Euphemia "Effy" Irvine (28 August 1924 – February 2, 2018) was the first woman in Scotland to run a parish.

Life

Irvine was born in Clydebank on 28 August 1924. She was brought up in Jordanvale Parish Church in Glasgow and she left school when she was 14 and went to work in a plumbers office. Irvine came to the ministry late. She had already left education and married when someone commented on her ability to speak. She decided that she wanted to work in 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 ...

and if she was going to speak then she needed to increase her qualifications. She decided to change her life after 16 years at home in 1968. She took a course 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 ...

which enabled her to enrol on a course at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. left, The old Parish Church in Milton of Campsie in 2011 As part of her course she was required to approach a

minister and find someone who she could work with. She chose the

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er James Aitchison who also served as a minister for 34 years.''

Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...

'' 1995, p. 1378. He was then minister of Broomhill 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 ...

and after asking advice from his church he agreed. While she was on the course the Church of Scotland decided that it would in principle accept women ministers. The church found this easier in Scotland than it would have been in England. Church of Scotland ministers are not expected to have any spiritual seniority but are just senior in the organisation. She became the first woman minister in Scotland when she took on the parish of Campsie Trinity with Milton of Campsie on 1 June 1972. She had wanted to work in an urban area so she had turned down this position in the country four times before she accepted it. Irvine thought her parish had made a "leap of faith", but none of the congregation defected to other churches. Even though the first minister was appointed it was to be many years before the church had a woman moderator. Six years later the parishes reorganised and Irvine agreed to stay on at Milton of Campsie until she retired in 1988. During her retirement she published ‘A Journey of Faith’ which was her autobiography. She died in 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Euphemia 1924 births 2018 deaths Clergy from Glasgow 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 21st-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland