Harry Spens

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(c.1714–1787) was a Scottish minister 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 1780.

Life

Spens was born in Edinburgh as the fourth child between James Spens of

Alves, Moray Alves ( gd, An Àbhais or ') is a small agricultural village in Moray, Scotland. Geography The A96 runs east to west across Alves and connects the village to the nearest towns of Forres (to the west) and Elgin (to the east). The hamlets of Ga ...

and Anne Robertson. He completed his collegiate and graduate studies at

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Abredonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Universi ...

, graduating with an MA in 1730. In the same year, he began his training for the ministry, and was recorded at

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

in 1730 assisting with a baptism for a child from his native parish of Alves. Spens was licensed to preach by the presbytery of

Dalkeith Dalkeith ( ; gd, Dail Cheith, IPA: �t̪alˈçe is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540. The settlement of Dalkeith grew southwestwards from its 12th-cent ...

on October 3, 1738. He was ordained as a 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 ...

in November 1744 and became minister of Wemyss, his patron almost certainly being the

Earl of Wemyss Earl of Wemyss ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in ...

. He is recorded as having sown 9 “lippies” of

linseed Flax, also known as common flax or linseed, is a flowering plant, ''Linum usitatissimum'', in the family Linaceae. It is cultivated as a food and fiber crop in regions of the world with temperate climates. Textiles made from flax are known in ...

on the church glebe (the land allocated to his manse). In 1751, a pamphlet entitled ''An inquiry concerning a plan of a literary correspondence'' was anonymously published in Edinburgh. The document, composed as a series of questions about

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

's philosophy, theology, and life, called for interested scholars to join the authors in translating and commenting on the philosopher's works. The ''Inquiry'' has been attributed to Spens and John Chambers, minister of

Elie Elie and Earlsferry is a coastal town and former royal burgh in Fife, and parish, Scotland, situated within the East Neuk beside Chapel Ness on the north coast of the Firth of Forth, eight miles east of Leven. The burgh comprised the linked vi ...

. Spens produced the first English translation of Plato's ''Republic'' in 1763. Printed at

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 ...

by the

Foulis Press Robert Foulis (20 April 1707 in Glasgow – 2 June 1776 in Edinburgh) was a Scottish printer and publisher. Biography Robert Foulis was born the son of a maltman. He was apprenticed to a barber, but was encouraged to become a publisher by Fr ...

, the work was dedicated to

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British nobleman who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1762 to 1763 under George III. He was arguabl ...

, during his brief tenure as

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

under King

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 ...

. The translation was reprinted in 1906 as part of the

Everyman's Library Everyman's Library is a series of reprints of classic literature, primarily from the Western canon. It is currently published in hardback by Random House. It was originally an imprint of J. M. Dent (itself later a division of Weidenfeld & Ni ...

collection. Spens married Anne Duncan in 1765. The couple had a child named James in October 1771, who passed away within a month. In 1770, Spens became involved in a curious case in the Scottish courts. A local of Wemyss, Dr. David Dalrymple, had returned from the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

with a negro slave, “Black Tom”, around 1767/8. The slave came to Spens in the middle of the night to be baptized a Christian, which would legally exempt him from chattel slavery. Spens assented, and baptized Tom under the name “David Spens". David left his master and went to work on a Wemyss farm. Dalrymple brought the case to court in January 1770. Upon Dalrymple's death in the following month, the case was abandoned and David remained free. In 1778, he was minister of

East Wemyss East Wemyss () is a village situated on the south coast of Fife, Scotland. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 1,928. History East Wemyss was traditionally one of several coal mining communities along the south coa ...

and nearby

Buckhaven Buckhaven is a town on the east coast of Fife, Scotland, on the Firth of Forth between East Wemyss and Methil. Buckhaven is on the Fife Coastal Path, and near to Wemyss Caves and Largo Bay. History The name Buckhaven is probably from the ...

, both in

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 ...

. In October 1780, he was made Professor of Divinity at

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

. When Anne died in 1781, he was recorded as living at Lathallan in

. In 1783, Spens was a joint founder of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. He died in St Andrews in on 27 November 1787.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spens, Harry 1779 deaths 18th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Alumni of the University of St Andrews Academics of the University of St Andrews Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland