James Seaton Reid MA DD (1798–1851) was an Irish presbyterian minister and church historian.
Life
Born in
Lurgan
Lurgan () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, near the southern shore of Lough Neagh. Lurgan is about south-west of Belfast and is linked to the city by both the M1 motorway and the Belfast–Dublin railway line. It had a population ...
,
County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...
, he was son of Forest Reid, master of a grammar school there, and Mary Weir, his wife. Left fatherless at an early age, James spent much of his youth at
Ramelton
Ramelton (; ), also Rathmelton, is a town and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. , its population was 1,266.
History
Ramelton is situated at the mouth of the River Lennon, 11 km north of Letterkenny and 4 km south of Milford, on th ...
,
County Donegal
County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconn ...
, under the care of his brother Edward, minister of the presbyterian congregation there. At the age of fifteen he entered the
University of Glasgow
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, latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis
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, where he graduated M.A. in 1816, and afterwards attended the divinity hall.
He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of
Letterkenny
Letterkenny ( ga, Leitir Ceanainn , meaning 'hillside of the O'Cannons'), nicknamed 'the Cathedral Town', is the largest and most populous town in County Donegal, a county in Ulster, the northern province in Ireland. Letterkenny lies on the R ...
in 1818, and in the following year was ordained, and inducted to the presbyterian church of
Donegore
Donegore (historically ''Dunogcurra'', ) is the name of a hill, a townland, a small cluster of residences, and a civil parish in the historic barony of Antrim Upper, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Donegore lies approximately 5 miles (8 km) ...
,
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
. Four years later he was called to the presbyterian church at
Carrickfergus
Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 27,998 at the 2011 Census. It is County Antrim's oldest ...
. He began preparation for a history of the Irish presbyterian church, collecting materials from the records of church courts and other manuscripts, and visiting to Dublin, London, and Edinburgh to pursue his researches in libraries.
In 1827 he was unanimously elected moderator of the
Synod of Ulster, aged 28. It was a time of bitter controversy, and, though himself an upholder of the catholic doctrine of the Trinity, Reid had the respect of the
Arian party, which was then on the eve of secession. During his term of office he preached before the synod a sermon on the controversy, which he published, with a preface and historical notes. In 1829 the ''Orthodox Presbyterian'' was started by Reid and others, and he was a frequent contributor. In 1833 the University of Glasgow conferred on him the honorary degree of D.D. In 1837 he was appointed professor of ecclesiastical history, church government, and pastoral theology, in the
Royal Belfast Academical Institution
The Royal Belfast Academical Institution is an independent grammar school in Belfast, Northern Ireland. With the support of Belfast's leading reformers and democrats, it opened its doors in 1814. Until 1849, when it was superseded by what today is ...
.
In April 1841 he was presented by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previo ...
as Professorship of Ecclesiastical History in the
University of Glasgow
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in place of Rev Prof William McTurk. He spent part of 1845 and of 1846 in Europe, visiting Germany, France, and Italy.
Reid died at Belmont House in Edinburgh on 26 March 1851 and is buried in
Sighthill Cemetery 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 ...
.
[Fasti ecclesiastae Scoticana vol.7 by Hew Scott p.408]
Works
In 1834 Reid published the first volume of the ''History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland.'' It was recognised as valuable, and the
Royal Irish Academy unanimously elected him a member. The second volume, containing original documents relating to the
War of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities united in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 B ...
and
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...
's rule in Ireland, appeared in 1837, Some of the third volume of his ''History'' was ready for the press on his death, and it was completed by
William Dool Killen.
Reid published in 1824 a ''Brief Account of the Irish Presbyterian Church in the Form of Question and Answer''; ''The Sabbath, a Tract for the Times''; and ''Seven Letters to Dr. Elrington, Professor of Divinity in Trinity College, Dublin, "occasioned by his Animadversions in his ‘Life of Ussher’ on certain Passages in the History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland"'', Glasgow, 1849 (addressed to
Charles Richard Elrington). In 1848 he edited James Murdock's translation of
Johann Lorenz von Mosheim's ''Church History'', to which he added notes.
Family
Reid married, in February 1826, Elizabeth Arrott (d.1871), daughter of Samuel Arrott, a Belfast surgeon, and had eleven children, of whom five survived him. In acknowledgment of his literary services a pension was settled by government on his widow and family.
References
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reid, James Seaton
1798 births
1851 deaths
19th-century Irish historians
Irish Presbyterian ministers
Academics of the University of Glasgow