. Mr. Fraser, who was a native of Daviot, Inverness-shire, was educated at the University of Edinburgh, and took his Divinity Course at the New College there. At the Union of 1900, he joined the United Free Church, but his congregation remained in the Free Church. Mr Fraser left, and went to Canada. After some years there, he returned to Scotland, and ministered to United Free Church congregations in Skye and North Uist. He died a few years ago at Paible, North Uist.

 

Later Ministers

To the subsequent history of the congregation but the briefest reference need be made. For thirty years it was without a settled ministry. At 1900 and during the years that followed much good work was done among the people by Mr Robert MacLeod, still spared to the Church as Minister in Harris, and Mr John Maclean, who recently passed away as Minister at Rosehall.

The Rev. Malcolm MacLeod was settled over the congregation on 23rd September, 1930. During his time a Mission Church was built in the Port na Long district, a post war settlement of servicemen from Lewis and Harris. MacLeod was translated to Snizort on 17th October, 1934. Mr Angus Finlayson, Probationer, became minister on 28th January, 1936. After a ministry of a little over two years he was translated to Scalpay, Harris. On 16th March, 1939, the Rev. Angus A. MacDonald, Minister at Strontian, was inducted at Bracadale.

Mr MacDonald, who has had experience of pastoral work, not only in this country, but also in Canada, has entered upon his work in Bracadale with enthusiasm and practical energy. Не is ably assisted (as his predecessors were also) by Mr Alexander MacAskill, who has served his native congregation, for many years, with a devotion that would be difficult to excel, as office bearer and missionary. The prospects for the future are highly encouraging.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Bracadale.]

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Buccleuch-Greyfriars, Edinburgh

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, December, 1929, pp.300-301
 

Long ago Edinburgh city, and the area around it, formed the Parish of St Cuthbert: in the twelfth century St Giles Parish was carved out of it. Much later others were gradually formed, extending from Liberton to Leith. By up by certain quoad sacra parishes were set up by the authority of the Court of Teinds. Still later the General Assembly made such parishes. One of these last was Buccleuch, which in 1843 had a prosperous congregation in a well-off locality. As Edinburgh burst its restraining wall it first expanded southwards, through Bristo Port, along Causewayside, into Buccleuch Street, Buccleuch Place, George Square, and Lauriston.

The great picture of the Disruption Assembly shows, seated at the centre table, a gowned minister with a venerable beard. This is Dr Patrick Clason, minister of Buccleuch Parish, and also Clerk of Assembly. Natural was it, therefore, that the first Session meeting of Buccleuch Free (held in Buccleuch School) should set forth a full vindication of the non-intrusion position. This professes to be the work of Dr Clason and of the Schoolmaster and Session Clerk. The latter was an enthusiast; when, some years afterwards he left Edinburgh, the Session recorded that he was an Englishman, brought up an Episcopalian, but that after coming to Scotland he had become, by study, a convinced Presbyterian. A second feature in the first Minute was the plea (doubtless due to Dr Clason) that, inasmuch as old Buccleuch quoad sacra had (as the Law Courts had just declared) been improperly created, it was only a Chapel of Ease and no parish at all, and therefore had no property rights. The argument, though ingenious, was fruitless; its use was indeed a confession of division in the Buccleuch congregation, for quoad sacra congregations which were unanimous sat still in their buildings until a later judgment of the House of Lords (in the Stewarton case), decided that these buildings were the property of the Established Church – “Continuing.” The congregation worshipped first in Bristo Place Baptist Church, and next in a temporary building specially erected for them in Buccleuch Place, until the present handsome church, in Crosscauseway, immediately opposite the old Buccleuch Parish Church, was opened.

Dr Clason’s ministry endured from 1824 till his death in 1867. During one year – 1846-47 – he was absent, by direction of the General Assembly, at Malta and other continental stations. Mr James Julius Wood, afterwards of New Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and eventually of Dumfries (and in 1857 Moderator of Assembly), was assistant during that year, minister while Mr Sym of Greyfriars was interim Moderator. This latter association, and an earlier one in 1844, when Greyfriars held its Session meetings and week-night meetings in Buccleuch, had a sequel as after-mentioned.

In March 1855, Mr Robert Gordon, who had been for a time assistant to Dr Clason, was called and settled as colleague and successor. Mr Gordon was born in 1822, what time his father, Dr Robert Gordon (afterwards of Hope Park, later of New North, next of the High Parish and finally of the Free High was first minister of Buccleuch. Mr Gordon, on his part, remained minister of Free Buccleuch from 1855 until his death in 1909, being joined by Mr MacAlister as colleague minister in 1896. It may have been intimacy with Dr Clason, an authority on Church procedure, which developed the like quality in Mr Gordon, leading him to occupy and adorn the Clerk’s chair in the Edinburgh Presbytery.

In anticipation of the Disruption, the School of Arts, Adam Square, Edinburgh, had been engaged for Sabbath, 21st May 1843, and there Rev. John Sym (1834-55), minister of Old Greyfriars Church and Parish, along with many of his congregation, met for worship. They were unexpectedly joined by members from the congregation of New Greyfriars – Mr James Julius Wood, before-mentioned, who was then their minister, being at the time abroad on account of illness. This double demand on the accomodation was too much; simultaneous services had to be held in the open air. The two congregations thus thrown together resolved to worship as one until Mr Wood should return. Accommodation was given them gratuitously in the United Secession Church, Portsburgh, until October 1843. Thereafter the double congregation removed to the Royal Pavilion on the Mound, and in May 1844 to the Riding School, Lothian Road, where they worshipped along with the Free West congregation, until the completion of Greyfriars Free Church building in Graham Street, Lauriston. The double charge of Greyfriars continued as one under the joint ministry of Mr Sym and Mr Wood, until the latter, after a short time in Edinburgh, accepted a call elsewhere. Thereupon the two charges of Old and New (Free) Greyfriars were, by the Presbytery, formally united as Greyfriars Free under Mr Sym. Esteem for Mr Sym’s ministry was in 1845 testified by the public presentation of his portrait painted by Crabbe, and again, on his death ten years later, in a mural tablet in the church vestibule.

Successive ministers of Greyfriars were Wm. Chalmers (1855-57), Dr Hugh Martin (1858-63), Robert Taylor (1864-67), Arch. Smellie (1868-85). and D. M. MacAlister from 1886 onwards.

In 1894 Greyfriars church building was sold, and the congregation were afforded temporary accommodation, with their old neighbours of Buccleuch, in the more spacious building in Buccleuch Street. This arrangement was found so satisfactory that in 1896 the Presbytery formally united the two into the collegiate charge of Buccleuch-Greyfriars, under the joint ministry of Dr Gordon and Mr MacAlister.

Under the two ministers the congregation became the rallying point, in Edinburgh, of the Conservative or “Constitutionalist” ministers and students of the Free Church, until the crisis of 1900.

By that time Mr Gordon, who had retired, was too feeble in health to take part in the activities of the day. Mr MacAlister also had retired, but in the circumstances of the time he resumed full duty and was enabled, until his death in 1909 (a few months after the death of Mr Gordon), to take upon his already bowing shoulders no mean share of the exacting work of the whole Church. He was Moderator of Assembly in 1902.

Buccleuch congregation, being the only one in Edinburgh which adhered to the Free Church, the United Free Church made it the object of their action to obtain a legal title to all Church buildings, although for that purpose they had to use the names of two persons who for a long time had been absentees.

Rev. Arthur Torrens, now of Sydney, Australia, was inducted colleague and successor to Mr Gordon and Mr MacAlister in 1905. He accepted a call to the Australian Church in 1912. In 1913 Mr Robt. M. Knox (from Nairn Free Church) was inducted to, and happily he still is minister of, Buccleuch-Greyfriars.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Buccleuch and Greyfriars.]

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Campbeltown Free Church

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, November, 1929, pp.279-280
 

At the Disruption the church in Campbeltown was collegiate. That is, there was one Session, but there were two charges. To the first, the Gaelic, Rev. Duncan McNab had been appointed in 1841. Rev. Hector McNeill (from Hope Street, Glasgow) had been inducted to the second, the English charge, in the same vear. Both ministers came out in 1843. Each had been actively evangelical during the Ten Years’ Conflict. Mr McNeill on the Sabbath after the Disruption preached from the text, “How long halt ye between two opinions?” while, on giving out the last psalm to be sung, he asked the people to do so standing that they might be as the children of Israel ready to depart from the house of bondage. Mr McNab preached, bidding his people, “Keep thy heart with all diligence.” There, also, the people stood to the last psalm, and then, collecting their Bibles, walked out.

The English congregation, by neighbourly invitation, found accommodation for some weeks in the Secession Church. For the Gaelic congregation temporary shelter was found in the Courtyard of the distillery of John Grant and Charles Kelly (both members of the flock), who generously roofed over the yard, while the people themselves fitted up seats for their own use. The roof was not water-tight; but it was one of the tokens of God’s grace that the summer of 1843 was fine beyond usual measure.

Two new buildings were hastily put up, one at Lochend for the English, the other in Lorne Street for the Gaelic Assembly. Each building was of the Tanfield type; that is – like the hall in which met the first General Assembly of the Free Church – a long building with low walls and a roof in two (for Campbeltown Gaelic three) bays, the pulpit being against the middle of the long wall. The Gaelic Church could (and did) seat 1249 people, the English building 839. There was need for these dimensions, for almost all the town adhered to the Free Church: the office-bearers were the chief citizens and merchants. The school teachers, as a body, were of the Free Church, and paid for their conviction by expulsion from their posts. One of these was Mrs McNeill, the widowed sister of William (afterwards Sir William) Mackinnon: imperilling the living of herself and five dependent children, she locked the door of her emptied school-room with the confident (and to be fulfilled) exclamation – “Our bread shall be given us, our water shall be sure.”

By 1854 both church buildings were free of debt. In 1863 they gave place to new buildings. The collegiate arrangement continued till 1867, when the General Assembly separated the charges on the occasion of the translation to Glasgow (Stockwell) of Mr Arch. Munro [Alexander Munro], who had succeeded Mr Duncan McNab on his being translated to Glasgow (Renfield). The English charge became and continues to be Lochend Church. The Gaelic became Lorne Street church and was made bi-lingual instead of (as it had been) exclusively Gaelic. The Lorne Street ministers from 1867 onwards were John T. MacLean, Duncan Graham, D. F. Mackenzie, and Alex. Bain, who went into the U.F. Church, but left for Canada in July, 1904.

On 4th August 1904, the Gaelic charge being then vacant, the House of Lords judgment made it plain that the Gaelic Church building did not belong to the U.F. Church, who had been in possession thereof since 1900. They who adhered to the U.F. Church were required to withdraw, forty-four remaining as members of the Free Church. The Commission under Lord Elgin, however, upset this arrangement, allocated Lorne Street Church to the U.F. congregation, and to the Free Church congregation gave only the building which had formerly been Lorne Street Church School.

In this building, and under the disabilities which it involves, the Free Church congregation, during a vacancy of ten years, displayed just such vitality as to demonstrate the sincerity of the members, and the disinterestedness of their attachment to all that was best in the past record of the flock.

Though, as yet, the fewness of ministers in the Free Church deprived the Campbeltown charge of a settled pastor, they were, at frequent intervals, visited by the few ministers whose labours in these trying days were exceeding great. Meanwhile the spiritual interests of the people were carefully tended by the Kirk Session which included, the since departed Mr. R. W. Cuninghame of Kilkivan and Mr Robert Reid of Killellan. These two elders were also diligent attenders at the General Assembly and on Assembly committees, so contributing materially to the efficiency of the body ecclesiastical. Other office-bearers and helpers of the cause were Mr Dugald Mackintyre, Mr Malcolm Maclevin, Mr Alex. MacDiarmid, Mr Neil Mackenzie, Mr Peter Mackinnon, Ex-Provost Alex. Campbell of Glenramskill, Mr J. D. Morrison, and others – some of whom happily, are still active in good work.

The congregation also has the peculiar privilege of having still with it Miss Mary MacNish, who left the Establishment in 1843. Though but five years of age at the time, she has clear recollection of being led by the hand as she accompanied her mother to the first meeting in the distillery courtyard of the Free Church in Campbeltown. Miss MacNish takes a lively interest in the affairs of the congregation and of the church, following with close attention the narrative of those things when visited by her minister and friends.

In 1915, Rev. P. W. Miller, M.A., B.D., who had just emerged from a student course of acknowledged distinction, was ordained and inducted to Campbeltown. In the years until 1923, when Mr Miller was translated to Partick, the congregation – already so well rooted – made marked growth and that notwithstanding Mr Miller’s absence for part of his time on war service. The second vacancy was fortunately of long duration. Only two years elapsed until, on 4th June 1925, Rev. John Calder, C.F., – a minister already tested by fifteen years in the ministry and by experience, both combatant and in the Army Chaplains Department throughout the Great War – was inducted to Campbeltown. The congregation, in connection with which there is an encouraging circle of young people, continues to witness, with respect-compelling individuality, in that testimony for gospel liberty which, from the Ten Years’ “Conflict” till now, has well befitted the province of Kintyre, Lorne, strong limb of the kingdom of Dalriada – a kingdom whose identity was overlaid, not lost, when the Message brought thither by Columba merged Dalriada into the greater kingdom of Scotland.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Lochend and Lorne Street.]

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Coulter Free Church

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, August, 1928, pp.207-208
 

In the district served by Coulter Free Church the evangelical sentiment had, long before the Disruption, found vent in the Secession Church. For example, the town of Biggar cherishes the recollection that there was born Dr John Brown, author of Rab and His Friends, he having been son of the Secession Minister whose Church still exists though now but a back annex to an obtrusive shop. Not that the Secession Cause went down. There were two flourishing congregations in 1843. They still remain, with imposing modern buildings, a few yards apart, in the centre of the town, both of them U.P. in 1900, and both now U.F. – although in Biggar there never was a Free Church

The people who attended the Parish Church were content with the moderate régime. Coulter Parish next adjoining – rural and more thinly populated – had an evangelical minister who came out with his people. For them the strategic point on which to assemble was where the parishes of Coulter, Biggar, and Lamington (also moderate) converged. The Church erected was small – a convenient and pleasing structure. Extensively renovated in the year 1874, and again repaired and decorated in the year 1927, it is at present in excellent order. It stands in a wooded enclosure facing southwards about two miles from Biggar town and one mile from Coulter village on the high road leading through Lamington to the Border.

The Roll of Assembly, 1843, contained the names of two ministers from the Presbytery of Biggar, viz., James Proudfoot, Coulter, and William Hanna, Skirling. These ministers did not sign the Protest read by Dr Welsh, so it would appear that they had not been returned as commissioners from their Presbytery, but had been among the large company of attending and concurring ministers who, after the Assembly had been constituted in Tanfield Hall, were adopted as members of Assembly. Both signed the Deed renouncing their Parish living.

When the Assembly next met, in Glasgow, on 17th October 1843, Mr Proudfoot was a member, together with his Elder, David Dickson, Esq., of Hartree. To this elder belongs the distinction of being the last to leave St Andrew’s Church. He waited behind, unwilling to break off until he heard read the “Queen’s” answer to the Church’s Claim. That was too much for him. He reached Tanfield late, and made his explanation; so stands the record in the printed proceedings. As then, so at a later time, Coulter separatists were not rash, they considered well and acted not of mere emotion.

The first volume of Free Church Accounts shows Coulter congregation as having raised £139 for a Building Fund, and spending £327. In 1864 there was sent to the Sustentation Fund £64, for causes at home £9, and causes abroad, £10. The Ministers’ Supplement was £30.

Mr. Proudfoot, first minister, was born at Skirling in 1797. Trained at Edinburgh University, he became parish schoolmaster of Skirling (three miles north of Biggar town) in 1817, and minister of Coulter Parish in 1827. He was in the 46th year of his age when he left the Parish Church and manse in 1843. His ministry, diligently but quietly exercised, in the calm of charming, peaceful surroundings, endured till his death in the 79th year of age. Only one year before, i.e., in 1875 he obtained assistance through the settlement of Rev. Colin Archibald Bannatyne as colleague and successor. At that time the membership of the congregation was returned as 231, and its giving to the Sustentation Fund as £134.

Mr Bannatyne first took his seat in the Assembly of 1878, and at once made plain how he stood by voting with Sir Henry Moncrieff and Dr Thomas Smith on the Robertson Smith case; with Sir Henry as to Disestablishment; with Dr Begg in the Dods case; and with Mr Campbell, Markinch, for an appointment, without delay, to the Chair of Evangelistic Theology.

Mr Bannatyne, a son of the Manse (born in Oban, where his father, Archibald Bannatyne, was, at the Disruption, minister of Oban quoad sacra Parish), found in the quietude of Coulter the opportunity of acquiring that intimacy with the Church’s testimony, and her contendings therefor, which made him strong in Council, and a fount of information during the legal controversy of 1900-1904. His was the only charge in all the East of Scotland south of Edinburgh which stood aloof from the Union of 1900. His studious habit was combined with affectionate pastoral duty and marked pulpit eloquence, such as preserved the congregation in heart amid trying changes. Mr Bannatyne having, in 1905, been been elected to the Chair of Church History and Principles in the College at Edinburgh, he was succeeded in December 1905 by Rev. Hugh Carson, a native originally of Ireland. In 1912 Mr Carson, who had been in the Irish Presbyterian Church, accepted a call from a congregation of that Church.

After a vacancy of five years Mr John Williamson, student, was ordained and inducted minister on 21st May 1917. Three years later Mr Williamson accepted a call to the Church of Scotland. After a second long vacancy, Rev. Peter Clarkson was, on the call of the congregation, translated (9th January 1924) from Whiting Bay Free Church to Coulter. There, happily, he remains, having refused at least one pressing invitation from another Free Church congregation.

The strife and division into which Professor Bannatyne was plunged (1900 to 1905) had its effect in the congregation; some were moved to withdraw; others to display the more devoted attachment to their minister, both for his personal worth and for his public courage. During the next two pastorates, and intervening vacancies, there were unhelpful features so that congregational life had reached a low ebb at Mr Clarkson’s settlement. Since then the tide has turned, and Coulter Free Church is coming back to being worthy of its prominent place as the representative congregation of the Free Church in the south-east of Scotland.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Culter.]

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Detroit, Michigan

By J. A. M.
From The Monthly Record, September, 1954, pp.182-183
 

The history of the formation of our Canadian congregations is generally well-known throughout the Church; and it may be of interest to our people to learn something of the history of the first Free Church congregation to be established across the Canadian border in the United States of America.

Detroit, in the State of Michigan, is a large city of over two million inhabitants. It, like many other cities on the North American Continent, can claim among its citizens hundreds of people of Highland birth and descent. Several of those Gaelic-speaking Highlanders in Detroit felt it incumbent upon them to worship God in the manner to which they were accustomed in their native land. In October 1943, under the guidance of Mr Alexander Macdonald, an elder in the Fort William, Ontario, congregation, who was on a month’s visit to the city, prayer-meetings began to be held in private houses. Those prayer meetings were so well attended that Mr Macdonald, before his departure, strongly advised Mr Donald MacLeod, a native of Ness, Lewis, and one of the moving spirits among the people, to organise a Gaelic Mission. Mr MacLeod, although deeply interested, felt he could not take the initiative as he was not a member in full communion with any congregation. The people, however, were insistent that Mr MacLeod should undertake responsibility for those services and eventually he agreed to hold them in his own home.

In March of the following year Mr Alexander Macdonald again visited Detroit when a hall was rented for the meetings as the gatherings had become too large to be accommodated in a private house. The people, under Mr MacLeod’s leadership, kept regular services in that hall until the arrival in 1952 of Mr Murdo MacRitchie, who had come from the Free Church College, Edinburgh, to take a post-graduate course in theology at Westminster Seminary, U.S.A. Some time after a Cail was addressed by them to Mr MacRitchie, which he accepted, and almost immediately they set out to secure a site on which to build a permanent place of worship. Into this project the people entered wholeheartedly. A suitable site was purchased and building operations soon began. Many of the men of the congregation gave their labour free in the erection of the handsome new church which was opened for worship on Friday, 11th June, of this year. Rev. John MacSween, Toronto, officiated and took as his text Ezra 6: 16. On the following Sabbath the first Communion was dispensed when seven new communicants were received into the membership of the congregation.

The building, with a commodious hall in the basement, is of pleasing appearance and has all modern conveniences. It has been assessed by the City of Detroit authorities at $54,000, but the actual value is much more than that figure – more in the neighbourhood of $75,000. It is to the credit of the congregation that this fine new building was opened almost debt free,

We congratulate the Detroit people on their splendid achievement and wish them God’s richest blessing as they go forward upholding the banner of the Gospel in that great American city.

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Dingwall

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, 1936, p.84
 

Important as has been the part occupied by the Dingwall congregation during Free Church history, even till to-day, the reason for this is to be found in the personnel of her ministers since, and not before, 1843. The Roll of Assembly from 18th to 30th May 1843 contains, from the Presbytery of Dingwall, the names of Ministerial Commissioners from Ferintosh (Dr John Macdonald), from Kiltearn, Carnoch, Maryburgh, Urrav, Kinlochluichart, and Alness but none from the parish or town of Dingwall. The people were there. A new leader was required: he was in preparation. The published accounts for the period from 18th May 1843 till 30th March 1844 show Dingwall as raising the largest sum in the Presbytery for Sustentation and local funds, and for Mission schemes. At the Glasgow Assembly of October 1843 Dingwall congregation was represented by an (Edinburgh) elder, being still without a minister. In May 1844 appears the name of John Kennedy, minister at Dingwall, an entry significant for time and, with reverence be it said, also to many souls for eternity.

From the day of the Disruption the pastor-less congregation in Dingwall had been cared for by Dr Macdonald of Ferintosh. Guided by him, they presented a call to John Kennedy, son of the famous evangelical preacher, Mr Kennedy of Redcastle, and in February 1844 John Kennedy began the memorable ministry which was to endure for forty years. His biographer recognises the hand of God, in providence, in the settlement of so notable a herald at this crossing of the roads. Dingwall, at the head of the Cromarty Firth, is the centre of the county of Ross; and the gateway to the North.

Mr Kennedy received the Degree of Doctor of Divinity from the University of Aberdeen in 1873, and by that title he is best known to the present generation. Under his ministry a church was erected. In 1870 it was vacated for the larger and more handsome building of which a picture is here-with given adjoining the railway station. The curious visitor who would look upon the first church will find it in the occupancy of the Ross-shire Journal.

The manse was built in 1849, and thither Dr Kennedy brought his bride, Miss Mary Mackenzie, daughter of Major Forbes Масkenzie of Fodderty. The manse became a centre of catholic sympathy and fellowship for noted men and women from all parts of Scotland and England. Dr Kennedy’s interests were not narrow. His reputation as a preacher extended far afield and with unfaltering adherence to the Reformed interpretation and presentation of the Gospel he mingled a friendship with like-minded Christians, who in some respects were of diverse views. This was, for example, illustrated at the opening of the new church. The old one had outgrown its usefulness for a large congregation. In 1867 preparation was begun for a new building, and in 1870 it was ready. The internal fittings of the platform, pulpit, and reading desk were planned by Dr Kennedy himself. The large and beautiful stained-glass window was the gift of the late Lord Seaforth’s mother, a noble and godly lady who was a regular worshipper.

Dr Kennedy having met Mr Spurgeon, there had ripened between the two a most affectionate fellowship, because of which the celebrated London preacher was asked, and consented, to preach at the opening of the new building. Dr Kennedy’s biographer says: “Immense crowds flocked from all directions. The new building was packed to its utmost capacity, every inch of standing ground within the walls being occupied. After all, large crowds failed to obtain admission. In these circumstances Mr Spurgeon very kindly and considerately agreed to preach in the open air in the evening, when a vast multitude assembled.” In this church Dr Kennedy preached until his death in 1884.

Mr Murdo MacCaskill, who was translated from Greenock, was inducted in Dingwall in January 1885. A rousing, arresting preacher, Mr MacCaskill maintained the congregation, and was himself a follower, in sympathy and outlook, of Dr Kennedy. To the surprise of many he elected, in the stress of the testing time of October 1899 [1900], to enter the United Free Church, the surprise being marked by the large number of his people who, for themselves, remained steadfast in the Free Church of Scotland. Mr MacCaskill, with his immediate followers, remained in possession of the church building. The Free Church people had to find accommodation, and to worship as a vacant charge, with the help of supply preachers, in a hired hall in the town. The vitality of the congregation in these circumstances is reflected in the following figures. In 1899 the unbroken congregation gave to the Sustentation Fund £201. In 1929 the present Free Church congregation gave £232.

After four years of discomfort and privation the congregation, in August 1904, regained possession of their cherished building. But for four years more they suffered the disadvantages of a vacancy. In 1908 the Rev. Norman Campbell, M.A., was translated from Creich, and settled among them. There he still labours, upholding the traditions, and setting forth the ever-fresh Gospel the while he occupies a high place in the public and educational life of the town and county.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Dingwall.]

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Duirinish, Skye

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record
 

It might be said that the Disruption took place in Duirinish, Skye, many years previous to 1843. A great religious awakening spread over the parish in 1812 under the ministry of the Rev. John Shaw, afterwards of Bracadale. His successor in Duirinish was the Rev. John Souter, a native of Aberdeenshire, “of whose moderatism,” wrote the Rev. Roderick MacLeod of Snizort, “he was a true and thorough specimen.” Mr Souter was “inattentive to his character and his duty.” His knowledge of Gaelic, which he acquired, was so deficient that he committed the most ludicrous mistakes in the pulpit and his hearers were frequently at a loss to know which language he was speaking. The people were disgusted with his ministrations in and out of the pulpit, and under the leadership of Hector MacLean of Hamera (Eachann Hamera) and others of the “Men” they withdrew from the Parish Church, and set up meetings at various centres throughout the parish. In these meetings the good work begun in 1812 was carried on, and many, who were afterwards eminent for their piety, were brought to the obedience of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ at these services, held often under the open canopy of heaven.

Mr Souter, after a degenerate ministry of twenty-six years in Duirinish, died under tragic circumstances in an Inn in the parish of Snizort in 1839. To the people of Duirinish, most of whom had been absentees from the Parish Church for many years and whose spiritual leaders had been ex-communicated, the Disruption brought unmingled relief. The Rev. Angus Martin, who had been settled in the Parish on 5th May, 1842, was an Evangelical Minister, and was expected to come “out.” He, however, remained “in,” but his parishioners, who had been already “out,” with few exceptions, cast in their lot with the Free Church.

 

Rev. Alexander MacColl

The people of Duirinish were fortunate in having such able leaders as Hector MacLean, already referred to, and Malcolm Nicolson, proprietor of Husabost, Glendale, to organise them into a congregation. The former attended to its spiritual interests, while the latter looked after its financial affairs. In 1844 the Rev. James MacDonald, Minister at Urray, was called to Duirinish, his Call having been signed by “upwards of 1100 individuals.” Mr MacDonald declined to leave Urray. Towards the end of 1845 MacLeod of MacLeod granted a site for a church at Lonmore in Dunvegan, and there a commodious church was built, which is still in use.

On 8th July 1852, the Rev. Alexander MacColl, Probationer, was ordained and inducted at Duirinish as the first Free Church minister of the congregation. Born in Lochcarron, where his father, a native of Appin, Argyleshire, was sheep-manager at New Kelso, he was baptised by the Rev. Lachlan MacKenzie. He studied for the ministry at the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Previous to the Disruption he was Parish Schoolmaster at Uig, Lewis. On receiving license to preach the Gospel in 1844, he was appointed to take charge of the people adhering to the Free Church in the parishes of Lochcarron and Applecross. In that wide district he laboured with untiring zeal for eight years, refusing repeated calls from other places. His labours were greatly blessed of the Lord, and no people, to the end of his life, had such a warm place in his heart as those of Lochcarron and Aplecross.

His Call to Duirinish, although not unanimous, was subscribed by one thousand four hundred and eighty persons. He remained in this congregation for eighteen years. He worked ably and faithfully among the people, and had the great joy of seeing God’s work revived and His weary heritage refreshed. From Duirinish Mr MacColl was translated to Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston on 23rd June 1870. He was translated to Lochalsh in 1877, and died on 22nd January, 1889. His funeral sermon was preached by Dr Aird of Creich. Mr MacColl, it is said, maintained a high standard of pulpit efficiency, and his sermons were marked by great intellectual ability and unusual spiritual fervour. In Lochcarron and Skye, where he underwent severe trials, the fruit of his labours was outwardly most apparent. After leaving Duirinish he returned once to Skye to assist his friend, the Rev. John Fletcher of Bracadale at a communion season. By his will he bequeathed a sum of £250 for a bursary for students in Divinity, connected with the Free Synod of Glenelg. Mr MacColl’s memory is still green in the charges in which he ministered.

 

Rev. John MacRae

The second Free Church Minister at Duirinish was the Rev. John MacRae, who had been settled at Carinish, North Uist, on 26th November 1869. He was born at Letterfern in the Parish of Glenshiel, Ross-shire, in 1823 and was God-fearing from his youth. An elder brother, Duncan, was widely known and esteemed for his piety, and on communion occasions was generally accorded a foremost place among the “Men.” For a number of years after the Disruption John MacRae acted as Schoolmaster in Lochalsh, Applecross and Lochbroom. He began his studies for the ministry in 1860 at the age of thirty-seven. Finishing his Divinity course at the Free Church College, Glasgow, in 1868, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Skye and Uist on 22nd July 1869. In the following November he became the first Minister of the newly formed charge at Carinish.

Mr MacRae was inducted at Duirinish on 21st June 1871, but not, however, without opposition. A minority was in favour of presenting a Call to the Rev. Alexander Ferguson, Free Church Minister at North Knapdale, Argyleshire. Considering the divided state of the congregation at his settlement, and especially the great and popular gifts of the eminent man who preceded him, it was no easy position Mr MacRae was called upon to occupy. Yet he earnestly and faithfully devoted himself to the work of the Lord in this wide and extensive Parish, and in the discharge of his duties he had the implicit confidence of the many godly people in the congregation, while his faithfulness and consistent Christian life could not be denied even by those who opposed him. He was eminently a man of prayer, deeply exercised and rich in Christian experience. For thirty years he carried on a faithful and an abundant ministry. During his time churches were built in the Waternish and Glendale sections of the Congregation. He had acquired a considerable knowledge of medicine, and people from all parts of the Highlands and Islands resorted to him for medical advice. In church politics he was, like his predecessor, a thorough constitutionalist, holding by the original principles of the Free Church. When the testing day came on 31st October 1900, though he had passed away to his eternal rest on 5th January 1900 in his native Glenshiel, where he had retired in June 1899, the vast majority of the congregation remained faithful to the Free Church, showing how nobly they responded to the care, taken by their late minister, to inform and to teach them. Mr MacRae was not married.

 

Later Ministers

The General Assembly of May 1900 disjoined the district of Waternish from Duirinish and the district of Arnisort from Snizort, and erected these districts into a sanctioned charge to be known as Waternish and Arnisort. As the result of a petition from Waternish to the Assembly of 1908, the union, which had not been popular locally, was dissolved. According to the “Records of the Presbytery,” on 11th November 1908, Waternish was re-united to Duirinish and Arnisort became a station under the Kirk Session of Snizort.

On 3rd August 1909, the Rev. Kenneth Cameron, M.A., Minister of the Free Church at Clyne, Sutherlandshire, was inducted at Duirinish. After a diligent and devoted ministry of nearly five years Mr Cameron accepted, on 17th June 1914, a Call to Stornoway in Lewis, where, after a successful ministry of over sixteen years, he was translated to the North Church, Inverness, on 23rd December 1930.

Mr Malcolm Galbraith, Probationer, was ordained and inducted at Duirinish on 14th September 1915, his Call having been signed by seven hundred and seventy-seven members and adherents. Mr Galbraith resigned his charge on 12th June 1928 in order to accept a Call from the congregation of Fort William, Ontario, Canada. Since 13th May 1930 he has been Minister of the Free Church at Fort William and Kilmonivaig in Inverness-shire.

After a vacancy of about three years, Mr Duncan Morrison, Probationer, was ordained at Duirinish on 20th August 1931. The Church at Lonmore has been recently renovated. It is gratifying to be able to report that the congregation is now self-supporting.

It would be impossible to refer here to the many office-bearers who have ably supported all the Ministers who served the congregation, and it would be invidious to make selections. Mr John Nicolson, however, was so closely identified with the congregation before and after 1900 that reference to him should not be omitted. Of a refined nature and gentlemanly bearing, he was held in the highest esteem by all those who ever knew him. As a young man he was ordained to the eldership, and was a commissioner from the Presbytery of Skye to the last two Assemblies of the unbroken Free Church. During the difficult times after 1900 his quiet and kindly manner gained acceptance for his wise counsels, and the congregation was maintained in vigour and efficiency. Few men have ever been more thoroughly trusted than he was by his colleagues in the session and the congregation generally. The congregation of Duirinish is to-day what it is mainly through the quiet and faithful service rendered during dark days by Mr Nicolson. He has left a fragrant memory behind.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Duirinish.]

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Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston

By Rev. Ewen MacRury
From The Monthly Record
 

In June 1843 the Free Church Presbytery of Abertarff ordained four elders in Fort Augustus, namely Archibald MacDonald, Hugh Fraser, Peter Grant and Ewen MacDonald. During the following month Mr Fraser of Abertarff kindly granted a site for a Free Church. The congregation decided in the month of September to ask Rev. William Lauder of Glengarry to be minister of the united charge of Glengarry and Fort Augustus, but he declined. On 9th July, 1844, the Presbytery agreed to connect Glengarry with Glenmoriston.

 

Rev. Francis Macbean, 1844-1869

It was on the 10th August, 1844, that Rev. Francis MacBean accepted a call from the united charge. He was inducted on the 29th of the following October. Rev. John MacTavish, Ballachulish, preached in English and Gaelic from Hosea 2:19-20 and Isaiah 35:7 respectively. On the 10th March 1846 two parties petitioned the Presbytery because Mr MacBean had declined to baptize their children on the ground that they were not communicants. This was the beginning of a long controversy, the echoes of which were eventually heard within the walls of the General Assembly. During this dispute, Dr MacKay, Dunoon, Mr MacRae, Knockbain, and Mr MacLean, Tobermory, acted as assessors to the Abertarff Presbytery. On the 7th May 1851 a plan for a manse at Fort Augustus was laid on the Presbytery’s table by Mr MacBean. He passed away on the 28th May 1869.

 

Rev. Alexander Maccoll, 1870-1877

Mr MacColl was inducted on 23rd June. A firm opponent of the union with the United Presbyterians, he moved a motion on 14th February 1871 at the Presbytery, maintaining that further procedure would be disastrous to the Church. In 1874 he received a call from Gairloch, Ross-shire, and there compeared as Commissioners Messrs Kenneth MacDonald and William Sinclair from the Presbytery of Lochcarron, Alexander Kemp and George Ross from the Kirk Session and Deacons’ Court, and Rev. William Rose from the congregation. The call reached the Synod, but Mr MacColl declined. The Lochalsh congregation addressed a call to him in 1877, and it was accepted.

During 1877-1878 steps were taken to disjoin Glenmoriston from Fort Augustus. The Glasgow Assembly of 1878 granted the application on the understanding that Fort Augustus would contribute £73 to the Sustentation Fund and Glenmoriston £80. Glenmoriston was declared a Church Extension Charge.

 

Fort Augustus

Rev. Donald A. Macdonald, 1878-1887
The call to Mr MacDonald, who was a probationer, was signed by 9 communicants and 86 adherents. For ten years he laboured in this sphere, and then he was translated to Kilmuir, Skye. The Kilmuir call was signed by 1128 members and adherents.

Vacancy, 1887-1889. During these two year efforts were made to secure the services of Rev. Norman MacLeod, Kilberry, but he declined the call.

Rev. John Stuart Mackay, 1889-1900
Mr MacKay had been minister at Altnaharra, and he was translated to Fort Augustus on 25th September 1889. When the movement for union with the United Presbyterians began, he supported the majority section, and in 1900 he entered the United Free Church.

 

Glenmoriston

Rev. Donald Macinnes, 1879-1889
Mr MacInnes, who was a probationer, accepted a call from Glenmoriston in June 1879, and in this way he became the first Free Church minister who laboured in this interesting glen.

Steps were taken in 1880 to build a manse. Mr MacInnes passed away on 24th September 1889.

Vacancy, 1889-1891
During the vacancy the congregation approached Mr Finlay MacRae and Mr George S. MacLeod, who were at that time probationers of the Church, but both declined.

Rev. William Mackinnon, 1801-1804
Mr MacKinnon was translated from North Uist to Glenmoriston on 20th May 1801, but after a pastorate of three years he accepted a call to Gairloch, Ross-shire. The congregation immediately took steps to get the vacancy filled, and Rev. Murdoch Morrison, Bernera, and Rev. John MacDonald, Acharacle, were approached, but both declined.

Rev. Donald Macinnes, 1895-1900
Mr Donald MacInnes, probationer, accepted a call in the summer of 1895, and he laboured there until the Union of 1900. He did not sympathise very much with the Union movement, but he was influenced by others to enter it.

Vacancy 1900-1910
Both Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston were left without ministers in 1900 and the Church’s headquarters had to send pulpit supply. Rev. Finlay MacRae, Knockbain, who was an assessor to the Inverness Presbytery, was appointed Interim-Moderator. In Fort Angustus two elders, Messrs Hugh MacDonald and John Williamson, rendered yeoman service, while the same holds true in regard to Messrs Hugh MacKenzie, Peter Fullarton, and Francis Fullarton in Glenmoriston. All these lived to see the vacancy filled in 1910.

Rev. Kenneth Macrae, 1910-1915
Mr MacRae was translated from Glenshiel on 22nd December 1910. Two years previously Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston had been once more consolidated into one charge with separate Kirk Sessions and Deacons’ Courts. The minister had to preach at both places alternately. In 1915 he was translated to Lochalsh and a vacancy of three years followed.

Rev. Duncan Macdougall, M.A., 1918-1921
Mr MacDougall who had been minister of Cross, Lewis, was translated to Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston in 1918, but his ministry terminated in 1921, when the General Assembly decided to offer him an appointment as a Colonial missionary in Vancouver.

For eight years thereafter the congregation was without a settled pastor, but for an extensive period Rev. Murdo MacKay laboured in their midst. Rev. John MacLeod, Inverness, acted as Interim-Moderator until 1925, when he was succeeded by Rev. E. MacRury, Glenurquhart and he in turn was succeeded at the end of 1919 by Rev. Alexander MacLeod, Croy.

Rev. Murdo Campbell, M.Α., 1930
Mr Campbell on finishing his studies at the Free Church College accepted a call from the consolidated charge, and he was ordained and inducted on 20th August 1930. Both congregations in this charge have now been well organised, and additional office-bearers have been ordained. Mr Campbell, who is keenly interested in psalmody, has exerted himself in the way of improving congregational singing. Work among the young is performed by willing helpers. When the minister cannot be in Glenmoriston, Mr Ranald Dean, elder, conducts the services. Tokens of God’s goodness are evident, and in this way He is encouraging those who labour in the vineyard.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Fort Augustus and Glenmoriston.]

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Fort William and Kilmonivaig

By Rev. Ewen MacRury
From The Monthly Record, January, 1934, pp.16-17
 

The first meeting of the Free Church Presbytery of Abertarff was held at Fort William on 7th June 1843. The “first diet” was spent in devotional exercises, and afterwards the Presbytery adjourned until five o’clock in the evening. At that time Fort William and Kilmonivaig were separate congregations.

 

Fort William

Rev. Charles Stewart, 1843-1846
Mr Stewart was the Disruption minister of Fort William. He was of the Stewarts of Alcaig, and was brought up under the ministry of Dr MacDonald, Ferintosh. Though not prominent as a preacher he as an able ecclesiastic and working usually, in accordance with the opinions of his innovating brother-in-law, Dr Islay Burns.

In his day prayer-meetings used to be conducted in the hall below the church, and one of these meetings was held at 8 o’clock on Sabbath morning in Gaelic. But with the ebb of the old Evangelical life, the attendance at this meeting became very small, and at last it became extinct.

On the 8th September 1843 Mr Stewart intimated, at the Presbytery meeting, that an Interdict had been served upon him by the Established Church, and that he would have to surrender the keys, even although it was people who were now in the Free Church that built it. Two years afterwards steps were taken to build a church to accommodate 440 persons; in 1847 a manse was built. The Disruption Church is at the present time in possession our church.

Mr Stewart acted as Presbytery Clerk for thirty years. In 1886 he passed away, and the Presbytery recorded that he was “a sound theologian, a diligent student of the Word, and a man of prayer”.

Rev. John Macintosh, 1881-1900
Mr MacIntosh who was a probationer, was inducted as colleague and successor on 26th April 1887. Six years later he was appointed Clerk of Presbytery. He was a native of Killin, and was interested in the Evangelical traditions of Breadalbane. Fluency in expression was one of his charactenstics. At the time of the Declaratory Act controversy he adopted a policy of silence. He was instrumental in getting the Disruption building sold and another one built at a cost of £2500; and of that sum the congregation subscribed ₤900. In 1900 Macintosh entered the United Free Church, and the church and manse were allocated to that Church by the Churches’ Commission.

 

Kilmonivaig

Rev. William Lauder, the Disruption minister of Glengarry, removed to Strachur in 1844.

For a long time sites for a church and manse were refused although the Presbytery time and again petitioned the proprietors, and as late as 1854 it was reported that the parish was in a state of destitution. Two years later, plans for a church were submitted to the Presbytery, and in 1858 it was declared a sanctioned charge. There were three preaching stations twelve miles from each other.

Rev. Evan Gordon, 1858-1866
Mr Gordon was a probationer of the Church. By the year 1863 he was successful in getting a manse built. In his day there were a number of noted men in the congregation. The MacIntyres of Australia, who kept up the banner of the Free Church in New South Wales, were from Kilmonivaig. Mr. Gordon’s health broke down through exposure in visiting his extensive parish, and he accepted a call to Grantown in 1866.

Rev. Donald Sutherland, 1867-1900
Mr Sutherland was a native of Latheron, Caithness, and it was in Kilmonivaig that he began his ministry. His preaching did not attract the older Evangelicals of Lochaber, yet, nevertheless, he was not destitute of thought. During the Union controversy of 1900 he supported the majority section, and entered the United Free Church.

 

Fort William and Kilmallie

After the Union of 1900, Fort William, Kilmonivaig, Kilmallie, and Arisaig were included in the Presbytery of Lorn, and it was agreed to unite Fort William and Kilmallie. In 1908 Kilmonivaig petitioned the Presbytery asking that Mr John MacLean be settled over them as ordained an ordained missionary. Kilmallie and Fort William sent a similar petition, but Mr MacLean was settled in Kilmonivaig, the minimum sum promised to the Sustentation Fund being £40. The Petition was signed by 126 members and adherents. On 2nd February 1910 Rev. Hector Kennedy was inducted to the joint charge of Kilmallie and Fort William. The call was signed by 330 persons. Rev. P. Stewart presided, and Professor MacLeod addressed the congregation. He was translated to Raasay in 1912, while Rev. John MacLean was transferred to Stratherrick in 1911. In 1918 these congregations were joined to the Presbytery of Inverness. Several lay-agents laboured in these congregations, among them being Mr James Fraser, Mr Alexander MacLean, and Mr Armiger Nicolson. In 1923 Fort William petitioned the Presbytery to be disjoined from Kilmallie, and this was granted.

 

Fort William and Kilmonivaig

In 1929 Fort William and Kilmonivaig were united, and Kilmallie with Arisaig. On 13th May 1930 Rev. Malcolm Galbraith was inducted as minister of Fort William and Kilmonivaig. It was agreed to sell the manse at Kilmonivaig and buy a new manse at Fort William, on the condition that Fort William would assist Kilmonivaig in the event of calling a minister of their own at any time. The congregation of Fort William was successful in 1908 in securing the Disruption church, and by a process of renovation it has been made suitable for modern requirements.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Fort William and Kilmonivaig.]

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Development of a Colonial Mission

Fort William [Thunder Bay], Ontario

By Murdo Mackay
From The Monthly Record, February, 1948, pp.28-30
 

The history of the Fort William congregation may well be said to be the story of the Free Church’s labours on behalf of her sons and daughters throughout the entire Dominion of Canada. It was in no sectarian spirit that the Free Church decided to respond to the call from her loyal members in Canada and send to them men who would minister to them in the things of God according to the practice known and dear to them from their youth. For that reason we think the story of the Fort William congregation and its development over a period of nearly 40 years may be found a source of inspiration and encouragement to the home Church as it is a matter of gratitude and pardonable pride to those on the field who watched the development with hope and expectancy, not unmixed at times with anxious care.

 

Rev. Angus Mackay

In response to a petition sent home to the Church in the summer of 1910, the late Rev. Angus Mackay, Kingussie, himself a Canadian by birth and upbringing, arrived in Fort William, and was the first Free Church minister to preach in the city in connection with our cause here. Mr Mackay visited us on two occasions after his first visit, one of these in company with his son, Rev. J. Calvin Mackay. All these visits were much enjoyed and many sweet recollections are with us still. Mr Mackay always remembered us with his pen, and we know, by his prayers.

