Alexander Webster (170725 January 1784) was a Scottish writer and minister of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

, who served as

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the ministers and elders of the Church of Scotland, minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week i ...

in 1753. After his service as Moderator he was addressed as Very Rev Dr Alexander Webster.

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

in 1707, the son of Rev James Webster, second charge of Tolbooth parish in

St Giles Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Naomh Giles), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended ...

and a covenanting minister, originally from

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

. Alexander was educated at the High School of Edinburgh then studied at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1582 ...

. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Haddington in March 1733. In September 1733 Alexander was ordained as minister of the Church of Scotland at

Culross Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuileann Ros'', 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland. According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395. Originally, Culross ...

Parish Church in western

. On 2 June 1737 he was translated to Tolbooth parish, one of the four parishes contained in

. He propounded a scheme in 1742 for providing pensions for the widows of ministers. The tables which he drew up from information obtained from all the presbyteries of Scotland were based on a system of actuarial calculation that supplied a precedent followed by insurance companies in modern times for reckoning averages of longevity. Webster published in 1748 his ''Calculations'', setting forth the principles on which his scheme for widows' pensions was based; he also wrote a defence of the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

movement in 1742, and ''Zeal for the Civil and Religious Interests of Mankind Commended'' (1754). In 1755 the government commissioned Webster to obtain data for the first

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

of Scotland, which he carried out in the same year. In 1753 he was elected

. In 1771 he was appointed a Dean of the

Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...

and Chaplain in Ordinary to

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

in Scotland. In 1775 he is listed as living on Castlehill, at the top of the

Royal Mile The Royal Mile () is a succession of streets forming the main thoroughfare of the Old Town of the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The term was first used descriptively in W. M. Gilbert's ''Edinburgh in the Nineteenth Century'' (1901), des ...

. Socially, despite his 'High Flying' Evangelical position in the Kirk, he was a convivial man, known as ''Bonum Magnum'' for his capacity for claret. His wife's nephew Boswell often mentions dining with the family. He died in Edinburgh on 25 January 1784 and is buried beside Mary in

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

, Edinburgh, in a now-unmarked grave.

Family

In June 1737 he was married to Mary Erskine (d.1766), daughter of Col. John Erskine of Alva. They had several children. *His two eldest sons, John (b. 1738) and

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

(b. 1740), served in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. John was a Captain in the 4th Regiment of Foot. James ('Jamie') was especially well regarded as Lieutenant-Colonel of the 33rd Foot,

Lord Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, (31 December 1738 – 5 October 1805), styled Viscount Brome between 1753 and 1762 and known as the Earl Cornwallis between 1762 and 1792, was a British Army general and official. In the United S ...

's own regiment, and acting Brigadier. When he died of wounds after the

battle of Guilford Courthouse The Battle of Guilford Court House was on March 15, 1781, during the American Revolutionary War, at a site that is now in Greensboro, the seat of Guilford County, North Carolina. A 2,100-man British force under the command of Lieutenant General ...

in 1781, Cornwallis wrote a touching letter of condolence to Alexander Webster. *The third son, George Webster (1744-1794) served as paymaster in the HEICS and died in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. *William Webster (1750-1767) died in his youth. *His eldest daughter Ann (1752-1786) married Captain Eyre Robert Mingay of the

66th Regiment of Foot The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 49th (Princess Charlotte of Wales's) (Hertfordshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Char ...

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/10796/page/3/data.pdf *Alexander Webster (1754-1782)

first mate A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...

on the

East Indiaman East Indiaman was a general name for any sailing ship operating under charter or licence to any of the East India trading companies of the major European trading powers of the 17th through the 19th centuries. The term is used to refer to vesse ...

"Dutton" - died at sea *Basil Webster (1757-1759) died in infancy Mary's sister Euphemia Erskine, was the mother of

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...

and Boswell visited the family on Castlehill with his friend Dr Johnson. A plaque on the building makes reference to Boswell but not to Webster. Webster wrote of his wife Mary: :When I see thee, I love thee, but hearing adore, :I wonder, and think you a woman no more; :Till, mad with admiring, I cannot contain, :And, kissing those lips, find you woman again.

References

Sources

* Robert Chambers, ''Traditions of Edinburgh'', 1824. {{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Alexander 1708 births 1784 deaths Writers from Edinburgh Burials at Greyfriars Kirkyard 18th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Scottish non-fiction writers

Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta *Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United State ...

People associated with Fife Scottish statisticians British actuaries Ministers of St Giles' Cathedral Clergy from Edinburgh