Patrick Scougal

Patrick Scougal (1607–1682) was a 17th century Scottish churchman. A native of Haddingtonshire (East Lothian), and cousin of the painter John Scougal,^[1] in 1624 he graduated from the University of Edinburgh as Master of Arts. In 1636, he became a minister of Dairsie parish, Fife, moving on to Leuchars in 1645 and then to Saltoun, near Edinburgh, in 1659. He refused an offer to become Professor of Divinity at Edinburgh University in 1662.

In this period, Scougal showed himself to be an extremely religious ideologue, preaching against papists and playing a leading role in the national witchhunt of the 1660s. However, his views on episcopacy became clear when in early 1664 he was offered and accepted the post of Bishop of Aberdeen. Perhaps because of his known and well-established religious fervour, hostility to Scougal's newly shown pro-episcopacy sentiments was comparatively muted. In the same year, Scougal became Chancellor of King's College, Aberdeen.

Scougal took an active role in the suppression of Quakerism and was part of a prosecution of James Gordon, the parson of Banchory-Devenick, who had written the Catholic-leaning theological tract called The Reformed Bishop (1679). Scougal was also charitable, and undertook many charitable deeds, including raising money for two Polish Protestant students. When he died (aged seventy-three) of asthma on 16 February 1682, he left much of his wealth to the hospital of Old Aberdeen, King's College Library and Aberdeen Cathedral.

Scougal married firstly, Margaret Wemyss, and by her had five children, including the famous minister Henry Scougal. His second wife was Anna, daughter of William Congalton of that Ilk, widow of Robert Lauder of Gunsgreen (near Eyemouth, Berwickshire)^[2]. Bishop Scougall was interred in Aberdeen Cathedral. His monument, a mural tomb on the south-west wall of the nave, is a notable, if slightly naïve example of 17th century Scottish neo-classical design, including a 'portrait' of Scougal (see above), and a rich array of symbolic ornament.

References

• Keith, Robert, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688, (London, 1924)
• Mullan, David George, "Scougal , Patrick (1607–1682)", in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 23 Feb 2007