 

Rev. John MacDonald

In the year 1912, the General Assembly agreed to send the late Rev. John Macdonald, Rosskeen, as the first official deputy to Canada, being accompanied by Principal McCulloch, who was a delegate from the Church to Princeton, U.S.A., that year. We have pleasant memories of meeting these two worthy ministers. The Principal stayed only a few hours, as he was leaving by next train for Vancouver, and from there to Princeton, and returning to Scotland for the meeting of the Assembly. Mr Macdonald, however, remained with us for some time, and went as far west as Vancouver. During his visit, the cause was established more firmly. On his return journey he gave us some further services, and paid us yet another visit in 1921, when he and the late Rev. Kenneth Cameron were delegates to the Presbyterian Alliance in Pittsburgh, U.S.A.. Mr Macdonald kept in touch with us by his pen until shortly before his death.

 

Rev. Ewen [Ewan] Macleod

In 1913, the late Rev. Ewen Macleod, Dornoch, his wife and daughter visited us. Mr Macleod being the Church’s deputy that year. There was a fine congregation here then, mainly young men and women. We had no place of worship of our own and were wandering from place to place. Mr Macleod, seeing the need for a permanent place of worship, called together a committee of the men, and offered personal help to get a place of worship. This was a wonderful providence, and indeed wonderful in our eyes that a person who was a stranger to us, should make us this generous offer. The situation was most encouraging and Mr Macleod could see the open door for the Church to enter in. He asked some members of the committee to accompany him to the Bank of Montreal, and placed $1,000 to the congregation’s credit, that the building of our first church might begin at once. Our worthy friend did not ask for any interest on the money, and no time limit was named for payment, it being left to our ability to repay. The first Communion service was observed in the congregation under Mr Macleod’s ministry, with Messrs Alexander Morrison (Bayble), Mr John Morrison (Back), and Mr Malcolm Campbell (Garrabost) as elders. These worthy brethren were newly out from home and were, to a great extent, instrumental in establishing the cause.

 

Rev. Roderick Macleod

In 1914, the late Rev. Roderick Macleod, Garrabost, Knock, was the deputy. Mr Macleod was the first minister to preach in the new church. He preached an appropriate sermon from the words: “We are the children of the prophets and of the Covenant, which God made with our fathers” (Acts 3:25). The Sabbath before he left for the West, he preached again to a fine gathering of young people and remarked that some who were there he would see no more in this life. Before he returned from the west, war was declared, and most of our young men had gone, some of them never to return!

During the years of the war there was no deputy and the burden of paying the debt on the church was carried by the few who remained. The situation was faced with courage, and by the Lord’s help, the church was paid for.

In 1919 the deputy system began again, the late Rev. George Mackay, Fearn, being the first, and the system continued until the settlement of Rev. Malcolm Galbraith in September 1928.

 

The New Church

In 1925, under the guidance of Rev. J. M. Maclennan, Lairg, it was decided to purchase 100 feet frontage on South Marks Street, for church and manse property. This property was paid for before Mr Galbraith’s arrival. Then steps were taken, under the guidance of the minister, to build a church on this property. A loan was procured, but before the deeds were closed, the crash in the money market, which was felt world-wide, took place. However, providentially, the loan was granted and building operations began. The newly settled minister was kept busy leading the work of the building committee and organising a Sabbath School which in itself was a credit to him, as it would be to any minister. An adverse turn in providence took place before the church was completed, as Rev. Mr Galbraith had to leave for Scotland on account of ill health.

Here was a difficult situation. A pastorless congregation with the burden of the new church to carry, and the depression forcing many of the people out of work. However, those who were steadily employed faced the situation with courage, and every payment was met on date until the last payment in May 1944. This was a wonderful achievement, in face of difficulties and discouragements. When times became more favourable, those who could not help during the years of depression, did what they could to make up for deficiencies. On 11th December 1929, the church was officially opened by Rev. M. M. Macdonald, who preached an appropriate sermon from the words in John 20:19.

 

Settlement of Rev. W. J. Macleod

During the years following, until the settlement of Rev. W. J. Macleod in 1936, the congregation was pastorless. Nevertheless the people remained loyally united. During this period we had a number of worthy ministers visiting us, of all of whom we have many happy memories.

When Mr Macleod arrived in the following year, steps were taken to build a manse on the site already paid for. A loan was procured and those who had agreed to bond their homes for the church loan, did the same for the manse with equal alacrity.

During Rev. J. M. Maclennan’s visit in 1925, the W.F.M.A. was organised. This committee is still carrying on making two collections each year, even when times have been very discouraging. Until June of this year, they have sent to the Treasurer in Edinburgh the sum of $4,051 57cts. We would here thankfully acknowledge contributions received for both buildings from many business concerns and from individuals, both locally and in the home land. But the greater part of our resources, under the good hand of the Most High, came from the free offering of the people.

 

Sabbath Labour

Many of the ministers who visited us will remember difficulties in connection with Sabbath labour in the grain business. We are sure that they will be pleased to know that during the last years of the war, this form of Sabbath labour has come to an end. This proves that, from the first, it was not work of necessity, but due to the greed of companies which forced men to work day and night for four months before the close of navigation. More grain has been shipped from these ports since the eight-hour working day, with no Sabbath loading of boats, nor unloading of grain, than when men were working day and night seven days a week. We acknowledge reason for thankfulness for the efforts put forth this year by the church to establish the cause more firmly in Canada, and we appreciate and enjoy the ministry of the deputies. May the Lord richly bless their labours!

What is needed, at home and abroad, is a pouring down of the Spirit in a revival of religion, that faithful witnesses may be raised up to uphold the banner of truth for which the church of our fathers contended down through the ages. We desire to commit the cause here and elsewhere to the prayers of the church, that the promise may be fulfilled in this dark and cloudy day, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed and My blessing upon thine offspring.”

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Glasgow, Hope Street

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record
 

Glasgow, the gateway to the Scottish Highlands, owes its citizenship to the men and women who for many years have flocked there to gain a living. Glasgow has flourished because these Highlanders, persons of energy, were moulded in character by the ministrations of preachers who kept them mindful of the Evangel. In-coming Highlanders were touchable best through the Gaelic tongue. Their sons, it is true, became absorbed in the English-speaking mass; but the unfaltering stream of newcomers has entailed the continuity of those Gaelic-speaking congregations to whom the City owes more than she knows.

Early in the nineteenth century there were in the city the Ingram Street Chapel of Ease, built in 1777, and seated for 1090; Duke Street Chapel of Ease, built in 1798, and seated for 1300; and Gorbals Parish Church, which (accommodating 1050 sitters) was in 1813 turned into a Gaelic Chapel.

Still more was needed, however: there were 30,000 Highlanders. In 1823 some citizens, of note in the religious life of the day, and with Highland connections, desired the erection of a Church for “natives of the West Highlands in Glasgow and its vicinity.” They were encouraged in this movement by a letter from James Clelland, author of the Annals of Glasgow, who wrote that about the time of the “Forty-Five” there had been many Highlanders in the city without religious instruction in their own tongue save that “the celebrated John McLaurin, minister of the North-West Church, preached to the Highlanders in the evenings of week-days in his own Church for which service the Town Council after his death made a donation to his Daughter.”

The promoters of the new West Highland Church quickly collected 2216 signatures to a petition, which, supported by the Presbytery, was in 1824 granted by the General Assembly. The new building was planted in Hope Street, at the corner of Gordon Street, a position then just coming into prominence, but sixty years later made of great importance by the formation (just opposite the Church) of the Central Railway Station. The building, though square and plain, was striking because of its size. It could hold 2000 people: the writer has seen it filled of a Sabbath evening, and also on occasions of week-night public meetings the last of these being a demonstration against Dr Rainy’s Disestablishment Policy and in favour of “Mr Finlay’s (the late Viscount Finlay’s) Bill” which prepared the way for the Church of Scotland Act, 1921.

At the Disruption, minister and people and building passed into the Free Church. As with the North Church, Inverness, a debt upon Hope Street Church building was the means of preserving it to the congregation. The Bond holder, concerned for his money, forced a public sale. The Established Church party, having no people, had no need to buy nor means wherewith to do so. A good friend of the congregation stepped in, bought the building, and made it over to the congregation, who in due course paid off the debt.

In 1889 the building was sold, and with the price obtained the present and more convenient building was purchased. That building had been built for, and occupied by, Ewing Place Congregational Church, which had just migrated westward in the fashionable movement of the times.

But the record of “Hope Street” is more than the history of its buildings. The Roll of its members included William Campbell of Tullichewan (father of the one time Prime Minister, Mr Campbell Bannerman), James Burns, ship-owner, founder of the firm of C. & J. Burns and of the David MacBrayne Company, Mr Macalister, father of the Principal of Glasgow University, and Mr MacEachern, father of the Principal of Madras United Free Church College. Elders and members from then till now have occupied, and still occupy, places of credit in business life, and have freely given of their strength.

The ministers of Hope Street make a worthy succession. The first was Rev. Alex. Beith, D.D. (1824-1826), called from Oban Parish, who in his short ministry laid well the foundations of Congregational life. The next was Rev. Adam Gunn (1826-1835), “preacher of the gospel and superintendent of the schools under the charge of the Inverness Education Society.” He was succeeded by Rev. Hector Macneil (1835-1842), and he again by Rev. Dr Walter MacGilvray (1842-1846), during whose ministry two notable events occurred. First, in 1842, the congregation gave birth to another congregation, viz., Argyll Church, at the outset housed in Oswald Street, afterwards known as Tradeston Gaelic Church, and now absorbed into John Knox U.F. Church, Bedford Street. Secondly, in 1843, occurred the Disruption, although in a sense that was as if it had happened not: as the congregation held fast, unshaken as “Hope Street Free”.

Dr MacGilvray, true to the inception and continuance of Hope Street as a West Highland congregation was a native of Islay. He was a man of acknowledged power, and blessed as a preacher. In 1846 the Assembly released him and sent him to labour among the Highlanders in Canada. There he took ill and was forced to return to Scotland, where he resumed his firstb charge of St Mark’s, Glasgow. Rev. Robert MacGillivray succeeded him in Hope Street (1848); but finding the charge too heavy, he was in 1853 translated to Ballachulish. After a short vacancy the Rev. Duncan Macgregor (father of Principal W. M. Macgregor of Glasgow U.F. College) was in 1854 inducted to Hope Street. On that occasion the membership was 300 and the average attendance 500. When, ten years later, Mr Macgregor went to Dundee, the membership was 700 and the attendance about 1200.

A longer ministry followed, viz., that of Rev. Alexander Urquhart (1865-1886) called from Tarbert, [Tarbat] Ross-shire. Many hearers survive. One of these, an elder, writes: “I can truly say that peace, harmony and brotherly feeling prevailed within our walls during the whole course of his incumbency so much so that when a newspaper sent out reporters to ascertain how many attended each Church on a certain day, Hope Street was returned as the highest.”

It was during the vacancy following Mr Urquhart’s death that the congregation removed, taking with them the old name, to Ewing Place, at the corner of Waterloo Street and West Campbell Street. The new building was opened as “Hope Street Church,” by the Rev. Dr Gustavus Aird, in April 1889, the Sabbath Day following the induction of the Rev. James Duff McCulloch, translated thither from Latheron.

The ministry of Mr McCulloch (1886-1926) was longer than, and in one respect differed from Mr Urquhart’s. The days of serenity and calm were no more. Changes in thought, doctrine, and practice were already making themselves felt throughout the Free Church; repercussions were unavoidable, even in Gaelic congregations. Mr McCulloch had through twenty-seven years in Latheron congregation made his mark as a man of action, a fearless champion of oppressed crofters. In the Presbytery of Glasgow he at once became the spokesman of the Constitutionalist minority. Similarly he took a strong place in the General Assembly during the sifting decade which ended in October 1900. After that date he was the unwavering hand upon the tiller while the Free Church ship laboured in stormy waters from 1900 till 1910. Though of an age when many seek leisure Mr McCulloch was tireless in visitation of pastorless Churches. From 1905 to 1926 he bore added responsibility as Principal of the College, a task fittingly acknowledged when, in 1919, Edinburgh University acclaimed him Doctor of Divinity. It were idle to pretend that Hope Street congregation did not suffer somewhat from these calls upon her Pastor’s energies, even though he did sustain the same with remarkable resource. The tradition of the eldership, however, proved to be sound, and Hope Street remains a forceful unit in the religious life of Glasgow.

In 1921 the Rev. John McLeod, O.B.E. – in student days an assistant in the congregation, and afterwards minister at Urray and at Dornoch, and during the war a Chaplain in the 51st (Highland) Division – was called as colleague and successor to Principal McCulloch.

The accompanying illustration shows the south and east fronts of the Church building. Unfortunately the north wall, through recent constructional operations close at hand, has been in some degree injured; but this, though regrettable, is not likely to prove serious to a congregation so fertile in resources as is Hope Street,

The accounts of the General Treasurer have long testified to the faith, as shown by works, of this worthy flock: the last accounts (see Record of March 1929) speak of extra congregational liberality amounting to the generous total of £794, 16. 7d., not including the sum contributed to local and undenominational purposes.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Hope Street, Glasgow.]

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Glenlyon

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, September 1936, pp.218-219
 

This – the longest glen in Scotland – once a passageway for warriors and for the peaceful messengers of the Gospel, now lies, as to its upper section, in solitude and silence. A large crofting people are now represented by but few; crofts have given place to sheep farms; and these in turn are now in measure converted into deer forests. There is no through-going by the glen for sight-seeing motorists. Few beyond fishers and other sportsmen travel the picturesque roadway.

As with the social, so have been the congregational changes. Before the Disruption Glenlyon Church, quoad sacra, was built for a people so appreciative of spiritual things that when the breach occurred, the people stood for the Free Church. The charge happened at that moment to be vacant; the people had to leave the church building, which also became vacant.

The River Lyon divides the Breadalbane Estates on the south side of the valley from the lands on the north side, the proprietors of which latter were hostile. One of these was Mr Stewart Menzies of Chesthill, who dared his tenants under threat of eviction, to attend the Free Church service in a barn granted to them on the Breadalbane side of the stream. Mr Menzies, meeting one tenant, who had defied the threat, asked if he, the farmer, had not been afraid. “No,” was the courageous answer, “I was not afraid. Indeed, Sir, I trust that before long you too will be in the Free Church.” Curiosity, or something better, led Mr Menzies to attend the Free Church service on the following Sabbath. The preacher was Dr John Macdonald, the Apostle of the North. So blessed was that occasion that Mr Menzies became a friend of the Church. Forthwith he gave, on his side of the river, a site for church and manse, and did not fail to be helpful in the building, as is testified by a memorial window on the left-hand side of the pulpit. Mr Menzies’ successors, some years later, parted with the estate to Sir Donald Currie, who became proprietor also of the adjoining estates of Fortingall and Garth. The Free Church is a comfortable place of worship, seated for about 150 people. It adjoins the road and river two miles east of the quoad sacra church. Eight miles to the east is Fortingall, at the narrow gorge opening into the glen from the wider strath, which eight miles farther east, merges into Strath Tay at Aberfeldy. The first Free Church Minister was Rev. Angus Brown ordained there in 1847. In 1867, he was translated to Inverness West, and in 1868 to Fortrose. The second minister was Rev. Murdoch Macaskill, better known in after days as Macaskill of Greenock, and latterly of Dingwall. His ministry at Glenlyon endured from 1868 to 1873. Rev. John Mackay, M.A. – afterwards best known as of Cromarty – began his ministry after Mr. Macaskill in 1874; in the following year he was translated to Oban. Next came Rev. John McColl, a native of Tobermory, who was minister from 1876 until the crisis of 1900.

Sir Donald Currie, by this time Laird of most of the north side of the glen, and an admirable landlord as is widely acknowledged, had been a prominent man in the Free Church. His sympathies went with Mr McColl and such of his people as preferred to enter the United Free Church; but no small portion of the congregation were resolute to abide by the Free Church. This step, though disappointing to the Laird, did not prevent him from showing sympathy and courteous help to the Free Church congregation, when, after a time of worship in a schoolhouse, Lord Elgin’s Commission reinstated them in the Church. Mr McColl and his people then found accommodation in an iron Church erected for them nearby. That congregation has now been absorbed by the Church of Scotland, and the iron building has disappeared.

After a vacancy of eight years, Rev. R. B. McVicar, formerly of the O.S. [Original Secession] Church, was inducted to the Free Church at Glenlyon in 1916 he withdrew and [after a short ministry in Dumfries Free Church] entered the Church of Scotland.

In 1920 Mr John Robertson, already a well known lay preacher in Dalmally and in Loch Rannoch District, was asked by the Highland Committee, to take charge of Glenlyon. This he did, with such acceptance, that at the request of the congregation he was in 1922 ordained and inducted. His sixteen years in Glenlyon have been blessed to his people, and he himself has commanded the good-will of all in the district. Captain Wisely, son of the Rev. Mr Wisely, for long associated with the Continental Work Missions of the Free Church, son-in-law of Sir Donald Currie, and his successor in the Chesthill Estate, gave substantial annual assistance to the finances of the congregation out of respect for Mr Robertson, and the present laird, Major Wisely, has continued the gracious recognition.

Glenlyon congregation is just now at the cross-roads. Mr Robertson, otherwise vigorous, has been afflicted with entire loss of voice. The General Assembly, with appreciative sympathy, has allowed him, though remaining senior pastor, to retire from duty. Present circumstances are scarcely favourable to the calling of a colleague and successor. With Rev. Donald Fraser of Aberfeldy as Interim Moderator, the future well-being of the congregation is receiving the anxious care of the Presbytery and of the Highlands and Islands, Home Mission, and Supply Committee, and of the Sustentation Fund Committee.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Glenlyon.]

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Glenurquhart Free Church

By Rev. Ewen MacRury
From The Monthly Record, March, 1932, pp.61-62
 

Concerning the minister who, during the Ten Years’ Conflict, held the parish of Urquhart, the late Dr William MacKay writes that “he was a man of kindliness and culture, but of uncertain moral character. Charge of adultery followed charge, with the result that he was deserted by his congregation even before the Disruption of 1843. When the Disruption took place the people joined the Free Church with scarce an exception, and the parish minister remained to preach to empty pews. At a meeting of the Free Presbytery of Abertarff, held on 1st August 1843, a petition was read from parishioners in Urquhart, praying that Rev. Francis MacBean, of the Original Secession Church, be sent to them, as he had been labouring there already, and had given satisfaction. Since Urquhart at that stage was under the general charge of Mr Fraser of Kirkhill, the Presbytery refused to interfere. On the 2nd August 1844 another petition was presented, complaining of the neglected state of the parish, and the Presbytery decided to send Mr Duncan B. Blair as soon as he was licensed. Moreover, the Presbytery requested Rev. John MacTavish of Ballachulish to visit Urquhart, and he reported that the congregation wished to call Rev. Alexander MacDonald of Plockton.

 

Rev. Alexander MacDonald (1844-1864)

A call to Mr MacDonald (1844-1864) was signed by 1555 adherents of the Free Church. The matter, however, reached the Commission of Assembly before he was translated to Urquhart, where he was inducted on 25th December. Rev. Thomas Davidson preached in Gaelic, and Rev. Francis MacBean in English. On the day of the induction Mr Alexander Fraser, who had been parochial schoolmaster, reported that he was to be ejected by the Established Church Presbytery, and it was decided to recommend him to the Church Education Committee. Mr MacDonald was deeply interested in education. In 1846 he reported that there were 380 pupils attending the Free Church schools of Bunloit, Drumnadrochit, Polmaily, and Corrimony. In 1850 there were 75 pupils in Bunloit School, and Latin was among the subjects taught. At Drumnadrochit, where there was a school taught by Mr Donald MacLean, there were 99 children on the roll. In Corrimony School, conducted by Mr John Fraser, there were 97 scholars. Mr MacDonald passed away on 15th August 1864, and in paying a tribute to his memory the Presbytery declared that he was distinguished “by natural talent, scholarship, and extensive information,” and that his exposition of Divine Truth was “clear, and his application of it to the conscience close and forcible.”

 

Rev. Angus MacRae (1866-1892)

In 1865 the congregation decided to call Rev. Gustavus Aird, Creich, but he declined. The following year a call was addressed to Rev. Angus MacRae, Probationer, and he having accepted, he was ordained and inducted on 12th September. As a preacher he did not satisfy a number of the congregation on account of his mode of delivery. He used to assist Mr MacColl at Glenmoriston Communion, always on the Fast-day, and on one occasion one of the people remonstrated with Mr MacColl for inviting hím. “If I delivered that sermon which Mr MacRae preached to-day,” he replied, “you would say that you never heard the like of it.” At catechising Mr MacRae excelled. In connection with education he continued the good work of his predecessor. During his ministry the Balmacaan evictions took place, and those evicted were all Free Church people. Mr MacRae passed away on 15th February 1892.

 

Rev. Alexander MacKay (1892-1900)

The congregation addressed a call to Rev. Alexander MacKay, Dores, which was signed by over 600 members and adherents, and he was inducted on 26th October 1892. Rev. William MacKinnon preached in Gaelic from 1 Tim. xi. 12, and Rev. John MacIntosh in English from Eph. iv. 7-13. The minimum promise to the Sustentation Fund at that time was (158, 186. During his ministry an application was made to the Highland Committee to secure the services of a catechist. On 8th August 1894 the Presbytery visited the congregation, and in their report they stated that the elders visited the sick and manifested warm sympathy with those of the young who were interested in spiritual things. Mr Mackay was one of those who strenuously opposed the Union of 1900. On the 8th March 1900 the Presbytery took up consideration of the Overture anent Union and Mr MacKay moved that the Presbytery disapprove of the Overture. When the testing time came, however, Mr MacKay made a somersault, and entered the Union, taking with him a part of the congregation. He could see no future for the Free Church party unless they would be swallowed up by the Established; the irony of it all is that those who followed him are now in the Church of Scotland.

 

Vacancy (1900-1916)

Fortunately there were men of solid Christian character in the anti-unionist section, such as Alexander MacDougall, Donald MacKenzie, John MacPherson, Peter MacDonald, and Donald MacMillan. During the vacancy the congregation approached Rev. George MacKay, Rev. A. D. Cameron, and Rev. Neil MacDonald, but they all refused to come.

 

Later Ministers

Rev. John MacKay MacLennan, Μ.Α. (1916-1923): Mr MacLennan on finishing his college course accepted a call, and was ordained and inducted on 28th December 1915. He had the task of consolidating the congregation after the prolonged vacancy. New elders and deacous were elected. A much-needed renovation was executed on the manse property which had been built in 1847. In 1923 Mr MacLennan accepted a call to Lairg.

Rev. Ewen MacRury, M.A. (1925): For two years the congregation was vacant. Mr MacRury, who was minister of Helmsdale Free Church, accepted a call to Glen Urquhart, and was inducted on 17th June 1925. The church, built in 1844, was internally renovated in 1930, and made suitable for modern requirements. The congregation liberally supports the Cause, and the young are made interested in the Church of their Fathers.

There are only two denominations now in Glen Urquhart the Free Church and Church of Scotland. But the Church of Scotland has two buildings (the old Parish Church and the old U.F. Church), though these two sections of the now united charge are but half a mile apart.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Glenurquhart.]

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Greenock

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, November, 1931, pp.253-256
 

The Highlands and Islands of Scotland have furnished many men to the mercantile and the fighting ships of every sea. Of these the greater number have gone out from the Clyde, wherefore it is not strange that many years ago there had gathered at Greenock such a large Highland population as to make desirable the formation of a Gaelic charge. A Gaelic chapel was built in 1792 for a congregation gathered together by Rev. Kenneth Bayne. His was a successful ministry until his death in 1821. Under his successor, Rev. Angus McBean, progress continued until in 1834 the Gaelic chapel attained to the status of the Gaelic Parish Church. In 1843 Mr McBean, with practically all his office-bearers and people, adhered to the Free Church. The Gaelic Parish Church was deserted, and remained closed for ten years.

Meantime the Free Gaelic congregation kept together, worshipping for a while in a tent erected in Duncan Street burying-ground.

The Minutes of the first Meeting of Session under the new circumstances, held on 19th July 1843, began in these terms:

“In consequence of the disruption of the Established Church in May last, on account of the encroachment of the civil power on her spiritual jurisdiction, a disruption, by which a large portion of her ministers and elders and people had dissolved their connection with the state and formed themselves into a separate church under the designation of The Free Church of Scotland, and, moreover, the minister and twelve elders, and almost the whole congregation of the Gaelic Church of Greenock have united themselves to the said Free Church of Scotland, and the Session met this day as a Session of the Free Gaelic Church and congregation of Greenock, and being constituted by prayer, sederunt, Rev. Angus McBean, moderator, Messrs Donald MacLeod, Daniel Chisholm, John MacFarlane, Alex Macintosh, Hugh McArthur, Dugald Smith, Archd. Carmichael, and Archd. McKellar, elders.”

By 1844 the congregation were able to remove from their tent into the new building they had caused to be erected in Jamaica Street – the same bulding as still is in use by the Free congregation.

Mr McBean died in 1845, and was succeeded by Rev. John McRae, familiarly spoken of as McRath Mor. He was translated there from Knock, Lewis. Eight years later he turned to Lewis, this time to the charge of Carloway and Lochs. When, in old age, he retired from service, he came back to Greenock and passed his last years as a member of the congregation upon which he had left the stamp of a powerful ministry.

John Kennedy, afterwards Dr Kennedy of Dingwall, was called in 1859 to succeed McRath Mor. This call being declined, the congregation invited his cousin, also John Kennedy, and he accepted. Mr Kennedy continued minister till his death in 1870. After a vacancy of three years, Mr Murdo MacAskill was settled and pursued a much-esteemed ministry till 1881, when, being confronted with simultaneous calls to succeed Dr Kennedy in Dingwall and Dr Begg in Newington, he was directed by the Presbytery of Greenock to go to Dingwall

From that point the history of Greenock Gaelic enters on leaner years. Rev. John Campbell in 1885 succeded Mr MacAskill and in 1900 followed his example by entering the United Free Church. The greater number of the congregation followed their minister but there remained men and women steadfast to tradition and to principle sufficient in number to preserve the unity of undying testimony. For five years the Free Church cause was maintained despite difficulties, the people worshipping in hired halls, but encouraged by occasional visits from ministers among the twenty-six. In 1905, Lord Elgin’s Commission, impressed by the evidence of reality and fervour of the small congregation, allocated to them the building in Jamaica Street from which they had been so long shut out.

During the 25 years since 1905, the congregation has had not a few changes. Each ministry, though short, helping to foster a growth of religious life profitable to the members; helpful to young men and women coming in from the Highlands and Islands; and useful as a witness to scriptural fideltiy to all in the town. The Highland population of Greenock was estimated at 10,000. Now it is much more. But there is not now the former concentration of Gaelic speakers nor, in any denomination, is there the old-time regularity of attendance at God’s house. For these reasons and through the disturbance wrought by these years of ecclesiastical change the spacious walls of the Gaelic Church, with its convenient suite of hall and side-rooms is not crowded as in early days. But there does dwell together an encouraging and devoted group of people, old and young.

They have had as ministers successively Rev. Roderick Macleod, B.D. (1908-1910) afterwards of Knock, and now of Dunoon; Kenneth Smith (1911-1918), afterwards of the Church of Scotland in Islay, and since deceased; the Rev. Wiliam Macleod, M.A., of Dornoch (1923-1928); and lastly, Rev. George Collins, B.A, their present minister.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Greenock.]

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The Free North, Inverness

W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, March, 1929, pp.62-63
 

The formal records of this congregation do not go back further than 1837, but its religious life is well rooted in the spiritual experiences of two centuries. In its inception, continued life, and commanding position, the congregation testifies to the cumulative value of a succession of notable ministers. The earliest of these were the brothers, Finlay and Archibald Cook, natives of Arran, who in the first half of the nineteenth century were apostles of grace in the North of Scotland.

Of Mr Finlay Cook (1778-1858) an accredited writer says he was the unadorned earthen vessel in which, for the fuller manifestation of the excellency of the Divine power, the treasure was deposited. The earthen vessel was much in evidence as he began to preach, hearers being constrained to feel for him. But soon the tongue of the stammerer became unloosed, and he was borne upward by his subject till his hearers shared in the heavenly influence. Successively minister at Cross (Lewis), at Inverness, and Reay, he reclaimed many desolate places from the blight of Moderatism. In the town of Inverness there had been, however, a long continued counter-movement against Moderatism. Some of the Evangelicals had organised themselves into separatist meetings; others had been instrumental in having a Chapel of Ease built and recognised. The separatist meetings continued for about forty years but when in 1833 Finlay Cook came to the Chapel of Ease known as Inverness East, these meetings ceased and the members thereof waited on Cook’s ministry. But that endured for only two years. In 1835 he was transferred to Reay, an unsuccessful effort was then made to have his brother Archibald (younger by ten years) as his successor. The former members of the dissolved meetings were now the majority of the Chapel congregation, but being only a minority of the communicants, and some of them country and not town’s-folk, they were unable to carry their preference. While sixty-four communicants voted for David Campbell, afterwards Disruption minister of Tarbat, only fifty-eight communicants voted for Cook. These latter, joined by a large body of the adherents, took advantage of Dr Chalmers’ Church Extension Scheme (then in active development) and petitioned the Presbytery to promote the formation of a new quoad sacra. The Petition, with 1200 signatures to it, was granted, and in 1837 the New North Parish Church was opened with Mr Archibald Cook as its first Minister. The Communion Tokens then cast are still in use, stamped on one side “Token” and on the other “North Church 1837”.

Mr Archibald Cook (1788-1865) had become in early life the subject of divine grace, and he ever after cultivated the fruits of the Spirit most assiduously by prayerfulness and diligent earnestness. In his interesting Memorabilia Domestica the Rev. Donald Sage of Resolis gives a discriminating character-sketch of Mr. Cook in which, while making pointed reference to the slenderness of his intellectual gifts and the defects of his equipment as a preacher, as well as to certain blemishes of spirit and temper such as narrowness and censoriousness, he adds this remarkable tribute to his attainments in the spiritual life and his labours in the Christian ministry: “Yet in spite of these failings – merely human after all – I question if there be any of the age in which we live who in pure disinterested zeal, in holy abstractedness from the world, in vital godliness or in exclusive devotedness to the external interests of the kingdom of heaven, more nearly approximates to the divinely-trained disciples of Galilee than does Archibald Cook.”

This latter judgment is accepted by one of his biographers (Prof. John R. Mackay), who however, on the strength of Cook’s published sermons, challenges the depreciation of the good man’s intellectual abilities. Better evidence still of Cook’s natural, as well as his spiritual, gifts is afforded by the North Church congregation to which he ministered from 1837 till the Disruption, when pastor and flock, without division and never a challenge as to their building, passed from the Church of Scotland fettered by a misconstrued sense of Establishment into the Church of Scotland Free. A year later he accepted a call to Daviot.

The congregation were facilitated in the tranquil possession of their Church building (as yet only six years old) by the debt still resting upon it. Left in peace, however, they were able in course of time to pay off the debt and, when so doing, to perfect their heritable title.

After a year’s vacancy the Rev. George Mackay, from Clyne, was called, and settled in the Free North.

Rev. George Mackay, D.D. (1796-1886) entered the Ministry well equipped with natural gifts, and academic training while his spiritual life ripened through a long life from sound beginnings unto fruition which was a blessing to many. In his first charge at Clyne (1828-1845) he was a profitable minister, sharing in evangelical labours with that section of his co-presbyters who, when the Ten Years’ Conflict came on, stood for the Crown rights out of a regard for higher things than mere ecclesiastical disputation. In 1845 the North Church, now the Free North, presented a call with 1235 signatures to Dr Mackay, but his translation took place only after appeal to the Synod of Sutherland and Caithness. In 1853, upon a call from Duke Street, Glasgow, he was retained in Inverness through the intervention of the General Assembly.

In Inverness the Doctor (so honoured by Aberdeen Universtiy in 1878) came to occupy a place of importance in public service; while his faithfulness as a gospel minister added to the number of such as should be saved, and elevated the Free North to the position of importance which it has since held. On the occasion of his Jubilee, Dr Kennedy (Dingwall), addressing the congregation, said: “You are all tempted rather to be proud than to be weary of your minister this day.” For ten years more he continued to labour: in June 1886 he entered into rest. The Ministry of Rev. Murdo Mackenzie (1835-1911) is within the memory of many readers to whom nothing on this page can increase their esteem for one so worthy. Mr Mackenzie’s individuality was shewn at the outset. Called from Kilmallie in August 1887, he was inducted on 9th September 1887. On the sabbath day thereafter he stood for the first time in the Free North pulpit with no brother minister to introduce him. He wished none to praise him to his face: the congregation would soon find (the sooner the better) what manner of person they had chosen.

So late as 1907 Mr Mackenzie told an interviewer that the aim of the Ministry – his aim – was to glorify God and convert souls; but he sought not to make his sermons attractive save by the Gospel itself. Many tributes paid to his memory are in accord with this his own judgment. The Presbytery Clerk, preaching in the Free North on the Sabbath after the funeral, said: “Among the pulpit orators that shed lustre on their native land, he occupied a place of pre-eminence.”

Mr Mackenzie fostered, and brought to completion, the erection of the handsome church now occupied by the congregation. The old building (in which the writer worshipped on the last day of its use) had been cramped and crowded; so much so as to make it difficult for people, crushed into small space, to change their posture during worship. A relict of that experience lingers in the practice, still observed at prayer-meetings, of sitting during prayers – other than the opening prayer or one led by a minister. The new building, which is seated for 1860 people, was opened in June 1893. The cost, £11,000, was wholly met “without bazaar, smoking concert, or jumble sale.” £1600 in addition was the cost of a new manse, the church having been built on what had been the garden of the old manse.

Of the present minister – Principal Macleod – who was inducted in 1913, it is not befitting to say more than that his settlement is demonstration that the pulpit of the Free North is a position of distinction vying with even the College Chair which already he had been occupying with real acceptance.

The Free North occupies a striking place in the frame-work of the Free Church. During the last twenty-nine years it has been continuously aid-giving to the Sustentation Fund; a strong support to the needs of the Foreign Missions Committee; and a begetter of men who now help in other congregations, and in the Councils of the Church as a whole.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Inverness Free North.]

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Kennoway

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, October, 1928, pp.244-245
 

The history of this congregation entitles it to a more conspicuous place than it does occupy in the knowledge of the Church.

The parish of Kennoway is a small one, lying on a southward slope in Fifeshire, overlooking the estuary of the Forth. The Free Church Manse can indeed be picked out, by eyes which have learned the markings, from the windows of the College on the Mound. The centre of the parish is occupied by the village of Kennoway, which lies where the high road from the Granton-Burntisland ferry to St Andrews crosses the East-West road from Leven (on the sea) to Markinch and Perth. On 2nd May 1679 Archbishop Sharpe, making from Edinburgh to St Andrews halted at Kennoway, and passed the night in a lodging still pointed out to visitors); next day he was slain on Magus Moor. Fortunately the parish – which has no mean place in civil history – has ecclesiastical associations of more interest than the meagre connection with Sharpe. Before the Reformation the church (then called Kennadice – after Kenneth, a Culdee, a contemporary of Columba) was the property of the Priory of St Andrews. But in 1560 Dr John Row quitted his post of Pope’s Nuncio to Scotland and Reformed minister of Kennoway. Row, a distinguished scholar and jurist, did good service to the Church as it adjusted itself to rediscovered truth. He was on of the four Johns (Knox, Craig, Durie, and Row) who moulded the pattern of the Church of Scotland. The building in which Row preached disappeared in 1850 from the village churchyard, giving place to a new building on the outskirts. The Free Church, built on 1848, stands close to the outer wall of the old yard.

The evangelical tradition of John Row was evidently not maintained by all his successors as may be judged from the fact that the parish figures early in Secession, rather than later in the Disruption, Annals. Gairney Bridge, the birth-place (in 1733) of the Associate Presbytery, lay near enough to Kennoway to make the parish minister feel called upon to fulminate against the Seoeders, with the result that a number of his people, inquiring into the occasion and purpose of the Secession, resolved to join the same, whereby, after much tribulation and weary waiting, a Secession minister (William Arnot) was, in 1758, settled in the village. But in 1794 the Secession Church then experiencing one of its numerous divisions, a portion of the Secession congregation (now New Light) held to the older tradition. They withdrew and formed themselves into a Burgher Old-Light congregation, which, however, remained without a minister till 1811. Rev. Alex. McWattie was then ordained; but the settlement was not fortunate, for in 1819 he was deposed. Perhaps some lack of modesty on his part (and therefore a hint of other defects) may be inferred from the tokens (still extant) prepared doubtless for his first Communion. They bear, on the obverse, the word “Kannauay” and on the reverse ” Revd. A. M. 1812.”

McWattie’s successors were better men. In 1848, their minister having been translated elsewhere, this Old Light congregation joined with the Mission charge which in 1846 had been established by those persons who had left the Established Church in 1843. This conjoined congregation was in 1848 accepted by the General Assembly as Kennoway Free Church. The former meeting-house was abandoned and the present Free Church building erected.

The first Free Church minister was John Lister. He was translated in 1857 to Montrose. and was succeeded in 1858 by Rev. D. M. MacAlister, afterwards Old Machar, Aberdeen, and later of Buccleuch-Greyfriars, Edinburgh. The present manse was erected for Mr MacAlister. Rev. Geo. Campbell, the next minister, was ordained in 1878. In 1900 Mr Campbell – entitled to much sympathy because standing alone in a Presbytery where the Constitutionalist party had long been stamped out – simply carried on, under protest, until in 1904 the United Free Church required of every man that he sign an express declaration of adherence to that Church. This Mr Campbell to the vexation of his neighbours could not do; so Kennoway congregation, answering to the Reformation strain, and the Old-Light transmission thereof, remains to this day.

Mr Campbell’s ministry has left its impress on the parish. In the days of his strength he laboured unweariedly as for the parish maintaining gospel ordinances in several villages, in one of which (Windygates) the hall erected by him was carried, by his assistant, into the United Free Church as the nucleus of a United Free charge since built up in that place.

Mr Campbell, after a disabling illness, passed in 1921 to his rest survived by his widow and three daughters, still hearty influences in the congregation which waits with expectation on a pastor who will answer their call. The church building is in course of repair by reason of a sale of work which showed the vitality of the people and their good standing in the esteem of their neighbours. Rev. R. A. [A. R.] Fraser, Dundee, their interim Moderator, is at the moment of writing carrying through the ordination of additional office-bearers.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Kennoway.]

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Kilbride Free Church, Arran

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, April, 1929, pp.88-90
 

Mention was made a month ago in this page of the brothers Finlay Cook and Archibald Cook, two ministers digging out the trench and laying the foundation stones of the Free North congregation of Inverness. Both were notable ministers in the North of Scotland. But both had their beginnings so far south as Arran, being sons of a godly farmer in that island, which occupies so remarkable a place in the mythical, geographical, martial, and spiritual history of Scotland.

Space makes it impossible here to deal with the ecclesiastical history of the Church in Arran; even a glance at post-Reformation happenings is barely possible.

The Island is divided into two parishes Kilbride, the eastern, from Ranza Water to Kildonan; and Kilmory, from Southend westward and northward up to Lochranza Castle.

Eclipsed while the Stuart monarchy was able to favour Episcopacy, the Presbyterian Church came to her own again in Arran in 1690, but, in Kilbride parish at least, the ministry was for a long time unsatisfying to the spiritual wants of the people, which needs resulted in the “Arran Revival” of 1804. The work of grace then begun continued a recognisable course till 1813, and produced at least five ministers for the Church of Scotland, who, in 1843, were found in the Free Church. These were the brothers Cook, John Macalister, Peter Davidson and Archibald Nicol. The minister of Kilbride itself – the revival had been more manifest in Kilmory – remained in the Established Church in 1843. The parish church of Kilbride was then and still is at Lamlash. But in 1830 a Chapel of Ease had been opened in Brodick village. The congregation of that Chapel adhered to the Free Church, and called Rev. John Macalister (already mentioned) to come from Nigg (Ross-shire) as their pastor. He went; but his death in less than a year left them in distress, which was made more acute by ejection from their building. The people found temporary accommodation in an old saw-pit in the deer park below Brodick Castle.

The present church at Strathwillan – to serve equally the villages of Brodick and Lamlash – was opened in 1847, and the manse adjoining was built in 1853.

For a new minister the congregation, preferring natives of the island, called successively Mr Archibald Nicol, then in Coll; Finlay Cook, then in Reay; Archibald Cook, then in Daviot; Mr Pearson, then in Islay and lastly Mr Peter Davidson (already mentioned), who was in Shiskine. Mr Davidson was inducted to Brodick, and remained minister thereof from 1852 till 1874.

The next minister (1874-1888) was Alexander Cameron, called from Renton. Mr Cameron was an energetic minister. His preaching, when he assisted in a Glasgow charge, is one of boyhood recollections to the writer, who also has a lively memory of a coast-visitor telling how he had been impressed by Mr (or rather Doctor) Cameron’s happy reference to the limpet as illustrative of a wise Christian. Clinging closely to the Rock of Ages the believer could defy temptation; but woe betide him should he allow the least material interest to intrude between him and his Saviour.

Dr Cameron was so titled by the University of Edinburgh in 1884, in recognition of valuable services to Celtic literature. The like appreciation was not shown him in all phases of life. His closing years were marred by an unhappy dispute over procedure between him and the Presbytery and Assembly, symptomatic – to some extent – of the cleavage already beginning to show within the Free Church as to policy and testimony. Dr Cameron’s friends felt that he had ended his ministry under a cloud of unjust aspersion, so much so that his successor was moved to have the case in part re-opened and a finding obtained from the General Assembly, vindicating the session and the memory of the minister.

Rev. J. Kennedy Cameron, M.A., was minister at Brodick from 1890 until, in 1906, he was appointed to the Chair of Systematic Theology in the Free Church College. During his ministry the old manse was replaced by a new one in 1894; the church at Corrie (five miles northward along the shore road) was opened in 1894; and in 1897 a hall for prayer meetings, Sabbath School, and evening meetings, was opened at Invercloy, the very centre of Brodick village. In 1900 happened the strain and clash of Union and Separation, in all the events of which Professor Cameron might say, more aptly than many, Quorum magna pars fui. Neither at the Disruption nor 1900 was there aught but kindly consideration for all Churches by the owners of the Hamilton Estates. Being satisfied that the majority the Brodick congregation had remained in the Free Church, rather than enter the United Free Church, the Hamilton Trustees confirmed the congregation in the possession of Church and manse at Strathwillan, the hall at Invercloy. and the church in Corrie. In Lamlash the Free Church congregation admittedly had but a minority of members and so the property there passed to the United Free Church. This minority was large in heart, containing as it did so excellent a Christian man as the now deceased Robert Morrison, captain of the steamer Duchess of Hamilton. The later ministers of Brodick have been Rev. John Calder (1910-1916), now of Campbeltown; and Rev. D. S. Cameron, who was translated thither from Croy (Inverness-shire) in 1926, and happily is still there.

The church in Corrie is erected on a site ceded from her croft by the late Mrs Cook, a member of the congregation, whose memory is still fragrant in that part of the parish. Services are conducted here on alternate winter evenings by the minister, who on the other evenings preaches in the hall at Invercloy. In summer full services are maintained by a succession of preachers, who count it a high privilege to minister in a building beautiful in a high degree, and to a congregation most devoted.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Kilbride.]

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Kilcalmonel

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, 1930, pp.299-300
 

The charge of Kilcalmonel at Clachan, Kintyre, on the high road from Tarbert to Campbeltown, occupies a special place in the memory and esteem of the Free Church. It is the seal and crown of the fresh, youthful zeal of Rev. Murdo Mackenzie of the Free North, Inverness, who, proving his weapons there, progressed therefrom to the high places of the field.

In Clachan he began as a missionary upon being licensed in 1863 by the Presbytery of Lochcarron. Such was his concentrated labour that he fell ill, and for a brief period was laid aside. On recovery he returned to what he had begun, for that purpose declining a call to Kilmuir. The “hand of the diligent” reaped its reward. In 1870 Clachan was raised to a sanctioned charges with Mr Mackenzie as first minister thereof.

Three years later, having been translated to Kilmallie, on Locheil, he was succeeded in Clachan by Rev. Alex MacRae, Probationer. This second ministry endured till 1905, that is, past the formation of the United Free Church. Mr MacRae elected to go into that Church. His congregation held him in such personal esteem that no one of them made suggestion of a vote to decide whether they too were to be counted as favouring the Union. In 1905 Mr MacRae applied to his Assembly for, and was authorised to have a colleague and sucessor. This raised sharply the question of the position of the congregation. No longer hampered by personal considerations, a firm stand was now made for maintaining the testimony which had so long distinguished the Free Church. The church building stood vested in the Trustees of the late Sir William Mackinnon, Bart. Petition for the exclusive use of the building was made to these Trustees by no less than six elders, two deacons, and seventy-one members and adherents who, deciding for the Free Church, formed the majority of Mr MacRae’s congregation. The Mackinnon Trustees granted the request. Church and manse have, since August 1905, been in occupancy by the Free Church congregation of Clachan. The minority, who continued in the U.F. Church, became joined to the U.F. congregation in an adjoining parish. In the village of Clachan there are now but two congregations: of the Parish Church and of the Free Church.

After a vacancy from 1905 till 26th September 1907 Mr. Andrew Burnet was ordained to Clachan Free Church. In 1916 he was translated to Govanhill. In May 1917 he was succeeded by Mr John Calder, previously of Brodick, but at that time Chaplain to the Forces. Mr Calder, however, could not assume the duties of the charge till demobilised after the Peace of November 1918. In 1920 he was translated to Perth. Clachan again experienced a vacancy, which ended with the ordination of Mr Angus Macdonald in May 1921. Six year later Mr Macdonald was translated to Coatbridge. After an interval of some fifteen months the present minister, Mr Ebenezer A. Davidson (previously minister of Victoria Terrace O.S. Church, Edinburgh), was in February 1929 (in the time of a memorable snowstorm) inducted to the pastorate at Clachan.

