James McKinnon

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 ...

(1860-1945) was a writer on history and church history. He was Professor of Church History at the University of Edinburgh from 1908 to 1930.

Life

He was born on 15 July 1860 on the Ardmiddle estate near

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived fr ...

in northern

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

, the son of Barbara Hay Black and her husband Alexander MacKinnon, the land steward of the estate.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 7; by Hew Scott He was educated at Ardmiddle Public School and Turriff Parish School and then went to the University of Edinburgh but initially did not complete his degree. He instead travelled to South Africa 1881 to 1884, for health reasons, where he studied Arts and Divinity at the Theological College of the Dutch Reformed Church at Stellenbosch University. He returned to Scotland to complete his degree at the University of Edinburgh eventually graduating with an MA in 1889. He undertook further postgraduate studies in Germany, at the University of Bonn and Heidelberg University gaining a PhD in the latter in 1891. In 1886 he had been licensed to preach as a Church of Scotland minister by the Presbytery of Turriff and served as a locum in St Andrew's Church in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

then in the Abbey Church in Edinburgh. In 1890 he moved to Glasgow having obtained a post as a lecturer in history at

Queen Margaret College, Glasgow Queen Margaret College was a women-only higher education institution based in North Park House in Glasgow, Scotland. History The idea of a college arose as the result of English literature lectures for women that were suggested by Janet "Jessie ...

. He then began lecturing in history at the University of Edinburgh and the University of St Andrews, from 1893 being an examiner for history exams at Edinburgh. In 1896 he was appointed senior lecturer in History at St Andrews. In 1908 he returned to University of Edinburgh as Professor of Church History in place of Rev Prof

Malcolm Campbell Taylor Malcolm Campbell Taylor (1832–1922) was a minister of the Church of Scotland who served as private Chaplain to Queen Victoria in Scotland and through the Queen became Professor of Church History at Edinburgh University. In literature he is kn ...

. In 1910 he was elected a fellow 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 ...

. His proposers were

Sir William Turner Sir William Turner (7 January 1832, in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster – 15 February 1916, in Edinburgh) was an English anatomist and was the Principal of the University of Edinburgh from 1903 to 1916. Life Turner was born in Lancaster ...

, George Chrystal, Cargill Gilston Knott and

Sir Frank Watson Dyson Sir Frank Watson Dyson, KBE, FRS, FRSE (8 January 1868 – 25 May 1939) was an English astronomer and the ninth Astronomer Royal who is remembered today largely for introducing time signals ("pips") from Greenwich, England, and for the role ...

. In the same year he became a Director of the Royal Blind Asylum in Edinburgh and a Governor of Steill's Educational Trust. He was awarded a Doctor of Divinity by the University of St Andrews in 1912. He was President of the International Historical Congress in London in 1913. He retired in 1930 and was thereafter given the title of Regius Professor. He died at Thornlea House in Forfar on 12 July 1945, aged 85.

Publications

*''South African Traits ( 1887) *''Culture in Early Scotland'' (1892) *''The Union of England and Scotland'' (1896) *''The History of Edward III'' (1900) *''The Growth and Decline of the French Monarchy'' (1902) *''A History of Modern Liberty'' (1906) *''The Social and Industrial History of Scotland'' (1920) *''Constitutional History of Scotland to the Reformation'' (1924) *''Luther and the Reformation'' (1925)

Family

In December 1886 he married Pauline Klein, daughter of F. Klein from Cologne. They had one son, James Alexander Rudolph MacKinnon (b.1888) an advocate who later served as Sheriff Substitute for Forfarshire.''Times'' (newspaper) obituary 21 July 1945.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McKinnon, James 1860 births 1945 deaths People from Turriff 20th-century Scottish historians Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 19th-century Scottish historians 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland 20th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers