James Hutchison Cockburn DD ThD FSAScot (29 October 1882 – 20 June 1973) was a Scottish scholar and senior Church of Scotland clergyman. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1941/2, the highest position in the Church of Scotland.

Biography

Church career

Born in Paisley on 29 October 1882, he was the eldest child of George Hanna Cockburn (a schoolmaster) and Isabella Brodie Marshall.Bowser, "James Hutchison Cockburn", p. 100. After receiving his school education in Paisley, he studied at the University of Glasgow, graduating in Arts and Divinity. In 1908 he was ordained in Mearns parish; in 1914 he was translated to Battlefield parish, Glasgow. He married Amy Macloy, daughter of another minister, in 1912, who would in time bear him a son and daughter. During World War I he was a British

army chaplain A military chaplain ministers to military personnel and, in most cases, their families and civilians working for the military. In some cases they will also work with local civilians within a military area of operations. Although the term '' ch ...

, serving in France, Egypt and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

. After the war, he returned to Scotland, where on 8 May 1918, he became minister at

Dunblane Cathedral Dunblane Cathedral is the larger of the two Church of Scotland parish churches serving Dunblane, near the city of Stirling, in central Scotland. The lower half of the tower is pre- Romanesque from the 11th century, and was originally free-standi ...

. In the following years he served as the Convener of the Business Committee of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and was Convener of the Committees on Church and Nation and Inter-Church Relations, and was Clerk to the Committee from 1927 until 1929, promoting union between the Church of Scotland and the

United Free Church 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 ...

. During World War II, Cockburn 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 ...

(1941–1942), as well as briefly being Vice-Chairman of the

British Council of Churches Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) is an ecumenical organisation. The members include most of the major churches in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. CTBI is registered at Companies House with number 05661787. Its office is in Ce ...

. In 1944, he became a

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

to King George VI, and retained such a position after the accession of his daughter Elizabeth II in 1952. When he died in 1973, he was Senior Extra-Chaplain to the Queen. Cockburn departed Dunblane in 1945 for Geneva, taking the position of Director of the Department of Reconstruction and Inter-Church Aid of the World Council of Churches. From 1952 until 1954 he was a member of the Royal Commission on Scottish Affairs.

Academic life

From 1931 until 1934 Cockburn was a Lecturer on Pastoral Theology at St Mary's College, St Andrews. He was the William Belden Noble Lecturer at Harvard University in 1942, and served as Warrack Lecturer on Preaching in Edinburgh, 1944-1945. In 1951 he was Otts Lecturer at

Davidson College Davidson College is a private liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after Revolutionary War general William Lee Davidson, who was killed at the nearby Battle of Cowan� ...

, North Carolina. In 1930, he was one of the founders of the Society of Friends of Dunblane Cathedral, whose journal he edited between 1930 and 1965.Bowser, "James Hutchison Cockburn", p. 101. He created a museum for the church in the Dean's House, and used his connections to acquire material to fill it. Cockburn contributed many articles for this journal. Cockburn also published several books on religious history: * * * By his death on 20 June 1973, Cockburn had received honorary doctorates (Doctor of Divinity and Doctor of Theology) from the University of Glasgow, University of Prague, Yale University,

Occidental College Occidental College (informally Oxy) is a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1887 as a coeducational college by clergy and members of the Presbyterian Church, it became non-sectarian in 1910. It is one of the oldes ...

, Los Angeles, and

Wooster College The College of Wooster is a private liberal arts college in Wooster, Ohio. Founded in 1866 by the Presbyterian Church as the University of Wooster, it has been officially non-sectarian since 1969 when ownership ties with the Presbyterian Churc ...

, Ohio.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cockburn, James Hutchison 1882 births 1973 deaths Harvard University staff 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland People from Paisley, Renfrewshire 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish military chaplains World War I chaplains

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 ...