Like as history concerns the life of a people, and is more than just a record of kings and their doings, so congregational history is essentially of the people who wait on ministry. Office-bearers and members in Clachan bear the stamp of those earlier days when the Haldanes evangelised in Kintyre. There was for long a meeting-house in Clachan where assembled those whom the Word of Grace, expounded by these messengers, had called out of heedless living. From this independent chapel, under the shepherding of Murdo Mackenzie, came the Free Church Mission, to give proof, in the daily life of its members, that the godly are of the common fold which is designed by the Good Shepherd to honour Him by corporate national service. While the Free Church Mission was aforming, the chapel building grew uninhabitable. For a time the flock met in the school-house until, with the generous aid of Sir William Mackinnon (who had become owner of the village and adjoining lands), they moved into the chaste little church where public worship has since been conducted in seemly comfort. The same liberality which went to the provision of the church was shown in the manse.

The church forms the central feature of a village which is a picturesque model of clean orderliness. The manse is on a height whence the dwellers have, through a gap in the hills, a glint of the sea and of the peaks of Jura and the green slopes of Islay in the gold of setting sunlight. The help afforded to the cause in Clachan is indicated by a Deacons’ Court minute of 17th July 1893 which speaks out “of a deep sense of loss” through the death of Sir William. “It was,” so runs the wording, “in large measure owing to his kindly interest in the spiritual welfare of the people on his estate that the congregation was formed into a regular charge connected with the Free Church of Scotland, and afterwards provided with ecclesiastical buildings at his own cost.”

The congregation in Clachan has shrunk in numbers according to depopulation of surrounding area, but as an organised witness it continues in vigour. In addition to the midday service in the church, the minister preaches on alternate evenings at Whitehouse and at Ronachan (? obscure), two spots lying far apart, at extreme ends of a wide parish.

The office-bearers of this congregation are men of renown. The senior elder, Mr Robert McCallum, who has been fifty-one years in office, fulfills the duties of his office with steadfast goodwill. One deacon, Mr John Morrison, has been in office since before the events of 1900. For many years the finances and business affairs of the charge were well managed by James Mackay, elder (one of the Mackinnon Estate officials), who was called home with suddenness on a summer Sabbath in 1928, when the writer of these lines was officiating.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Kilcalmonell.]

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Kilmallie and Arisaig

By Rev. Ewen MacRury, Glenurquhart
From The Monthly Record, July 1934, pp.175-176
 

Kilmallie was one of those places where sites to build churches were refused. After being interdicted from the glebe and from the churchyard, the people worshipped on the seashore; and even when a site was granted it was merely a marsh which had to be drained before building operations could commence.

 

Rev. Thomas Davidson, M.Α., 1843-1871

Mr Davidson was a native of Strathnairn. In 1835 he was translated from Tarbert, Lochfyne, to Kilmallie. After the Disruption the only accommodation he could obtain for a time was “a hut 12 feet square and 6 feet high, and so open that it was necessary, by means of blankets and bedcovers, to stop out the wind and rain”. Mrs Davidson died on 24th May 1847, and her husband maintained that she was another victim of “the cruel oppression of the site-refusing proprietors of Scotland.” For a long time he preached to his people in a large canvas tent, capable of containing nearly eight hundred people. He was the first Moderator of the Abertarff Free Church Presbytery. Though not an outstanding preacher, he was held in veneration for his personal piety. During the first Union controversy he was in favour of uniting with the U.P. Church, while his Session was strongly opposed to it. He passed away in 1871.

 

Rev. Murdo Mackenzie, 1873-1887

Mr MacKenzie, who was minister of Kilcalmonell, accepted a call to Kilmallie in 1873.
“The palmy days of the Free Church in Kilmallie” were during his ministry. Catechising was a great institution in the parish. Principal MacLeod in his Evangelical Traditions of Lochaber tells of one instance when Mr MacKenzie questioned Allan Cameron of Callop. “What, Allan, is man’s chief end?” “To be great, Mr MacKenzie, to be great.” There were giants in those days, but they were men of one book. Mr MacKenzie accepted a call to the Free North Church, Inverness, in 1887.

 

Rev. Donald Macfarlane, 1888-1893

Mr MacFarlane had been settled at Moy, from which place he came in 1888. He became interested in the Declaratory Act of 1892, and on the 17th January 1893 he seconded a resolution which was moved by Rev. William MacKinnon at the Presbytery meeting in which they declared that, notwithstanding the passing of the Declaratory Act, they and those who adhered to them, would not be prejudiced in taking all steps necessary to vindicate the principles of the Church, and the sacred and civil rights of the Church. He removed to Raasay in March 1893, and shortly afterwards he seceded, and with others formed the Free Presbyterian Church.

 

Rev. Alexander Maccoll, 1895-1900

During the vacancy the congregation approached Rev. James MacDonald, Dornoch, and Rev. George MacLeod, Knock, but both declined. Mr MacColl, who was a probationer, accepted a call from Kilmallie in December 1894, and he was inducted on 29th January 1895. In January of the following year the Presbytery visited the congregation, and they reported that there were three diets of worship; also three Sabbath schools. By 1899 there were only two elders in the congregation, and assessors had to be appointed. Mr MacColl did not approve of union with the U.P. Church on the basis proposed, but, like Rev. Alexander MacKay, Glenurquhart, whom he supported in the Presbytery, he entered it in 1900.

 

Rev. Hector Kennedy, 1910-1912

After the Union of 1900 the Presbytery was left without one minister, and Kilmallie with neighbouring congregations was included in the Presbytery of Lorn. In 1910 a call was addressed by the consolidated charge of Kilmallie and Fort William to Rev. Hector Kennedy, Strontian, and he accepted it. He laboured in this sphere for two years when he was translated to Raasay. On the 24th May 1918 the General Assembly decided to join the Lochaber congregations to the Inverness Presbytery. Five years afterwards Fort William petitioned the Presbytery to take steps towards disjoining it from Kilmallie. The General Assembly of 1929 joined Kilmallie and Arisaig on the condition that Arisaig would have a whole-time agent.

 

Rev. Murdo Smith Maclean, 1898-1900

For many years Arisaig was supplied by the Highland Committee, and not until 1879 were steps taken in order to get a church built. In 1889 elders were elected, and during the following year Arisaig was declared a sanctioned charge. Small Isles was disjoined from the Presbytery of Skye in 1896 and united with Arisaig. Two years after this event Rev. Murdo Smith MacLean accepted a call, and steps were soon taken to build a manse. Mr MacLean entered the Union of 1900, and Arisaig with Small Isles was allocated to the Free Church.

 

Rev. Jonathan Campbell, 1932-

In 1931 the General Assembly resuscitated the Presbytery of Abertarff, and its first meeting was held at Fort Augustus on 9th June of that year. Rev. Jonathan Campbell, Coll, having accepted a call from Kilmallie and Arisaig, the induction took place on 11th February 1932. In this way he was the first minister to be settled by the resuscitated Presbytery even as Mr Davidson was the first moderator of Presbytery.

Extensive renovations have been done on church and manse, and both are now fitted with electric light. The congregation has noble traditions, and these traditions should be a stimulus to those who stand so faithfully in support of the Gospel. Mr Alexander MacLean has been for a long period serving as a lay-agent in Arisaig.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Kilmallie and Arisaig.]

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Kilmuir, Skye

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, February, 1929, pp.38-39
 

The locations of some Free Church congregations are well known to the reader – at least they are readily accessible and confidently invite and receive visitors. But so remote a parish as Kilmuir, in the Isle of Skye, may make alluring, yet truthful, assertion of natural beauty royalist romance and religious history, and yet fail to find many able to draw nearer than the present printed page. So much the better should be the page!

Were the minister of Kilmuir to pine for the distractions of town life he might eat out his heart from loneliness on the Nor-West shore of the Misty Island; were he a slavish admirer of nature in storm and calm he might to the unseeing of other things, feast his eye, with wide-flung glances over the Minch to the hills of Park (Lewis), of Harris and the Chain of the Outer Hebrides as far south as Ben Eval in North Uist. But the minister has more to do and does it. Through rain and storm he does pastoral duty among fifty- two families in the Kilmuir end of his area or he journeys six miles off, passing on the way the graveyard of Flora Macdonald, to Kilmaluaig – the most northerly township in the island. Seven miles farther on lies Staffin, with its district church and manse under the care of Mr Cameron, lay agent, whose ill-health has now, for a long time, lessened the relief he, when well, had given the Kilmuir minister.

The church in Kilmuir is set on a hill, a plain, commodious building, capable of seating six hundred, though it is only at Communion seasons that the gatherings approach that number. The church in Kilmaluaig, built on the shore by local labour (and almost entirely at local cost) was opened by Rev. William MacKinnon of Gairloch. He in youth had been a teacher in Kilmaluaig Ladies School; not a few of his old scholars again sat at his feet that day in the little church. Almost all in this district are of the Free Church, and the one hundred and fifty seats are often filled. The church in Staffin can accommodate five hundred.

The writer has travelled the district, but a later, and more frequent, traveller round the 25-mile circuit of the parish thus describes his going: “Northward of church and manse lies Kilmaluaig, along a road which plunges down from the Kilmuir plateau to sea-level. passing a craggy nook, Slochd na Cubaid (Pulpit Hollow), where services were held after the Disruption. Rev. Donald Stewart, mentioned in Principal Macleod’s interesting booklet, Traditions of Lochaber, preached here frequently during revival times. Shortly after the road touches sea-level the ruined Castle of Duntulm, once the seat of the Lords of the Isles, looms ahead on its rocky promontory. Two miles farther on is the little Kilmaluaig Church. Then the road runs along the eastern seaboard, through the south, threading among green knolls and under wild crags which tower far above it, till Staffin is reached. Facing homewards the road leads up close under that remarkable collection of pinnacles and rocks known as the Quairang. By amazing gradients and curves Bealach (the Pass) is reached, 853 feet above sea-level. From this point, looking back, a magnificent view is to be had of the mainland: Gairloch, 20 miles distant, lies opposite on the farther edge of the map of sea and land spreading eastward. Twelve miles of moorland driving then completes the journey back to the Manse.”

The parish is a place of ancient ecclesiastical interest. Below the Manse is a great hollow still called “the Loch,” formerly known as Loch Chaluim Chille (Columba’s Loch). Before being drained a century ago there stood in the midst an island on which had been a monastery of the early Celtic church, an outpost from the great mission centre at Applecross.

At the Disruption Maighstir Ruadhraidh (Rev. Roderick MacLeod of Snizort) was the only minister in Skye who came out, but the overwhelming majority of the Kilmuir congregation followed his example. Certain places are still pointed out as spots where he had preached in those trying days when the burden of the whole Island rested on his shoulders. The first Free Church minister in Kilmuir was Rev. Christopher Munro, translated thither in 1864 from Tobermory. His ministry, though lasting only seven years, is gratefully spoken of by many with whom his memory remains green. When he removed to Strathy, Rev. J.S. MacPhail was minister until, in 1887, he was translated to Benbecula. His successor, Rev. D. A. Macdonald, spent forty years with the congregation. His catechist in Staffin, Norman Munro, a man of purity and much independence, led a section of the congregation into the Free Presbyterian Church. In 1900 Mr Macdonald entered the United Free Church, but took with him only the smaller portion of his flock. From 1900 till 1929 when the present minister, the Rev. Kenneth A. Macrae – then of Lochgilphead – was inducted, the charge was served by lay missionaries, one in Kimuir and the other in Staffin.

A charge with two churches needs careful organisation and unremitting attention. On Sabbaths there are at Kilmuir two services and a Sabbath School, and there is also a week-night prayer meeting. There are similar services, Sabbath and week day, in Staffin, together with two Sabbath Schools. In Kilmaluaig there is a Sabbath evening service, a Sabbath School, and a week night prayer meeting. Kilmuir Communion in August and Staffin Communion in June, are notable seasons. In addition to the Question Meeting at these times fellowship meetings – a revival of what was discontined thirty years ago – are held in Staffin in March and in Kilmuir during November. At these meetings as on other occasions, the minister does not lack assistance from his office-bearers. Nevertheless the shepherd’s duty falls mainly on him. The scattered townships, the wild hilly country, windswept and stormy, roads narrow and rough by day and in darkness dangerous to walker and motorist, all conspire to put a strain on body, mind, and nerve which no man could long endure were it not for the love of Christ which constraineth and yet upholdeth.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Kilmuir]

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Lairg

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, 1936, pp.173-175
 

Some south congregations have recently been mentioned in these columns. Without suggestion of comparison as to place or achievement, it is permissible to draw attention, on this occasion, to one occupying a prominent position in the North.

The village of Lairg, though not the seat of local government in Sutherlandshire, is the central point for transport, by road or by rail, throughout the county. The Church in that village, which is the centre of the parish of the same name, was, before the Disruption, a notable one. It was unique, also, in that it had two ministers, Rev. Duncan McGillivray and his son Alexander – the younger man having been inducted as Assistant and Successor to his father. The ministers were in the evangelical succession: in 1843 they were found in the Free Church. With them went all the elders, the communicants, who numbered only 29, and all the adherents; a total of 788. On the decisive day the congregation assembled in the Parish Church for the last time, and from thence went in procession – ministers and elders leading – to the place where open air Communion services used to be held. It is called Clais-na-buaile (the grove of the folds), because of the sheepfolds which at times had existed there. This spot, so suitably named, enfolded the Free congregation (under cover of a large tent) until a new building was erected.

Strong opposition to the Free Church was displayed by county magnates and officials: convenient sites were not to be had. With difficulty a site was at length found on the Achannie estate and the new church was, in 1846, opened by Dr Macdonald of Ferintosh.

The venerable minister, Mr Duncan McGillivray, was not permitted to remain in the parish. He found a home with another son, Mr Angus (previously minister at Strathy), then minister at Dairsie, Fife. The old man afterwards removed to the home of his son, Mr Alexander, when the latter had been translated from Lairg to Mains and Strathmartin, near Dundee. Mr Duncan M’Gillivray had been great at catechising: in the delirium of his last illness (1849) he was heard again exercising his beloved people in Lairg.

The departure of Mr Alexander, in 1845, was not from lack of attachment to the flock in Lairg, but owing to his deficiency in Gaelic, which he had imperfectly acquired after his youth. Before entering the Ministry he had qualified as a physician: his gifts in that connection, and his warm-hearted and lovable disposition, endeared him to his successive flocks. The last of these was in Roseburn Church, Edinburgh.

Rev. John Macpherson (a native of Laggan, Invernessshire) was ordained to Lairg Free Church while the congregation was still in the tent at Clais-na-buaile. In Church Courts, he was a strong upholder of the principles of the Free Church. against changing sentiments. He consistently supported the Constitutionalists during the first Union controversy, on account of the voluntaryism, and the declining views upon the atonement which then characterised the U. P. Church. Mr Macpherson died in 1885, and was succeeded by Rev. John Noble.

The former minister, though a good pastor and a sound preacher, was accounted not to have a good delivery. Unqualified praise under each of these heads is part of Mr Noble’s memorial. His reputation as a rousing preacher, as a man of affairs and of unwearied industry, and also as an author, remains fresh in the memory of all but the youngest, and here needs not to be set out in detail. Mr Noble’s labours in upbuilding the Free Church after the dislocation of 1900 were blessed, by the Master, with much success; but they wore out his strong frame. His ministry, latterly conspicuous for unwavering confidence in the justness of the cause of the Minority, even to the point of financial self-denial, came to an abrupt close in 1908.

The ministers after Mr Noble have been, successively, Rev. D. M. Begbie (1913-18), who left the Free Church for the Church of Scotland; Rev. Andrew Sutherland (1920-21), now minister of Duke Street, Glasgow and Rev. J. Mackay MacLennan, M.A. (1923), happily still in Lairg. Each of these being still in the active Ministry, appreciation may be deferred till the, preferably far-off, time when they shall rest from their labours. After all, this is essentially a sketch of the congregation which, throughout the period here reviewed, has well responded to faithful leadership. It is steadfast, prosperous, and loyal. The people have always been good attenders on the Word, careful in conduct, and reverent in public worship. Ministers visiting at Communion sessions have expressed delight with the spiritual atmosphere, though there are few, especially among the young men and maidens, who make the desirable public profession. The Church building, dating from 1846, is one of the neatest in the North. It occupies a pleasing position, has been kept in good repair, and is comfortable by reason of central heating and electric light.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Lairg]

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Milton, Glasgow

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, May, 1927, pp.107-108
 

Reference was made in last month’s Record to the Moderator’s visit to Budapest, as a place of interest to Free Church people, because there Dr John Duncan had established the first Scottish Mission to the Jews. Mention of John Duncan (afterwards known as “Rabbie [Rabbi] Duncan,” Professor of Hebrew in the New College, Edinburgh) recalls his earliest labour as a minister in Scotland.

Milton, Glasgow, was founded by, and for, John Duncan. As a probationer, serious-minded to the point (so some thought) of eccentricity, he did not readily get a call; but the illness of the Minister of Duke Street Gaelic Church, Glasgow, led to his engagement as supply. Discerning people in that congregation (which then did worship in Duke Street, on a site now covered by a L. & N.E. Railway Goods Depot), seized on Duncan, and he was called to be colleague and successor. But Duke Street was a Gaelic charge and the Presbytery would not sustain the call. Duncan offered to learn Gaelic; again the Presbytery refused. These were the days of Dr Chalmers’s church extension campaign in Glasgow, so John Duncan’s friends arranged to migrate with him to one of these charges.

On 30th May 1836 the General Assembly approved of the constitution of Milton Parish – a small square of half a dozen streets bounded south by Cowcaddens, west by Ann Street, north by Dobbie’s Loan, and east by Port Dundas Road. On the west side of Milton Street, in the centre of this square, was erected the church to seat 500 – a square building still in use as a Parish Church. The square then contained 2297 souls; to-day it contains more, the majority being Roman Catholics.

John Duncan first sat as Moderator of Session on 10th February 1838, when eleven new elders were elected, three of them being schoolmasters. Other school teachers joined soon after; the old church and the present church are each within a stone’s throw of Dundas Vale Normal School, which had just been built.

Mr Duncan ceased to be minister, and went to Budapest in 1840. On 1st February 1842 his successor, Hugh Mackay, was ordained. He did have Gaelic and so it was that in May 1844 (a year after the Disruption) he was transferred to Kilmun, a Gaelic charge. Hugh MacDougall was the next minister, from 8th June 1845 till 24th December 1884. John Geddes was minister from April 1885 till 31st October 1000; Mr Lyle Orr from April 1906 till 1915. Mr Duncan MacDonald is the present minister.

The personality of the ministers showed great diversity, but with an underlying uniformity which consists with the history, and made the character, of the congregation.

Milton has never been a Gaelic Church, but it sprang out of Duke Street congregation, and a close bond with that congregation has ever since continued.

In Duncan’s time the foundations were well and truly laid. The parish was very small: it was combed by a vigilant, seriously-minded session as is made plain from the Session Records. There were in it several Sabbath Schools conducted in dwelling-houses, and a central school in the church. In June 1838 there was founded a “young men’s society to assist in promoting the religious and temporal interests of the Parish of Milton.” This society conducted Sabbath schools and kitchen meetings throughout the parish. Mr Duncan was President; the Committee included at least two now recognisable as teachers in the Normal School, one being Robt. Hislop, brother of Stephen Hislop (a student), who was a member of and worker in the society. Stephen became a Free Church Missionary at Nagpur, and so endeared himself as to be the means of saving the Central Provinces from the worst horrors of the Indian Mutiny. The secretary of the society was William C. Burns, afterwards famous as missionary in China of the English Presbyterian Church. Since his day Milton (Free) congregation has been a supporter of that mission.

During the vacancy after Mr Mackay left, the social tone of the congregation changed: Glasgow then was extending very rapidly west-end ways. When the Presbytery met to ordain Mr Macdougall, the congregation did not assemble, because the Presbytery had come during the day when the people – artizans – were at work. After minuting a complaint of discourtesy, the Presbytery adjourned to an evening hour on a later date.

Mr MacDougall, though not possessed of the scholastic gifts of his predecessors, nor any outstanding qualities, was a kindly, and withal dignified, pastor of Cameronian upbringing and sympathies. His fidelity in that regard engendered the like among his people. His successor, Mr Geddes, had special attainments and spiritual qualities and discernments, all of Rabbi Duncan’s very type. Mr Lyle Orr (who had been a schoolmaster) was didactic, giving always much attention to the training of children, especially in temperance and in Protestant truth. Mr Macdonald – a favourite with young and old – is also unwearied in teaching on these last-mentioned topics.

A few incidents mark the history of the congregation. After the Disruption, and while a Free Church Normal School was being built, classes for that school were conducted in Milton Church. After the “Stewarton Case,” which allowed the Established Church to retain all quoad sacra buildings, the congregations in these buildings had to remove. Milton congregation went out so completely that no one could be found to relieve them of the keys! They worshipped in the new Normal School until, in 1852, their present church (in Rose Street, a few yards outside Milton Parish) was opened.

Mr Geddes had fallen seriously ill, and had been unfit for duty for almost two years before the crisis of 31st Oct. 1900. Unable then to decide for himself, his relatives marked him down (though assuredly he would not have done so) as of the United Free Church. One deacon and his family left for the U.F. Church. Otherwise the congregation remained unmoved. During the time of Mr Geddes’s illness, and until Mr Orr was inducted in 1906, the services were conducted mainly by Mr Arch. Macneilage, who also took charge of (as he still conducts) the Bible Class. Mr Orr’s translation to Saltcoats took place in War time. Mr Macdonald’s call was carried through while he was in France as an Army Chaplain. He was inducted in the summer of 1917 when on a week-end leave; he was freed from army service only in March 1919. Until then the services were mainly conducted by members of the Session.

During the past twenty-five years Milton has very seldom drawn upon the central funds for the cost of supply.

After the War, a Boys’ Brigade Company, to interest certain lads, was formed in Milton. These lads are now officers, themselves conducting the Sabbath Morning Bible Class, which is one of the grand essentials of the Boys’ Brigade.

On Saturday, 2nd April of this year, a Sale of Work, organised by the Ladies’ Work Party, realised ₤120 net. The ladies set aside £100 for repairs to the Church heating and ₤20 to sundry Home and Foreign Mission Schemes.

In Milton, Glasgow, the seed sown by John Duncan still bears fruit.

 

Milton, Glasgow
A Century of Witness

By the Moderator of last General Assembly [George N. M. Collins]
From The Monthly Record, April, 1950, p.76
 

The characters in the little story with which I begin must be anonymous. They were discussing the Moderatorship of the General Assembly.

“But,” said one, “if a man is Moderator only for the duration of the Assembly, why do we speak of the Moderator’s ‘year of office’?”

“Because,” was the ready reply, we need someone to open the proceedings of next Assembly, and anyway the Church needs a hack to do all sorts of odd jobs during the year.”

I quote this conversation because it will serve to explain why I should be writing this article rather than someone else who has a far better right to do so.

The Church, which reached its century on 10th February last, has had an interesting history. Its name comes from the fact that the first Milton Church was situated in Milton Street, Cowcaddens, where it stood as a memorial of that fine burst of church extension zeal to which Chalmers’ epoch-making ministry in Glasgow contributed so much, But the original Milton Church had a troubled infancy; for that was the period of the Ten Years’ Conflict which culminated in the Disruption of 1843. The new building was deserted, both minister and congregation casting in their lot with the Free Church of Scotland.

Almost immediately steps were taken to erect a new church building in the neighbourhood, and thus the present church came into existence and was opened for worship on 10th February 1850.

So far as their ministry was concerned, Milton congregation certainly made an auspicious beginning, for their first minister was Rev. John Duncan, M.A, later to be known as the beloved “Rabbi” Duncan, of the Chair of Hebrew and Old Testament in the New College, Edinburgh. Mr Duncan was the first of a notable succession of ministers in the Milton whose preaching was solid but not showy, and who gathered around them a company of hearers who, for discernment, would be hard to match in any congregation in the land. One of the “Rabbi’s” early disciples there was the saintly William Chalmers Burns, whose parish, as evangelist and missionary, was bounded only by the ends of the earth.

But although Mr Duncan sided with the Free Church at the Disruption, he was not minister of Milton Church at the time, for, two years prior to that memorable event, he had been appointed by the General Assembly to begin mission work among the Jews in Budapest. He was succeeded in the Milton by the Rev. Hugh Mackay, who after a very short ministry there was called to Kilmun where he laboured for the rest of his ministry.

In 1845 the Rev. Hugh Macdougall became minister of the now homeless congregation, and the expedition with which the erection of a new church was carried out thereafter was largely due to the fact that the minister’s wife was able and willing to advance the money which made this possible, subject to repayment as the congregation might find convenient. Mr Macdougall continued his ministry in the Milton until his death in 1884, by which time it had become, in every sensе, в prosperous charge.

In 1885, a new ministry began with the translation to the Milton Church of Rev. John Geddes, formerly minister of Kirkmichael Free Church. Mr Geddes worthily upheld the high traditions of the Milton pulpit, and for fourteen years continued to labour among a people who held him in the very highest esteem. He was not spared to take part in the ecclesiastical events of 1900, but he had made no secret of his Constitutionalist sympathies, and when the hour of testing came, his sorrowing flock chose to hazard everything in their congregational existence rather than compromise on matters that were vital to the faith of the Gospel.

A trying vacancy of over six years followed Mr Geddes’ death, but the congregation were fortunate in having in their eldership such men as Mr Archibald MacNeilage and Mr Walter Rounsfell Brown – men who made not only their own congregation, but also all the congregations of the Free Church their debtors by their activities during those years of strain. Both were leading Assembly personalities even in the undivided Free Church, and when the Church was rent in 1900, Mr MacNeilage become Editor of The Monthly Record, and Mr Rounsfell Brown served as General Treasurer. Mr MacNeilage’s Bible Class in Milton Church was a notable feature of its activities over many years, and one of the most illustrious and best-beloved members of it, the late Professor D. M. Blair of Glasgow University, used to testify gratefully to the spiritual help that he had derived from Mr MacNeilage. Professor Blair was himself a member of Milton Kirk Session at the time of his death in 1944. Incidentally, the “Old Miltonian,” Mr Ewen Cameron, who wrote the delightfully chatty brochure which was produced at the time of the centenary celebrations, mentions that Mr Rounsfell Brown is believed to be the last survivor of those who received their early education in the old Free Church school which used to meet in what is now the Milton Church Hall.

The vacancy in the congregation was eventually filled when the Rev. Samuel Lyle Orr was inducted there in 1906. Mr Lyle Orr, a large-hearted Irishman, had a special flair for work among the young, and very soon the entire youth of the Free Church were benefiting from his charming articles which appeared month by month in The Instructor, under the title “Walks and Talks with the Bairns.” His memory is perpetuated in the Free Church by the “Lyle Orr” Prizes, which have come to be recognised as the blue riband of proficiency in the Welfare of Youth competitions. He was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1913. Mr Lyle Orr’s ministry in Glasgow ended in February 1915, when he was translated to Saltcoats Free Church, and thereafter the pastorate was vacant until the Rev. Duncan Macdonald, M.A, of Duthil Free Church, accepted a call to it and was inducted in December 1917.

Mr Macdonald was a man of rare charm. His preaching had an originality and freshness that put him in a class by himself, and it is safe to say that throughout the Free Church of Scotland there was not a better beloved minister than the genial, kindly and completely unspoiled minister of the Milton. I well remember a young son of the Manse speaking enthusiastically about him to me on an occasion, several years ago, when I was assisting the boy’s father at Communion services. We had Mr. Macdonald, Milton, at last Communion,” said the boy, adding, “I liked him; I hope my father will take him back soon again.”

“But why are you so fond of Mr Macdonald?” I asked him.

His eyes shone with pleasureable recollection, “Because,” he said, “his pockets were just stuffed with fireworks and balloons and things. Hé’s a grand man, yon.”

And for different and weightier reasons, the boy’s estimate of Mr Macdonald was precisely that of the wide circle of friends, of all churches, who were privileged to know him.

Mr Macdonald was Moderator of General Assembly in 1934. His death in 1941 came with all the poignancy of intimate personal bereavement to the many brethren whom he favoured with his generous friendship. His ministry to the young was happily extended and widened by the action of his wife – a daughter of Mr Archibald MacNeilage – who collected a series of illustrated articles tha he had contributed to The Instructor, and published them in book form under the title Pleasant Pictures.

The long vacancy which resulted from Mr Macdonald’s death imposed a fresh strain upon the loyalty of the Milton people, but they came through it with credit. The congregation had never provided an official residence for their ministers; and, in normal times, to be without a manse was no severe handicap. But in the changed conditions brought about by the war-time housing shortage, the lack of such a residence proved a tremendous obstacle to the resettlement of the pastorate, and it was not until September 1947 that the Rev. Colin Smith, M.A., was inducted to Milton Church in succession to Mr. Macdonald – a manse having been purchased in the previous year. City conditions soon proved too arduous for Mr Smith’s health, however, and to the deep regret of his Glasgow congregation, he found himself under the necessity of seeking another field of service. It was no small tribute to him that the congregation of Campbeltown Free Church, which he had left to go to Glasgow, called him back; and thus, after only a year of his ministry, the Milton Church was vacant again.

This time, however, the vacancy was not of long duration. In the winter of 1948, Mr D. M. Campbell, a final year student in the Free Church College, was sent to “supply” Milton for a Sabbath. Having heard him once, the congregation desired to hear him again. And having heard him again, they decided that they would take no further steps towards filling the vacancy until this young man should be eligible for a call. When the call was eventually presented, Mr Campbell was led to accept, and was inducted to the charge in September of last year.

It is no easy task that Mr Campbell has taken on, for the Milton – like all other churches situated in the centre of Glasgow – has suffered considerable depletion through the movement of the people to the remote new housing areas of the city. But the remanent congregation form as loyal a body of people as one could hope to find in any church, and may be depended upon to co-operate with their pastor in all that he does with a view to extending the influence of the Free Church and the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in the great city of the West.

The centenary services on the first Sabbath of February last were well attended, and to be back in the Milton pulpit recalled many pleasant memories of Communion services shared there with the Rev. Duncan Macdonald in former years. It was a real privilege to be the guest of the Rev. and Mrs D. M. Campbell, whose lavish kindness leaves me their debtor. May the blessing of the Most High attend them as they take up the great task with which they have been entrusted!

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Milton, Glasgow]

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North Uist

By Rev. Ewen MacRury
From The Monthly Record, 1930, pp.11-12
 

A noted lay preacher, who visited the parish of North Uist in the early years of the nineteenth century, was Finlay Munro, an evangelist whose labours were owned wherever he went. Large congregations gathered to hear him, and as in Antioch of old, “the grace of God was seen.” After his departure from Uist, his converts continued the work. Among these were Angus MacCuish, John Macdonald and John MacLean.

A new church was built in Trumisgarry in 1828, and it was declared a quoad sacra parish by Act of Assembly on the 25th May 1833. On the 27th March 1835 Rev. Norman MacLeod became minister of Trumisgarry, and he was destined to play a prominent part in the religious life of North Uist. He was a son of Kenneth MacLeod of Swordale, afterwards of Ebost, Skye. At the Disruption Mr MacLeod joined the Free Church, carrying with him 950 of his congregation. The treatment meted out to him was on a parallel with that experienced by others in those stirring times. He had a small farm, and upon it he had built a cottage costing £150. Notice was given him to quit, but there was no mention of compensation. His congregation applied to Lord MacDonald for a site, but the reply was: “Sir, I refuse a site for a Free Church for your people.” For fifteen years Mr MacLeod was without a manse, and during that time he had five flittings. On the west side of North Uist lies the district of Paible, and here a large number joined the Free Church. They determined to build a church on a barren strip of ground, but they were prevented from erecting it by the factor. Nine of them were ejected from their crofts, and thirteen were fined.

The General Assembly of 1849 sanctioned North Uist and Carinish as a ministerial charge. It is interesting to note that the Paible congregation was officially designated North Uist in the finding of the General Assembly, and this designation has been maintained to the present day.

In 1854 another change took place. Paible and Trumisgarry were joined together as the congregation of North Uist, with Rev. Norman MacLeod as minister. Carinish, with Lochmaddy and Benbecula, was formed into another charge.

Mr MacLeod passed away at Paible on 5th March 1881, at the age of eighty years. Two days previously he had been in the neighbouring island of Benbecula attending a fellowship meeting, and he had returned home in the face of a raging snowstorm.

His successor, Rev. William MacKinnon (1884-1891), belonged to a well-known family in the parish of Strath, Skye, where he was born in 1843. For a time he acted as assistant to Rev. Alexander Urquhart of Hope Street, Glasgow. From 1878 till 1884 he was minister of North Ballachulish. During the seven years he laboured in North Uist the congregation flourished to such an extent that additional accommodation had to be provided. The Kirk Session consisted of ten elders. The year before he accepted the call to Glenmoriston, the congregation consisted of 96 members and 588 adherents above eighteen years of age. Mr MacKinnon’s departure was a cause of great sorrow in North Uist. When he passed away in Gairloch on 13th February 1925 the Paible Kirk Session, in placing on record their deep sense of loss, stated that though none remained of those who were associated with him, “yet there are still in this Session and congregation those who testify to the spirituality, zeal, faithfulness and love with which he prosecuted his ministry at Paible.”

The third minister, John MacLeod (1892-1900), was a native of Harris, and before coming to North Uist had been in Canada. From the very beginning of his ministry he never tried to conceal his sympathy for union with the U.P. Church. The Free Presbyterian Secession rent the congregation in twain. Seven of the elders resigned, and in 1897 the congregation totalled only 66 members and 386 adherents. Two of the elders who had resigned – Archibald Mac Donald and Ewen MacLean – returned to the Free Church, and performed yeoman service after 1900, while another of them, during recent years, left the United Free Church and was inducted as an elder of the Free Church in Sollas.

In 1891 new mission buildings were formally opened at Lochmaddy by Dr Rainy and Rev. Alexander Lee. Rev. John Kennedy Cameron (now Professor Cameron) was one of those who originated the movement for the erection of these premises. Mr Cameron had gone there during the college vacation of 1887. The Free Church, however, were not allowed by the Churches’ Commission to retain possession of this building. The ministry of Mr MacLeod was characterised by ecclesiastical friction from beginning to end, but a tribute must be paid to the straightforward manner in which he acted during the Union controversy. On the eve of the Union the congregation consisted of 56 members and 353 adherents; 29 of those members, and more than half of the adherents, remained in the Free Church. The rest followed Mr MacLeod into the Union. Of the four elders Archibald MacAulay, Heisker, and Donald MacLean, Sollas, adhered to the Free Church, and though up in years they were able to conduct the services when other supply was not available. The Free Church congregation was subjected to a great deal of hardship; often they had to meet in the open air, and for the space of two years the weekly meetings were held in the house of Mr John MacRury, Balemore. The Churches’ Commission, however, allocated the whole property (other than the Mission Hall at Lochmaddy) to them. During the long vacancy (1900-1912), several lay preachers laboured in the congregation with much acceptance.

Rev. Robert MacLeod had served the Church in various parts of the Highlands as a lay preacher. In 1912 the North Uist people took steps in order that he might be ordained and settled in Paible. He considered it his duty to accept the call, and after his settlement he organised the congregation, with gratifying results. During his ministry the old Disruption Church was renovated. The majority of those who had taken a leading part in the earlier affairs of the congregation passed away, but their places were, in the providence of God filled.

In 1925 Mr MacLeod accepted a call to Leverburgh, where he now labours. His successor, Rev. Alexander Macleod (1925-1928),had been trained in the Free Church College, Edinburgh, after he had proved, for many years, his worth as an agent of the Free Church. His first charge was Glenelg, and from that sphere he was translated to Paible in 1925. At his settlement the Free Church Mission in the island of Grimsay was joined to the Paible congregation. The manse, which Rev. Norman MacLeod was instrumental in getting built, had fallen into a state of disrepair, but Mr MacLeod took immediate steps to get it renovated. After serving for over three years in Paible, Mr MacLeod accepted a call to Coigach.

The Congregation is again vacant. Here is a field for a person who wishes to perform extensive work for his Lord and Master among a devoted people. The accompanying photograph of the church and manse (as seen from the moor behind) does not indicate the sweet attractiveness which makes some charges appeal to sentiment or to ease. Here, however, is a spot where not seldom in the past the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon has been discerned, as it will be again.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see North Uist]

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Oban, Free High Church

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown}
From The Monthly Record, 1930, pp.215-216
 

From its eminence on the Hydro Hill, the Free Church, or as it is locally known, the “Free High” has kept stately sentinel over Oban town for well over eight decades. It was erected in 1846 from designs by Pugin, a famous architect of his day. The foundation stone was laid by Mr Forsyth, at that time proprietor of the estate of Dunach near Oban. The present Chief of the MacDougalls, Colonel MacDougall of Dunollie, is a grandson of this Mr Forsyth. As will be seen from the photograph the building is of early Gothic design, and it is of interest to state that its architecture was praised by the famous art critic, John Ruskin, who is reported to have said that the edifice was a model of what a church of its size should be. Both from appearance and position, it is conspicuous from land and sea, and is frequently visited by tourists. Twenty five years ago it underwent internal renovation, the old narrow pews being replaced by handsome pitch pine seats. Six years ago it was renovated externally, and at the same time electric light was installed.

In 1879 the congregation erected the beautiful suite of halls in Stevenson Street, quite near and convenient to the church. In 1922 these were renovated and electric light installed. Shortly after the erection of the halls the congregation made an improved approach to the church by erecting part of what is now known as Rockfield Road, on one side of which the hall is situated, and on the other, part of Oban High School. Later the Town Council took over this part of the road.

Oban Free Church may be called a number of churches. During a vacancy in the pastorate, between 1883 and 1885 part of the congregation hived off and formed what is now known as Argyll Square Church, and during another vacancy, between 1892 and 1895, the Free Presbyterian congregation was formed. Notwithstanding these losses the Free High congregation is vigorous and strong and is more than holding its own. Christian liberality being greater than at any previous period, it has raised and expended on repairs to church property, within the last ten years, a sum of upwards of £2000.

Three regular services are held in the church on Sabbaths – English at 11 a.m. and 6.30 p.m., and Gaelic at 2.30 p.m.. During the winter months a Bible Class is held after the evening service. In the hall there is a Sabbath morning Fellowship Meeting at 10 o’clock, a flourishing Sabbath School at 12.30, a Prayer Meeting on Wednesday evenings at 8 o’clock, and during the winter the Ladies’ Work Party meet on Fridays at 7, and the Psalmody Class at 8. The hall is also very suitable and convenient for several of the special services which are held at the Communion seasons in May and November. Oban being a great tourist centre, many visitors come to worship in the church, and indeed, there is scarcely a Sabbath in the year in which some strangers do not find their way there and they are always welcome.

The congregation has enjoyed the ministrations of pastors who have won the respect and esteem of the town and country in no ordinary degree. The first minister at the Disruption was the Rev. Archibald Bannatyne, the father of the late Professor Bannatyne to whom the Free Church owes so much. He was minister for the first ten years. He was succeeded in 1855 by the Rev. Patrick Cameron, who was minister for nineteen years till his lamented death in 1874. The resulting vacancy was filled in the following year by the induction of the Rev. John Mackay, who ministered for eight years till translated to Cromarty in 1883.

Rev. Finlay Graham was next minister from 1885 till 1892, when he was translated to Kinlochewe. The Rev. Ewan Macleod was inducted in 1895, and ministered till 1906 when he was translated to Domoch. He was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel McCune, from 1908 till 1916, in which year he died, leaving a sorrowing congregation to mourn his loss. After a vacancy of three years the Rev. A. M. Ross, the seventh in this goodly succession, was inducted in 1920, and still happily ministers to an attached congregation.

Many famous preachers of earlier days have also declared the glad tidings within the church, among them being Dr Andrew Bonar, Dr Thain Davidson, Dr Oswald Dykes, and Dr W. P. MacKay, the author of Grace and Truth: and in recent days preachers from as far east as China, and west as America, such as Dr Darlington of the China Iniand Mission, and the Rev. Professer Heron, D.D., of Canada, as well as many prominent ministers and professors of the Free Church of today.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Oban High.]

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Partick, Glasgow

By W. R. B. [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, March, 1930, pp.62-63
 

The records of this congregation are not musty they are brief, pulsing with evidence of earnest living.

Partick Free Church did not “come out” at the Disruption: it was born of the Disruption effort.

Henry Anderson, a Glasgow student of Divinity was, in April 1843, given his prescribed tasks by the Presbytery of Glasgow. A Committee of the Presbytery – the great men of the day – approved his discourses and recommended him, But before the day for licence arrived there occurred Dr Welsh‘s Protest in St Andrew’s Church, Edinburgh, the walk to Tanfield, and the Free Church Assembly, Henry Anderson was there, a silent but enthused witness. In September 1843 he found two Presbyteries of Glasgow: he waited on one where were to be seen the foresaid great men; in due course he was licensed. In September 1844 he was ordained the first minister of Partick – then a suburb of Glasgow, but ecclesiastically only a part of Govan Parish. By and by Partick grew in numbers and importance; it became a burgh of no mean sort, later attaining to the dignity of absorption into Greater Glasgow. The building, erected for the congregation which gathered round the very young minister, stands in Anderson Street – a name doubtless given in his honour. Well worthy was he of such civic honour. For over fifty years Henry Anderson lived the full life of a citizen adorning all he touched with saintly efficiency.

Although in 1900 Mr Anderson – then over eighty – was laid aside from the active ministry, and though his younger colleague and successor took his congregation into the United Free Church, the influence of the older man was still such a force in Partick that the restoration of a Free Church congregation was called for and speedily accomplished. Mr Anderson’s relation to the Free Church is to be gathered from these facts:

(1) At the public presentation of his portrait on his jubilee, in September 1894, he was presented also with an address from the Presbytery, signed by Principal Douglas and by the Moderator and Clerk, and by two – only two – others, who had been deputed for that duty by the Presbytery, viz., Rev. J.D. McCulloch of Hope Street, and Rev. John Geddes of Milton;

(2) Among the active participants and speakers at the meeting were Rev.D.M.McAlister of Buccleuch-Greyfriars, Edinburgh, and Mr Wm. Lightbody, for a time member of Partick, and for many years afterwards member of Nairn Kirk Session.

(3) Mr Anderson, on that occasion, said: “My guiding principle during all these years has been, “Preach the Word. But what Word? That Word of Infallible Truth, from Genesis to Revelation, which I was ordained to expound. It is the same to me this day. That Scripture is the Word of God, and the Word of God is that Scripture. I do not cut and carve upon the Bible as some apostles of the so-called Higher Criticism do.”

In December 1904 close on three hundred persons signified, by subscription to a request to the Presbytery of Glasgow, their desire for a Free Church congregation in Partick, whereupon, at a meeting presided over by Rev. J. Kennedy Cameron, the congregation was reorganised. But fostering care was needed for the development of a loosely formed meeting into a coherent and active Church unit. This kindly care was ungrudgingly given by Principal McCulloch, whose memory is well appreciated among office-bearers and people.

For a short time the congregation had possession of the buildings in Anderson Street, but the Churches Commission finally allocated these to the United Free Church. The Free Church congregation for upwards of five years worshipped in a hired hall until, on 4th September 1910, their present attractive and convenient building (which includes a suite of classrooms), in Crow Road, was opened. The first sermon was preached by Principal McCulloch; Dr Stewart preached in the afternoon and evening of that day.

Partick congregation was liberally helped by supply from neighbouring congregations of the Church and by students. Among the latter was Alex. Ross, B.D., who so attracted the people that, immediately on licence, they gave him a call: on 18th September 1913 he was inducted. He was the second minister, Mr Heron from Ulster having previously spent a short time with the congregation.

Mr Ross was in 1922 translated to Burghead.

The present minister, Rev. P. W. Miller, B.D. from Campbeltown, was inducted on 19th June, 1923.

The history of Partick congregation since 1900 has been worthy of every phase of its earlier days. The ministers have been supported by zealous Sabbath School teachers and earnest office-bearers. Attendance at public worship has all along been good. The Bible Class work of Mr Ross and Mr Miller is reflected in the ordinary Church attendance. Many a visiting preacher has commented on the large proportion of men, the prominence of young people, and the excellence of the Psalmody.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Partick Anderson.]

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Perth and Scone

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, June 1933, pp.156-157
 

This congregation was formed shortly after the Disruption by a committee of office-bearers from the other Free Church congregations in the city. A schoolroom in the Meal Vennel, adjoining the church, was procured for the place of meeting, and the Rev. Mr Johnman, probationer, acted as missionary. Mr Johnman, who did nor remain long at the work, was succeeded by the Rev. Walter Davidson, who became the first pastor of the congregation. At the outset of Mr Davidson’s labours the mission was very small, there being only five members at the first Communion under his charge. The committee, however, were so pleased with the results of his labours that in 1856 they bought the old property on the ground where the church now stands. The Church was opened by the late Dr Hetherington on 25th March and on 13th August that year Mr Davidson was ordained as first minister of the charge. By his earnest preaching and great kindness of manne, he soon gathered round him a good working-class congregation.

In the beginning of 1859 the wave of revival that swept over the country in that and succeeding years began to be felt in the congregation. At that time Mr. Davidson used to ask any anxious inquirers to call at his manse on the evenings of Monday and Tuesday, and a goodly number availed themselves of that opportunity.

During the years 1859 and 1860 a good deal of evangelistic work was carried on in the church in which Mr Davidson was assisted, among others, by the noted evangelist Duncan Matheson. By 1862 the congregation had so increased that the Deacons’ Court felt warranted in proceeding with the erection of a gallery in the church. From that date the congregation continued to increase, although not at a rapid pace, until April 1868, when Mr Davidson met with a sad accident which practically ended his ministry. For a whole year he was unable to preach, and was never again fully able for his work. He preached his last sermon on 1st June 1873, and died on 2nd December of that year.

He was succeeded by Mr John Buchan the father of Col. John Buchan, M.P., who was ordained on 20th July 1874. In October 1875 he was translated to Pathhead. Rev. J. Rainie was the next minister, being inducted on 23rd July 1826. During his long tenure of office the congregation was maintained in vigour and activity, while the traditions of sound and earnest evangelical preaching, so characteristic of the pulpit in Mr Davidson’s day, were continued

At the crisis of 1900 very few in Perth stood by the Free Church, but the congregation was reconstituted in 1904 subsequent to the House of Lords decision. For a period of about two years this little flock worshipped in various halls in the town, until the Knox Church was (following an inquiry held by Mr Pitman as Sub-Commissioner) allocated to the Free Church by Lord Elgin’s Commission.

The first minister was the Rev. F. Torrens, who was one of the number of Irish Presbyterian ministers who answered the “Macedonian Cry.” He laboured in Perth until 1912, when he was recalled to Ireland.

His successor was the Rev. Neil MacGill, a probationer, who went over to the Church of Scotland in 1917. It was during his ministry that the Presbytery decided that one minister should take charge of the Perth and Scone congregations, the services in Perth being in the morning and the evening and the service at Scone in the afternoon. By the decision of the House of Lords the whole of the property in Scone – church, hall, and manse – clearly belonged to the Scone Free Church, and for two years that congregation occupied the church. The Commission overturned the Lords’ judgment, allocating the church and manse to the U.F. congregation, leaving the Free Church with only the hall, the endowments being allocated to them later on. Until 1911 they worshipped in this hall, when it was converted into a comfortable church. The first minister, called in 1905, was the Rev. John C. Moore, who came from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. He remained in Scone for nine years, and left in 1914 to enter the Church of Scotland.

After Mr MacGill’s departure there ensued a vacancy of two years, which conjointly with the already existing vacancy in Scone was filled in 1920 by the induction of the Rev. John Calder from Clachan, Kintyre. His ministry extended to five years, that is, till in 1926 he was translated to Campbeltown. After another vacancy of two years the present minister, the Rev. John Macleod, was ordained and inducted in September 1927.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Perth – Knox’s; see also Scone.]

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Portree

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, August 1936, pp.197-198
 

At the Disruption the parish minister of Portree, the Rev. Coll. MacDonald, did not come out, but his congregation, almost to a man, adhered to the Free Church. The Rev. Roderick MacLeod of Snizort formed the seceding people into a congregation. According to the evidence given by Mr MacLeod before the “Select Committee on Sites for Churches,” about eleven hundred souls adhered to the Free Church in the district of Portree. On Sabbath evenings, after he had officiated to his own people in Snizort, he came to Portree and “met the people for worship in a thatched house that had been used for a Gaelic School.” With the assistance of Catechists, Mr MacLeod ministered for six years to the Free Church people of Portree. On the 5th June 1849, the General Assembly sanctioned Portree as a charge, and immediately steps were taken to secure a minister.

 

Rev. Duncan Stewart McEachran

On 21st December, 1849 the Rev. McEachran, who had been labouring as probationer in the district for some time, was ordained as the first Free Church minister of Portree.

At the special request of the Presbytery, Rev. Mackintosh MacKay, LL.D., who had been Schoolmaster of Portree ?? 25), came north to preach and preside at Mr McEachran’s Ordination. His text was Philippians 1:6. Mr McEachran was a native of Campbeltown where he was born in 1826. He studied at the University of Glasgow and the Divinity College, Edinburgh. As a student in Edinburgh, he lodged with a fellow-student, who was afterwards the Rev. W. S. MacDougall of Raasay. In a journal kept by the latter we find reference to Mr McEachran. On 9th March MacDougall 184? writes: “I think it remarkable that to-day it is proposed that I should go to teach a school at Portree in Skye, where my friend, D. McEachran, is now labouring – a friend brought into Christ’s fold at the same time as myself, and while we lodged together.”

Mr McEachran had much uphill work in Portree. There was neither Church nor Manse, not even a Kirk Session. On 8th May 1850, the Presbytery authorised him to take the necessary steps for the election of elders. In due course Mr Alexander Finlayson, Farmer, Mugary, and Mr John Cameron, Merchant, Portree, were ordained to the eldership and the first Kirk Session of the Free Church in Portree constituted. Mr McEachran laboured with all his might for the spiritual welfare of his congregation, and was instant in season and out of season in preaching the Gospel and consolidating the cause of the Free Church throughout the bounds of the Presbytery.

His fame as a preacher was carried to the Black Isle by Cromarty fishermen who heard him in Portree. Although he had never been to Cromarty he accepted a Call there on 10th July 1851, and for seventeen years carried on a successful ministry there. He then crossed the globe, settling at Melbourne, and in 1885 he was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Victoria.

 

Rev. James Reid

After a vacancy of two years the Rev. James Reid, Probationer, was called to Portree. He was a native of Strathtay, where he was born in 1819. Although he was surrounded by Christian influences in his youth, he himself delighted to refer to the Perthshire Revival of 1839-40, under the Rev. William Burns, afterwards of China, as the time when he was led to choose the good part.”

Encouraged to study for the ministry by the saintly Rev. Andrew Bonar, he went to Edinburgh University. He took his divinity course at the New College. After receiving license, he accepted a Call to Portree, and was ordained and inducted there on 6th July 1854.

Soon after Mr Reid’s settlement in Portree a Church was built in Somerled Square, through the generosity of a Skye lady, Miss Louisa MacDonald, daughter of Sir Archibald MacDonald, Baronet, Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer in England. A tablet set in the north wall of the Church commemorates this lady’s gift to the Free Church people of Portree. A Manse was built in 1857.

It is said that Mr Reid was faithful as a pastor and devoted in the discharge of his duties. He was held in high esteem by his people. In 1893 his health began to fail, and finding himself unable to discharge his duties, he applied for a colleague and successor. This being granted, he retired to Edinburgh, where he passed away on 12th February 1896. He is buried in Portree.

 

Rev. Norman Macleod, M.A.

Mr MacLeod was the third Free Church Minister of Portree. He was a native of the Island. His grandfather was Norman MacLeod, “Tormod Saighdear,” one of the best known of the “Men of Skye” of his day. Mr MacLeod studied at Edinburgh University and New College. Licensed by the Presbytery of Skye on 18th June 1879, he was ordained at Kilberry, Argyllshire, in 1880, and remained there for fourteen years. He was translated to Portree on 12th December 1894. During the last year of Mr Reid’s active ministry the Free Presbyterian Church was formed, and a large section of the Portree Congregation followed the Rev. Donald MacFarlane of Raasay, into that Church. The congregation to which Mr MacLeod ministered was thus only a fragment of that over which his predecessor presided. He devoted himself assiduously to the work of the ministry and proved himself a faithful minister of the Word.

At the Union of 1900 Mr MacLeod entered the United Free Church, and his congregation, with a few dissentient voices, followed him. For about ten years he laboured in Portree after the Union, but not, we are told, with the vigour and zest of pre-Union days. He died on 21st August 1912, aged fifty-eight years, and was buried in the New Cemetery outside Portree. An In Memoriam booklet by the late Rev. D. A. Macdonald, D.D. of Kilmuir (published in 1913), gives a brief sketch of Mr MacLeod’s life and labours.

 

Rev. Donald Mackinnon, F.S.A.Scot.

For eighteen years, from 1900 to 1918, there was no Free Church cause in Portree. In the latter year those in the village and parish of Portree who sympathised with the Free Church formed themselves into a congregation, although they had no place in which to worship. Services were started on the first Sabbath of December 1918, when the Rev. (now Professor) Donald MacLean, D.D., who was at that time Highland Secretary, preached in the Court House, which was to be the home of the congregation for the next few months. The late Rev. John Macdonald of Sleat conducted the services on the second Sabbath of December. The late Rev. Alexander MacRae, who had been received into the Free Church at the Commission of Assembly in November, also helped the struggling congregation, whose membership, to some extent, had been drawn from his own former congregation in Portree. Not a few still survive to whom the services of these early days of the Free Church in the Court House are a precious memory.

In May 1919, the General Assembly sanctioned Portree as a Charge, and later on in that year the congregation purchased for £400 the old United Presbyterian Church. This Church, built in 1860, had housed the never-too-large or influential U.P. congregation for fifty-two years. It had been given up as a place of worship in 1912, when the congregation decided to unite with, and worship in, the former Free Church in Somerled Square. In September 1919, the Church was re-opened as the Free Church of Portree by the late Rev. William MacKinnon of Gairloch, and the Rev. Donald MacLean, D.D., of Edinburgh.

On the 6th June 1923, the Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Probationer, Applecross, was ordained and inducted as the first minister of the new congregation. Towards the end of that year the former United Free Church Manse came into the market, and was acquired for approximately ₤824 by the late Donald Clow, Esq., of Kiltaraglen, who with his sister, Mrs Fletcher (the widow of the Rev. John Fletcher of Bracadale), was a liberal supporter of the congregation. He bequeathed a sum of £300 to the congregation. Another bequest was that of Mr James Mackintosh, Portree, the interest of which is used to augment the Congregational Sustentation Fund. A few years ago the Church and Manse were renovated. The former, which originally contained 250 sittings, can now, as the result of structural alterations, hold about 400 worshippers. Electric light was also installed. The latter, which had been the residence of successive Sheriff-Substitutes of the Skye district between 1912 and 1924, has been transformed by liberal expenditure into one of the most commodious and comfortable Manses in the Church. Through the remarkable liberality of the congregation the debt on the Church and Manse, which was originally in the region of £1,500 is now less than £200.

Such is a mere outline of the story of the Free Church in Portree. In detail it would fill a volume. Ministers, office-bearers, members, have come and gone. The burden has been borne on many shoulders from the Disruption down to the present day. The record is on high, and it is and ever shall be to “the praise of the glory of His grace.”

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Portree.]

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Raasay

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, 1936, pp.173-175
 

Raasay is a hilly island, fourteen miles long and four miles broad, off the east coast of Skye. The flat topped conical hill, known as Dun Caan, rises to the height of 1456 feet. Of old Raasay was united to Snizort, but in 1726 the union came to an end, and Raasay and Portree were erected into a separate parish. The minister of Portree preached there every 3rd Sabbath and, with the assistance of royal bounty missionaries, attended to the spiritual needs of the Islanders.

At the Disruption the whole population of the island joined the Free Church. The proprietor, George Rainy (uncle of the late Principal Rainy ), handed the Church, which had been built in 1836, over to the people, and through his liberality Raasay became a sanctioned charge in 1850. Probationers and catechists conducted services until a minister was settled.
 

Rev. William Stewart MacDougall

Mr MacDougall, who became the first minister of Raasay, was born in Strangford, in Ireland, in 1814. He was educated at the Grammar School at Campbeltown. He began the study of medicine at Glasgow University, but having experienced a saving change he resolved to devote his life to the Christian ministry. Mr MacDougall studied divinity at the New College, Edinburgh, and was licensed to preach the gospel at Portree on 12th June, 1850. Receiving a unanimous call from Raasay, his ordination took place on 26th November 1850. Of his ordination Mr MacDougall wrote in his journal thus: “So soon as the hands of the Presbytery were laid on my head I felt an unusual influence upon me. I could not contain; the tears streamed down my face. I felt that the Lord Jesus was present in a way I cannot describe. It was quite similar to what I felt on the night and the hour when, I trust, the peace of God, through the blood of Jesus Christ, first entered my soul. … Blessed be the name of God, my Saviour, I have seen a little of the glory of His grace this day.”

From the first Mr MacDougall was extremely popular as a minister. He found Rasaay a field that had long been neglected. The people were grossly ignorant and ungodly; family worship was almost unknown in the island, and very few of the islanders were able to read the Scriptures. Mr MacDougall’s preaching came as a breath of spring over the souls of the people. Soon he had the satisfaction of seeing a marked change in the religious condition of the island. In 1854 a large number of his congregation emigrated to Australia. Mr MacDougall became discouraged and felt as if he could not continue his labours there any longer.

In 1855 he received a call from Appin and Ardchattan, in the Presbytery of Lorn, which he saw it his duty to accept. He was inducted there on 21st November. After a fruitful ministry of 11 years in Appin he accepted a call to the congregation of Fodderty and Contin, where he continued to the close of his ministry, which took place at Portobello on 31st March 1892. Early in his ministry Mr MacDougall married Miss Mary MacPhail, sister of the Rev. John S. MacPhail of Sleat and Kilmuir, who in 1897 published a volume of his brother-in-law’s sermons, entitled, Memorials of the Rev. W. S. MacDougall of Fodderty and Contin, with a Sketch of his Life. Above many Mr MacDougall “walked with God”.
 

Rev. James Kippen

The second minister of Raasay was Mr James Kippen. He was a native of Aberfeldy, where he was born in 1823. He studied at the University of Edinburgh and the New College. He received a hearty call to Raasay, and was ordained and inducted there on 2nd April 1857.

At Raasay Mr Kippen laboured for 10 years. He continued the good work begun by Mr MacDougall, constantly visiting the people, and holding diets of catechising regularly during the winter. Mr Kippen’s wife, and Miss Boog of Edinburgh, worked diligently among the girls and young women of the congregation, organizing meetings for sewing and other useful purposes.

In 1866 Mr Kippen was called to Arrochar. The Rev. Colin MacKenzie of Arrochar tells us in his unpublished autobiographical narrative how it came about that Mr Kippen was called to be his successor. “On my inquiring for a suitable successor,” Mr MacKenzie writes, “I came to understand that Mr Kippen, then at Raasay, might be induced to accept a call, being desirous to come further south on account of his wife’s health. Hearing that he was to pay a visit to old friends of his at Arrochar, I wrote to him that in case he should come he would greatly oblige me by giving a day of his services to my people, giving not the least hint to him nor yet to the congregation why I had made such a request. Mr Kippen complied, and preached both English and Gaelic with much acceptance.” In due course a call was presented to Mr Kippen. “Aware of the high estimation,” continues Mr MacKenzie, in which Mr Kippen was held by his own people, as well as by every member of the Presbytery of Skye, we were at the expense of sending a deputation of the Presbytery of Dumbarton and an elder of the congregation to plead our cause in the Presbytery of Skye, who were to a man opposed to Mr Kippen’s removal; and not until he had expressed his own resolution to accept the call to Arrochar did the Presbytery give their consent. He asked the favour of being allowed to remain at Raasay for six months after his acceptance of the call. Owing to the reason he gave I was induced to acceed.” Mr Kippen was inducted at Arrochar on 15th May 1867, and remained there until his death in 1881.
 

Rev. Angus Galbraith

Rev. Angus Galbraith was Raasay’s third minister. He was from Kintyre, where he was born in 1837. As a young man he prepared himself for the teaching profession, and after teaching for some time decided to go into the ministry. He studied at the University of Glasgow, and the Free Church College there, where he was Duncan Thomson Bursar and Clark Scholar, the distinction awarded to the first student of the year.

He was licensed by the Presbytery of Skye on 16th July 1867, and shortly afterwards received a unanimous call to Raasay, where he was ordained on 31st October. Mr Galbraith laboured in Raasay for twenty-three years, exercising great influence over the whole of Skye, and the North-West Highlands and Islands. He received many calls to new spheres of labour, including Glasgow and Inverness, but he preferred to remain with his beloved flock in Raasay. He was one of the most popular of the northern ministers. He was highly evangelical, and had a marked power of impressing his hearers by the forcible simplicity and arresting earnestness of his discourses. His memory is still green in Raasay and the Isles.

In 1890 Mr Galbraith was induced to accept a call to Ferintosh as successor to the Rev. Malcolm Macgregor. He remained there for three years. On the death of the Rev. Alexander MacColl he was called to Lochalsh in 1893, where he laboured unceasingly and successfully until laid aside by sickness. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of his Church in 1903. He passed to his eternal rest on 25th April 1909. His son Dr J. J. Galbraith, issued a volume of his sermons with a biographical sketch in 1914.
 

Rev. Donald MacFarlane

Of Skye extraction, Mr MacFarlane was born in North Uist in 1835. He studied at the University of Glasgow and the Free Church College in that city. Licensed by the Presbytery of Skye on 24th June 1874, he was ordained at Strathconon in 1876, where he remained for three years. Mr MacFarlane was translated to Moy in 1879, and to Kilmallie in 1888, as successor to the Rev. Murdo Mackenzie. On 27th April 1893 he was settled in Raasay.

A Declaratory Act had been passed by the General Assembly of the Free Church in May 1892. On the Monday of his first Communion at Raasay he gave a lecture explanatory of the Act, and at the end he asked all those who adhered to him to stand. Most of the people present stood. A few days after this meeting the Free Presbyterian Church came into existence. The once united and harmonious congregation of Raasay was rent. Mr MacFarlane refused to meet the Presbytery of Skye and so had to leave the Church and manse. He was actually Free Church minister of Raasay from 27th April to 22nd August 1893.

He remained, however, as minister of the Free Presbyterian Church in Raasay until 1903, when he was translated to Dingwall, where he died on 4th November 1926, at the patriarchal age of ninety-two years.
 

Rev. John MacDonald

After a vacancy of two years the Free Church congregation at Raasay called the Rev. John MacDonald, minister of Acharacle in Ardnamurchan. Mr McDonald was born at Applecross, and after completing his education in his native parish, he studied at the University and Free Church College in Glasgow. He was ordained at Acharacle in 1891, and was translated to Raasay on 4th April 1895, where he remained until May 1908, when he became minister of Rosskeen in Easter Ross. During his ministry at Raasay the Union of the majority of the Free Church with the United Presbyterian Church took place. The Raasay congregation adhered to the Free Church. Mr MacDonald’s labours during the post-Union years were most exacting while ministering to scattered congregations in Skye and the Isles, where he successfully maintained the continuity of the Free Church. He is an ex-Moderator of the General Assembly.
 

Rev. Hector Kennedy

Mr Kennedy was a Skyeman, and was born at Sleat in 1847. He studied at the University of Glasgow, and took his divinity course at the Free Church College in Glasgow. His first charge was at Park, Lewis, where he was ordained in 1889. Shortly after the Union of 1900 he was translated to Strontian. He was then called to Kilmallie in Lochaber in 1908. After a ministry of four years here he was called to Raasay, where he was inducted on 3rd December 1912. For eighteen years he carried on a beneficient ministry in Raasay, where he was the friend of all, irrespective of denomination. He was a good man “greatly beloved” by all. He passed away on 15th October 1930, and was buried in Kilmore, in Sleat.
 

Rev. Archibald MacDonald

Mr Kennedy was succeeded by Mr Archibald MacDonald from Uig, Snizort, Skye. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Skye and Uist on 13th April 1932, and was ordained at Raasay on 14th June. He was translated to Sleat on 7th November 1934.
 

Catechists and Laymen

Although it is impossible to furnish an adequate list it would be a serious omission not to refer to the catechists and laymen who were much beloved, and exercised great influence in their day and generation in Raasay. In pre-Disruption times Alexander MacLeod of Ung na cille, immortalised by John Morrison, the Harris bard, worked in the island under the auspices of the Highland Missionary Society. In later times John Macleod from Assynt, whose wife was a niece of the famous Mr Lauchlan MacKenzie of Lochcarron, was Gaelic schoolmaster at Arnish. James Urquhart laboured in Rona. John Munro, nephew of “blind” Donald Munro, was also a catechist in Rona and the north end of Raasay. Alexander MacMillan from Lochaber laboured at Clachan until called to his eternal rest. In more recent times Alexander MacLennan, elder, was a tower of strength to the Raasay ministers. The Nicolson home at Mill Place was a centre of hospitality at Communion seasons, and the present representative of this well known family devotes his leisure hours with the utmost assiduity to the good of the congregation.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Raasay.]

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Shiskine Free Church

By Rev. Ewen MacRury, Shiskine
From The Monthly Record, November 1933, pp.277-278
 

The congregation of Shiskine was sanctioned as a ministerial charge the year after the Disruption of 1843. A church was built in 1847 and a manse in 1848. The first minister to be settled there was a native of the island in the person of Mr Peter Davidson.

 

Rev. Peter Davidson 1845-1852

Mr Davidson was born in Glenrosa, Brodick, in March 1788. He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Lanark in 1827, and ordained by the Presbytery of Caithness in 1830 as minister of the united mission-stations of Achrenny, Halsary, and Strath Halladale. In April 1837, he was translated to the quoad sacra parish of Stoer, Sutherlandshire, where he remained until the Disruption. In 1845 he returned to his native isle as minister of Shiskine, but in 1852 he was called to Brodick (Kilbride). He retired in 1873 and resided at Lamlash, where he died on 15th April 1875 in the eighty-seventh year of his age.

 

Rev. Archibald Nicol, 1852-1870

Mr Nicol was a native of the island like Mr Davidson, having been born at Benecarrigan in 1797. A revival movement took place in Arran during the years 1812-1813, with the result that the recurrence of the Sabbath was longed for, and people wended their way from all parts of the island to wait upon the preaching of the Word. It was at this time that the brothers Finlay and Archibald Cook, John MacAlister, Peter Davidson, and Archibald Nicol came under the power of the truth. Mr Nicol was minister of Coll when he was called to Shiskine. His influence in the locality was enormous, and after his death a monument was erected to his memory at the cross-roads in front of the manse, a reminder to succeeding generations of marvellous works in the past.

 

Rev. John Maclean, 1880-1885

In 1880, Mr John MacLean was translated from Back, Lewis. He was an able and studious preacher, but given to lengthy discourses which some enjoyed while others wearied. There was a large Gaelic congregation at that time, and in this language he excelled. He only remained for five years, for in 1885 he accepted a call from Tarbert, Harris.

 

Rev. John W. Macdougall, 1886-1900

Mr John W. MacDougall was a native of Glenurquhart, and after finishing his studies he was ordained to Shiskine in 1886. At first he was not in favour of the Union movement which terminated in 1900, but latterly he fell in with it through the influence of Dr Howie, Govan. The anti-Unionists worshipped for a time in the local schools at Birchburn and Achangallon. Dr Howie paid a special visit to Shiskine and interviewed the Free Church office-bearers in their own homes in order that they might support the cause of union, but his efforts proved fruitless. The Free Church had the statutory majority and easily regained possession of the property. One serious effect which this division had in the locality was the decline of the Gaelic language as a medium of preaching. Mr MacDougall accepted a call from the United Free Church congregation of Farr in 1911.

 

Rev. William Macleod, M.A.

