The Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...

Colin Forrester-Paton (5 April 1918 – 1 February 2004), born at

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, was a Church of Scotland missionary in Ghana and later Chaplain to H.M. The Queen in Scotland.

Education

He was born at The Gean, a huge mansion near

, the son of Alexander Forrester Paton (1881-1954) and his wife, Mary Emma Louise Shaw. The Patons were a very rich family and owner of Patons Cotton Thread Mills. The family house was designed by John Melvin & Son in 1912 as a wedding present for his father from his grandfather. Forrester-Paton was educated in

Moffat Moffat ( gd, Mofad) is a burgh and parish in Dumfriesshire, now part of the Dumfries and Galloway local authority area in Scotland. It lies on the River Annan, with a population of around 2,500. It was a centre of the wool trade and a spa town. ...

, at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Holt Holt or holte may refer to: Natural world *Holt (den), an otter den * Holt, an area of woodland Places Australia * Holt, Australian Capital Territory * Division of Holt, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives in Vic ...

, and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, where he gained a first class degree ( BA, Honours) in 1940. He then trained for the ministry at the United Free Church College,

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 ...

, and at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, graduating with a BD degree in 1943.

Career

Between 1943 and 1946 Forrester-Paton was secretary of the ''Student Christian Movement'' and became interested in missionary work. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

as a minister of the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

in 1944 and in 1946 was sent to

Akropong Akropong is a town in South Ghana and is the capital of the Akuapim North District, a district in the Eastern Region of South Ghana. This town is known for producing snails and palm oil.

in the

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

(later called

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

) by the

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

's ''Missionary Partner Scheme''. He taught at the Presbyterian Training College of the

and worked for the

Presbyterian Church Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

and the ''Christian Council of Ghana'', especially as a translator (having learnt the

Twi Twi () is a dialect of the Akan language spoken in southern and central Ghana by several million people, mainly of the Akan people, the largest of the seventeen major ethnic groups in Ghana. Twi has about 17-18 million speakers in total, includ ...

language and others). He was also stationed at Amedzofe and Sandema in Northern

. Forrester-Paton left Ghana in 1972 and in 1973 became a

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 ...

minister in

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

. In 1981 he was appointed Chaplain to HM the Queen and after his retirement from the active ministry was appointed an Extra Chaplain to HM the Queen in 1988.

Family

In 1943, Forrester-Paton married Jean Lorimer Crichton Miller (1917–1998), who was then working for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. She joined him in the

in 1947 and they had three children. Forrester-Paton's grandfather was a rich mill owner, but the family was more concerned with religion than with business and his great-aunt,

Catherine Forrester Paton Catherine Forrester Paton (1 June 1855 – 8 August 1914) was a British philanthropist, temperance campaigner and the founder of women's missionary training in Scotland. Life Paton was born in Alloa. Her parents were Alexander and Mary Forrester ...

, established a women's missionary training college in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. One of his uncles was the

Ernest Forrester Paton Ernest Forrester Paton (1891–1970), also known by the Thamil name Chinnannan, was a Scottish United Free Church medical missionary to Pune, part of then-Bombay Presidency. He was the co-founder of ''Christukula Ashram'', the first Protestan ...

(1891–1970), a Scottish missionary in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Papers of Forrester-Paton

* A substantial collection of Forrester-Paton's papers is held at the Centre for the Study of Christianity in the Non-Western World of the

University of Edinburgh 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 15 ...

. * The

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

holds his correspondence and reports home to the Church of Scotland from the

, later

, between 1954 and 1971 (Accession number 11977).

Sources

Colin Forrester-Paton at Mundus

References

{{Christianity in Ghana 1918 births Alumni of New College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of London People educated at Gresham's School Presbyterian missionaries in Ghana Scottish Presbyterian missionaries 2004 deaths People from Alloa British expatriates in Ghana