James MacGregor (moderator)
Very Rev James MacGregor DD FRSE (1832-1910) Scottish minister and philanthropist. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1891.[1] In 1886 he was made Chaplain in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, in 1901 Chaplain to King Edward VII, and in 1910 to King George V, serving three monarchs in all.
Life
He was born on 11 July 1832 at Brownhill Farm near Scone, Perthshire the son of James MacGregor, farmer, and his wife, Margaret MacDougall. He was educated at Scone Parish School then Perth Academy. He then studied Divinity at St Andrews University 1848 to 1855. He then served in a series of illustrious churches: Paisley High Church (1855-1862); Monimail Church in Fife (1862-1864), Tron Church in Glasgow (1864-1868); Tron Kirk in Edinburgh (1868-1873); and finally St Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh (1873-1910). During his ministry of St Cuthberts he oversaw the total reconstruction of the church from 1888 to 1894, under the design of Edinburgh architect Hippolyte Blanc.[2]
St Andrews University awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD) in 1870. In 1876 he was made the official Chaplain to the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1886 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Robert Flint, James Sanderson, Peter Guthrie Tait and Alexander Buchan. [3]
He travelled widely, with trips to China, Canada with the Marquis of Lome to inspect the progress of the Canadian Pacific Railway. In 1889 he represented Scotland in Australia’s jubilee celebration of the Presbyterian Church.
He died in St Cuthbert’s manse on 25 November 1910. He is buried in Grange Cemetery on the south side of the city.
Recognition
The town of MacGregor, Manitoba was named after him during his Canadian visit.[4]
He was painted by both Otto Leyde and George Reid RSA. John Bowie ARSA painted him as part of a group entitled “The Queen’s Chaplains”.
Family
He married twice. In 1864, to Helen Robertson, daughter of David Robertson, a Glasgow publisher. She died in 1875 leaving him two children. In 1892 to Helen Murray.
Publications
See[5]
- The Sabbath Question (1866)
- Memoirs of the late Rev Henry M. Douglas (1867)
- The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia (1881)
- Old Scottish Communion Plate (1892)
- Studies in the History of Christian Apologetics (1892)
References
- ↑ https://www.geni.com/projects/Moderators-of-the-General-Assembly-of-the-Church-of-Scotland/15939
- ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Very Rev James MacGregor
- ↑ BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
- ↑ https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/MacGregor,_James_(DNB12)
- ↑ http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Macgregor%2C%20James%2C%201832-1910