For over sixteen years the Free Church congregation of Shiskine was vacant, and services were usually conducted by week-end supply. Rev. John MacLeod, O.B.E., Hope Street Free Church, Glasgow, was the first Free Church student to preach in the congregation. Mr William MacLeod, M.A., a native of the Barvas district, Lewis, was ordained and inducted as pastor of the congregation in 1917, and although the congregation had been vacant for such a long period, he found that there was a staff of office-bearers who believed in getting things done. He had, however, to leave for France as chaplain, and was absent till the end of hostilities. He laboured in Shiskine until November 1923, when he accepted a call from Greenock Free Church.

 

Rev. Malcolm M. Macdonald, Μ.Α.

After finishing his studies at the Free Church College in 1927, Mr Malcolm M. MacDonald, M.A., was ordained and inducted to Shiskine. During the following winter he studied at the Free University, Amsterdam. In April 1931 he accepted a call to Sydney, Australia. The vacancy was again filled by the translation of Rev. Ewen MacRury, M.A., from Glenurquhart to Shiskine in August 1935.

There are only two congregations now in the district since the United Free Church congregation united with the Church of Scotland under one settled minister. The differences which the Union of 1900 created have already receded into the background, while the memory of Mr Davidson and Mr Nicol continue to be cherished by all who were brought up in the old traditions.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Shiskine.]

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Sleat, Skye

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, August 1934, pp.199-201
 

In the beginning of last century there were ministers and churches and gross darkness in Skye. It is true that the ministers were men of culture, but they belonged to the “moderate,” rather than to the “evangelical,” order of preachers. They were characterised by worldliness, indifference and loose-living, and according to the Rev. Roderick MacLeod of Snizort “the stable theology of their preaching was nothing better than scraps of Blair’s sermons or of some other equally meagre stuff.” “I have often thought,” he wrote in his Auto-biographical Narrative – and we can be certain that it was in no self-righteous spirit the words were used that I scarcely ever heard the Gospel till I began to preach it myself.” The people were in dense spiritual darkness.

Under the powerful and evangelical preaching of John Farquharson, an itinerant preacher of the Haldanes who came to Skye in 1805, a new era dawned on the Island, and a great spiritual work began. The Rev. Donald Martin, parish minister of Kilmuir, and Blind Donald Munro, Portree, early converts of Farquharson, carried on the good work begun by Farquharson.

In 1808 the Rev. Donald Martin was translated to Inverness, but in 1811 the Rev. John Shaw was settled in Duirinish, and he introduced the great evangelical ministers of the Eastern Highlands to Skye. In 1818 the Rev. Roderick Macleod, the gay young missionary of Lyndale, came under the power of the Truth. A great revival of religion spread over the northern and western parts of the Island. The parish of Sleat, however, did not come to any great extent under the influence of this wave of evangelicalism, and when the Disruption took place the majority of the people in the parish remained “in.””

 

Rev. John Swanson

The” evicted” minister of the parish of Small Isles, the Rev. John Swanson, made his home in Isleornsay in Sleat in June 1843. In his yacht Betsy, exposed to all the perils of the Atlantic Ocean, he ministered to his people in the Small Isles who had followed him in a body to the Free Church. When, however, on account of stormy weather, he was unable to get to his maritime parish, he looked after the interests of the people adhering to the Free Church cause in the wide parish of Sleat. On the 21st day of June 1843 the Rev. Roderick Macleod of Snizort, the Rev. John Swanson of Small Isles, the Rev. Norman Macleod of Trumisgarry, North Uist, and the Rev. John Robertson Glass of Bracadale met at Portree, and “were constituted as the Free Presbytery of Skye.” After the Presbytery adjourned the Kirk Session of Sleat and the Small Isles met. There were present: Mr Swanson, Moderator, with Messrs Colin Elder, Knock; Kenneth Campbell, catechist, Small Isles; and Donald Matheson, Small Isles, ruling elders.

Early in 1845 Mr Swanson was called to Sleat, and at the same time to Nigg where he had been a parish schoolmaster. The Presbytery of Skye were very unwilling to lose Mr Swanson’s services, and accordingly discharged him “from the performance of his pastoral duties” in Small Isles, and directed him “to carry on his ministerial duties in the parish of Sleat till the call from the adherents of the Free Church therein should be disposed of.” The matter was carried to the General Assembly which met that year at Inverness. It was decided by the Assembly that he should remain minister of the Small Isles. In 1847 the sailor-minister severed his connection with Small Isles, and accepted a call to Nigg where he remained until he died in 1874.

 

Rev. John S. MacPhail

Failure to obtain Mr Swanson as their minister disheartened the people of Sleat who became disorganised. For the next five years ministers and students gave periods of service to the congregation. The Rev. Alexander Macdonald of Glen Urquhart, the Rev. Duncan Campbell of Kiltearn, the Rev. George Corbett of Glenelg, the Rev. John Ross of Contin and Fodderty, and others supplied ordinances and visited the people, thus keeping them from lapsing altogether. In November 1849 Mr Alexander McColl, probationer, Lochcarron (afterwards the well-known Mr McColl of Duirinish and Lochalsh), was called to Sleat, but as the call was not unanimous he declined it. In October 1852 a petition, signed by 210 persons above the age of fourteen, was sent from to the Presbytery “praying that immediate steps may be taken to have the Rev. Patrick Cameron settled as pastor over them.” Again they were unsuccessful.

In 1853, however, the Rev. John S. Macphail, a native of Ullapool, Lochbroom, was settled over them. He was an able preacher and a devoted pastor. As a business man he had few, if any, equals among his brethren in the Highlands and Islands. Early in his ministry he erected a church and manse at Knock, on the property of Mr Colin Elder, which remain to this day, a monument to his industry and taste. The congregation flourished in every respect under his care, and a large number of families from the Establishment came over to the Free Church. For many years Mr Macphail exercised an influential ministry in Sleat. When, however, it became known that he was a supporter of union with the United Presbyterian Church, the pious people in the congregation wavered in their attachment to him. Realising that his influence for good in Sleat was on the wane he accepted in 1874 a call to Kilmuir, rendered vacant by the translation of the Rev. Christopher Munro to Strathy, Sutherlandshire. After a short ministry in Kilmuir, Mr Macphail was translated to the newly-formed congregation on Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides where he remained until 1901. He spent the closing years of his life in Nairn.

 

Rev. Finlay Graham

Rev. Finlay Graham followed Mr Macphail in Sleat. He was a native of Kilmuir-Easter in Ross-shire. As a student he spent his summer vacations at Kinlochewe, at the head of Loch Maree, where he built a beautiful little church. He was ordained in Sleat on 17th December 1874. Mr Graham possessed a winsome personality, was a good preacher, and endeared himself to the Lord’s people, not only in Sleat but throughout the Island where he had been favourably known during his student days. He laboured in Sleat very successfully for eleven years. During his ministry the congregation received a number of families from the Established Church.

In 1885 he was translated to Oban to succeed the Rev. John Mackay who had gone to Cromarty. After a ministry of seven years in Oban Mr Graham was translated to Kinlochewe where he spent the last years of his life. He passed away in 1899, greatly loved and deeply mourned. He was buried in Sleat beside his first wife, Annabell, daughter of the Rev. Duncan Matheson of the Free Church, Gairloch.

 

Rev. William Fraser

After a vacancy of about a year Mr William Fraser, probationer, a native of Ferintosh, was settled in Sleat. His ordination and induction took place on the 21st April 1886. On the following Sabbath he was introduced to the congregation by the venerable minister of Contin and Fodderty, the Rev. William S. Macdougall, who had been many years before minister of Raasay. Mr Fraser himself preached in the evening from Acts 20:29. He at once won the hearts of the people. He came to the Island as a complete stranger, but as he became known to the Lord’s people they recognised in him a messenger from God, and “heard him gladly.” Skye became singularly dear to him, and to the end the people of Sleat – his love – had a most tender place in his heart.

During the first part of Mr Fraser’s ministry the peace of the Church in Skye – the Free Church was the Church of the people in Sleat – was broken by the controversy over the Declaratory Act, which resulted in the formation of the Free Presbyterian Church. Although Mr Fraser was in sympathy with the leaders of the movement he was unwilling to incur the great responsibility of breaking up the Church, if it could at all be avoided, and of creating bitterness of feeling between the Lord’s people in the Highlands. So he remained in the Free Church, and his congregation, with the exception of three communicants (two of whom returned before they passed away) stood by him.

Another testing time came in 1900. The Union involved the abandonment of distinctive Free Church principles, and the departure from adherence to, and defence of, the Confession of Faith. The Skye ministers, with the exception of Mr Fraser and Mr Macdonald of Raasay (now of Rosskeen), entered the Union, but the people of Skye, with few exceptions, were not prepared to follow them. In Sleat Mr Fraser was joined in the testimony which he maintained by his office-bearers (with two exceptions) and nearly all his members and adherents. The United Free Church attempted to break up his congregation, and with that end in view the Rev. John S. Macphail was sent to Sleat. Although he held meetings in all the districts, visited the homes of the people and attempted in other ways to prevail upon them to forsake their minister, the congregation remained loyal to the Church.

Mr Fraser was called to Plockton to succeed Mr Sinclair in 1902. The call was renewed in 1905 when he decided to leave Sleat. He was settled in Plockton on the 14th June 1905. After a short ministry in Plockton he was translated to Strathpeffer in January 1908 which was his last charge. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church in 1912. When he was in Broadford, Skye, in the summer of 1919, he passed away in the pulpit of the Free Church when conducting the service on the forenoon of the first Sabbath of July, to be forever with the Lord.

 

Rev. John Macdonald

In the following year, after Mr Fraser’s translation to Plockton, the Rev. John Macdonald of the Free Church, Tongue, Sutherlandshire, was called to Sleat and settled there on the 15th November 1906. He was a native of Gairloch, where he had been brought up under the savoury ministry of the Rev. John Baillie. At the beginning of his ministry in Sleat he renovated the church and the manse. For nearly twenty-two years he carried on, very often in weakness and pain, a ministry of great spiritual and beneficent worth. In everything affecting the best interests not only of the people in Sleat but of the whole Island, he took a special interest. For a time he was the only minister connected with the Free Church, in the wide Presbytery of Skye and Uist, but he lived to see a minister settled in every charge but one, and even that charge was on the eve of having a settlement when he passed away. Mr Macdonald’s memory is still green in Sleat and the Isles and throughout the whole Church. He finished his course in a nursing home in Glasgow on the 15th July 1928, in the fifty-third year of his age and the twenty-seventh year of his ministry. A few days thereafter his remains were laid to rest beside the church at Knock, where he so long and faithfully preached the Gospel of the Grace of God.

The Free Church congregation of Sleat has perhaps suffered more from the ravages of death and depopulation than any other congregation in Skye. But there have been accessions of recent years, and there are signs of revived interest in the Cause which are heartening.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Sleat.]

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Snizort, Skye

By Rev. Donald MacKinnon, Portree
From The Monthly Record, January 1938, pp.13-15
 

Snizort is one of the historic parishes of Skye, but to many its historic interest is mainly due to its being associated with the great name of the Rev. Roderick MacLeod, the most eminent minister Skye has produced. Although “Maighstir Ruairidh” has been dead for sixty-nine years his memory is still green in Skye and far beyond its shores.

 

Rev. Roderick MacLeod

Rev. Roderick MacLeod, M.A., was the Disruption minister of Snizort. But long before the Disruption he was known through the Church as a valiant defender of the Truth, a courageous reformer of morals, and a strict upholder of the discipline of the Church of Scotland. In 1824 as minister of Bracadale he came into conflict with the members of his Presbytery, who, with the exception of his father, Rev. Malcolm MacLeod of Snizort, had no sympathy with the righteous strictness of his views, and attempted to coerce him into compliance with their own laxer notions. Mr MacLeod, believing that he was standing on Scriptural ground, and that he was acting in accordance with the standards of his Church, refused to yield. His Presbytery suspended him and took steps to depose him from the ministry. His case dragged on, in one form or another from Presbytery to Assembly and from one Assembly to another for thirteen years. In fact, Mr Macleod’s ministry at Bracadale was a period of trial and suffering. The case, however, ended happily for the minister of Bracadale. The discipline, undergone by him, was severe but the result was most favourable to the cause of evangelical religion in Skye and throughout the Isles.

Amidst all his difficulties Mr Roderick Macleod had many tokens that the Lord was with him. His fortitude gave him a warm place in the affections of the people, not only in his parish but throughout the Island and beyond it. Great spiritual awakening and times of refreshing were experienced by those who waited on his ministry. Churchgoing and religion came to be much more highly esteemed, and the tone of society generally was elevated.

In February, 1838, Mr Macleod was admitted to the Parish of Snizort, rendered vacant by the translation of the Rev. Simon Maclauchlan to Cawdor. He was now minister of his native Parish, where he had been born in 1795, and born again in 1820. It was now the period of the “Ten Years’ Conflict” and Mr MacLeod threw himself into that movement with his heart and soul. His social standing – he was a nephew of the Laird of Raasay – and his great power as a preacher of the Gospel, put him into a position of commanding influence in the Island, and when the Disruption took place all classes of society (except perhaps in the Parish of Strath) followed him into the Free Church.

Of the nine ministers in Skye, Mr Roderick Macleod and Mr John Robertson Glass of Bracadale only came “out”. Mr Glass accepted a call to Musselburgh two months after the Disruption, and Mr. MacLeod, single-handed, attended to the spiritual needs of a population of over 20,000 souls. He set his face in faith and courage to the work, and dark as prospects appeared to him then, he had, within a few years, the great joy of seeing all the Island Charges filled with Free Church ministers and provided with Churches and Manses.

Through the generosity of his father-in-law, Donald MacDonald, Esq., of Skeabost, Mr Macleod obtained sites for Church buildings for his own Congregation at Skeabost, where Church and Manse were erected at a cost of £2,000. At Uig a Church, costing £800, was also built, architecturally and otherwise superior to the one (also built by Mr MacLeod) evacuated at the Disruption. Schools were also erected at Skeabost, Uig and Arnisort. It may be mentioned that the Manse was gifted by his father-in-law to Mr MacLeod for a home in perpetuity for his family, but Mr MacLeod, with his usual generosity, Christian honour, and zeal for the cause of God, presented it to the Free Church, committing his family in faith to His care, who is “the orphan’s stay”and whose is “the world, and and the fulness thereof.”

In appreciation of his character and talent, his apostolic labours and successful ministry, his Church bestowed upon Mr Macleod the highest honour in her possession the Moderatorship of the General Assembly. Never was the honour so deservedly given. Never were the duties of the Moderatorial chair more graciously and effectively discharged.

Mr MacLeod continued in robust health until he passed the three score years and ten. But at length his powerful constitution and iron frame began to yield. He preached, however, to the end. In fact it might be said that he died in harness. His last illness struck him in the pulpit. He had given out his text: “Glory to God in the highest” (Luke 2:14), but was unable to proceed. He was assisted into the Manse, and in a few days he passed into the presence of the King. His death took place on 20th March, 1868. His remains were laid to rest in the Bracadale Churchyard, where his wife, Anne Robertson MacDonald of Skeabost, had been buried in 1854. Of their thirteen children nine predeceased Mr MacLeod. Beautiful portraits of Mr MacLeod and his wife, the gift of their daughter-in-law, Mrs MacLeod, Raasay Lodge, Oban, now adorn the walls of the Senate Hall in the College in Edinburgh.

 

Rev. Joseph Lamont

The Rev. Joseph Lamont, Probationer, succeeded Mr MacLeod in Snizort. He was born in 1840 in Coigach, Ross-shire, where his father, Angus Lamont, a native of Iona, was School-master. Mr Lamont was ordained and inducted at Snizort on 11th February, 1869. During his ministry the Church at Arnisort (now in the possession of the Church of Scotland), the erection of which was begun by Mr MacLeod, was completed. The Church at Uig, one of the finest Churches in the Island, was renovated by Mr Lamont, who also rebuilt the Disruption Church at Skeabost. Mr Lamont did not belong to the Constitutionalist party in the Church, and in 1900 entered the United Free Church. The majority of his Congregation, however, refused to follow him, and remained loyal to the Free Church. In 1901 Mr Lamont was translated to the United Free Church Congregation of Rosehall, Sutherlandshire, where he remained until 1911. He died on 28th May, 1912.

 

Rev. Angus MacKay

Mr Angus MacKay, a native of the parish of Farr, Sutherlandshire, was the third minister of Snizort since the Disruption. He was ordained at Uig on 25th February, 1903, his sphere of labour being Snizort and Kilmuir. The Call to Mr MacKay was signed by 818 persons. During his time the Free Church obtained possession of the Church buildings at Skeabost as the result of the decision of the House of Lords in August, 1904. Soon thereafter Mr MacKay occupied the Manse at Skeabost. The Congregation did not have the Arnisort Church restored to it, and consequently was under the necessity of building a Church there. A commodious little Church was erected in 1909. Mr Mackay, after seven and a half years of faithful service in Snizort, during a trying period, was translated by the General Assembly of 1910 to Farr, Sutherlandshire, where he laboured with much acceptance “among his own people” until his retiral last year to Nairn.

 

Rev. Murdo Stewart

After a vacancy of about ten years the Rev. Murdo Stewart, Coigach, was ordained and inducted to the pastoral Charge of Snizort on 14th July, 1920. The Rev. Kenneth A. MacRae of Kilmuir, now of Stornoway, preached and presided on the occasion. The late Rev. Hector Kennedy of Raasay addressed the minister and the late Rev. John MacDonald of Sleat addressed the Congregation. Mr Stewart laboured assiduously in Snizort until 30th June, 1932.

The present minister, Rev. Malcolm MacLeod, was settled in Snizort on 17th October, 1934. He was translated from Bracadale, where he had been ordained on 23rd September, 1930. In the work of the Congregation he is ably assisted by his Missionary, Mr Angus MacAulay, Uig, a layman who has given many years of valuable service to the Highland Committee in Skye and elsewhere.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Snizort.]

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Stornoway

By W. R. B [Walter Rounsfell Brown]
From The Monthly Record, 1930, pp.250-251
 

“Great Stornoway of the Castle,” as the burgh is sometimes named by affectionate Lewismen, has other claims to renown than the Castle, once the abode of lords of the soil. Her natural suitability to the industries which have developed under the townsmen’s care is plain to the eye. Her spiritual wealth is the outcome of spiritual health nursed for long by good servants of the Great Physician.

Notwithstanding the attachment of Lewis-men to the Free Church, and to what the Free Church stood for, this attitude of fidelity was not, in 1843, conspicuous among the ministers of the Long Island. One minister only in Uist, one in Cross, one in Knock, and one in Lochs, had their names recorded in the Roll of the Canonmills Assembly. Yet the existence of well-organised Free Church gatherings from the very outset can be inferred from the published accounts, which show that from 13th May 1843 until 31st March 1844 £953, 18s. 4d. (a considerable sum for those days) was received in Edinburgh from seven congregations in the Presbytery of Lewis. The largest of these was in Stornoway, which sent ₤204 to the Building Fund, ₤66 to the Sustentation Fund, and ₤19 to Mission Funds. In 1844-45 Stornoway congregation raised £347.

So it continued, with inward vitality corresponding to such outward evidence until, after a vacancy of six years, Rev. Duncan Macgregor was ordained first minister of the Free congregation. He was in 1854 translated to Hope St., Glasgow, thence to Dundee and back again to Glasgow to the Augustine Church. He died in 1891. A saintly man, a fragrant preacher, and a cultured scholar, he wrought a good work in Lewis.

His successor, Rev. Peter MacLean (1855-68), came thither from Tobermory. Before that he had been missionary to the Highlanders in Cape Breton. Indeed he was sent by the Church from Tobermory on a second visit to Highlanders in Canada before his settlement in Tobermory. Himself fruit of the great revival in Uig, Lewis, he proved to be a lion-hearted man, undaunted for righteousness. He was for the third time sent to Cape Breton and Nova Scotia in 1866. Having had many seals to his ministry he fell on sleep, and lies buried in Sandwick Cemetery awaiting a glorious resurrection.

Rev. James Greenfield (1872-99), third minister of the congregation, came also from Canada. Essentially different from the others, though like them in evangelical fervour, his active temperament made for changes not a few. It was in his day that the “Martin Memorial Congregation” hived off to form an English-speaking cause. In 1893 there was a second exodus from the Gaelic congregation of those who formed themselves into a congregation of the Free Presbyterian Church. Rev. Peter Macdonald, who came from Edinburgh (St Columba) in 1895, to be colleague and successor, was a native of Stornoway. He ministered very assiduously and earnestly. He preached attractively and powerfully. He joined the United Free Church in 1900, and essayed, without success, to carry the congregation with him. No one present in the broken Assembly of October 1900 will forget the fervour with which Mr Macdonald broke into the debate in the character of the man who would solve (but did not) the divisions in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:13) by proclaiming “I am of Christ.” On returning to Stornoway Mr Macdonald found his congregation rent in twain, the larger portion having parted from him. The history of 1843 was repeated – the people went the way of consistent adherence to those principles which for long had animated them, only two ministers standing by them. The Monthly Record of March 1901 reports that the Stornoway Free Church Communion services, on 17th February,1901, involved the use of three places of worship over and above the Drill Hall which accommodated approaching one thousand. The congregation which Mr MacDonald took into the U.F. Church numbered about 100. In the small field thus available for him Mr MacDonald had not proper scope for his undoubted gifts; after an interval he was called to Glasgow, where he laboured till 1919.

The Free Church congregation carried on till 1906, having the good fortune to number within itself such elders as John Smith, Donald Smith, and Alexander Macarthur. The gifts of these men as preachers and organisers were freely used under the wise guidance of the late Rev. Hector Cameron (Back) and the assistance of Rev. J. MacDonald, Rosskeen), then of Raasay, and of Rev. Mr Kennedy (Raasay), then of Park, Lewis.

In 1906 the Rev. George Mackay, who along with Principal Macleod, D.D., and Dr Stewart had joined the Free Church in 1905 was inducted, and he laboured very diligently and gave of his best, till in 1910 he was translated to the important charge of Fearn in Easter Ross.

After a second vacancy which endured four years, Rev. Kenneth Cameron was called from Duirinish, Skye, and was inducted on 3rd August 1914 – the day before the bursting of the cloud of war which devastated the Lewis and changed social life there perhaps more than it did any other part of Scotland. The Stornoway congregation is the foremost in the Synod of Glenelg, and has no slight influence on Celtic life throughout Scotland and in the Empire beyond. Like the people, so is the pastor; Mr Cameron occupies a position of influence in the island, and in the educational concerns of Ross-shire, of excellence which is acknowledged by his brethren of the other denominations.

The large and handsome church building, indicated rather than shown in the accompanying photograph, is the second home of the congregation. The first building was destroyed by fire in 1850. The present one was then built: it was considerably enlarged in 1894.

[For an account of this congregation in Ewing’s Annals, see Stornoway.]

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