Reverend James Barr (26 July 1862 – 1949) was a Scottish minister and a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
then
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
politician and a noted
pacifist
Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...
and
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...
. He was also a strong supporter of
home rule for Scotland, a
minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...
and the
Temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
.
Life
He was born on 26 July 1862 at Beanscroft Farm near
Fenwick, East Ayrshire
Fenwick is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In 2019, its population was estimated to be 989. Fenwick is the terminus of the M77 following its extension which was opened in April 2005, at the beginning of the Kilmarnock bypass.
History
T ...
the son of Allan Barr a farmer and his wife Elizabeth Brown.
He studied a general degree at
Glasgow University
, image = UofG Coat of Arms.png
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms
Flag
, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
, motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita
, ...
graduating MA in 1884. He returned to university around 1889 to study Divinity, graduating BD in 1892.
He was ordained as a minister of the Free Church of Scotland in 1889 serving Johnstone and
Wamphray
Newton Wamphray is a village in Dumfries and Galloway. Wamphray is the name of the surrounding parish and of the Wamphray Water, which flows south-west through the Wamphray Glen to join the River Annan near the small village, or hamlet, of Newt ...
. In 1895 he became minister of
Dennistoun
Dennistoun is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun ward under Glasgow City Council, ...
in east Glasgow.
Barr was originally a Liberal but then joined the
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
. He served as the
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...
, from 1924 to 1931 and then for
Coatbridge
Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as ...
from 1935 to 1945. He was also the President of The Scottish Home Rule Association.
He served as Chairman of the
Select committee on
capital punishment
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, 1929–1930, which reported at the end of the latter year.
In 1930–1931, Barr was Chairman of the Liaison Committee, as the
Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party was then known at any time when the party was in government.
A
Presbyterian
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 ...
minister, Barr strongly opposed any link between church and state; in his view, the Church must support and maintain itself on an entirely voluntary basis. For this reason, he was a prominent member 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 ...
and he led the opposition to that group's reunion with 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 1929; he and those of like mind did not participate in the reunion and continued as the United Free Church of Scotland, which is still in existence. In 1929, the year that the remainder of the United Free Church merged with the Church of Scotland, he was the first
Moderator of the General Assembly
The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states t ...
of the United Free Church of Scotland Continuing, the section which refused to merge with the Church of Scotland.
His
maiden speech
A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament.
Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...
as an
MP was an attack on the
Church of Scotland (Property and Endowments) Act 1925
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 Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church an ...
and lasted just under an hour and a half.
Private life
In 1890 he married Martha Wilson Stephen. They had five children including their last child who was the minister
Elizabeth Barr
Elizabeth Brown Barr (2 October 1905 – 23 June 1995) was a British minister. She was the first woman to be a Presbyterian minister. She was the first female moderator of a general assembly of a Scottish church.
Life
Barr was born in Dennistoun ...
. She was first woman in Scotland to be a Presbyterian minister.
Barr was the grandfather of
James Barr (biblical scholar)
James Barr (30 March 1924 – 14 October 2006) was a Scottish Old Testament scholar, known for his critique of the notion that the vocabulary and structure of the Hebrew language may reflect a particular theological mindset. At the University ...
.
Published works
*
*
*
*
References
*
Sandra Osborne
Sandra Currie Osborne (née Clark, born 23 February 1956) is a Scottish Labour politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock from the 2005 to 2015 general elections. She was first elected as MP for the Ayr constit ...
MP Speech on the
Second Reading
A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature.
In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...
of the House of Commons (Removal of Clergy Disqualification) Bill, (6 February 2001
''Hansard'' vol 362 cols 837-38
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, James
1862 births
1949 deaths
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies
UK MPs 1924–1929
UK MPs 1929–1931
UK MPs 1935–1945
Scottish temperance activists
Scottish pacifists
Calvinist pacifists
Scottish Labour MPs
Scottish Christian socialists
Presbyterian socialists
19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland
Ministers of the United Free Church of Scotland
Parliamentary Peace Aims Group