John Welsh (–1622) was a Scottish

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 ...

leader. He was born in

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county. I ...

and attended the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

to obtain his MA in 1588. He became a minister in Selkirk and married Elizabeth Knox, a daughter of

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and

Margaret Knox Margaret Knox (née Stewart; 1547 – after 1612) was a Scottish noblewoman and the second wife of Scottish reformer John Knox, whom she married when she was 17 years old and he 54. The marriage caused consternation from Mary, Queen of Scots, as ...

, before leaving Selkirk. Welsh later ministered at

Kirkcudbright Kirkcudbright ( ; sco, Kirkcoubrie; gd, Cille Chùithbeirt) is a town, parish and a Royal Burgh from 1455 in Kirkcudbrightshire, of which it is traditionally the county town, within Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The town lies southwest of C ...

and

Ayr Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...

, the latter of which was where he spent five years. His preaching resulted in his imprisonment by the order of King

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

. The lawyer Thomas Hamilton wrote to James VI about Welsh, John Forbes, and others; the case was important because many Scottish subjects of James were devoted to the ministers. In 1606 Welsh was exiled to France, where he continued to preach. John Welsh of Ayr was the father of Josias Welsh and the grandfather of

John Welsh of Irongray John Michael Welsh of Irongray (c. 1624–1681) was a leader of the Scottish Covenanter movement. Dunlop an early 20th century writer says: "It is a noteworthy fact that there exists no memoir of John Welsh of Irongray, though from the ...

Life

John Welsh was the son of the

laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

of Collieston (or Colliston), and was born in the parish of Dunscore,

around 1570. When he was young he ran away from home and joined a band of

border reivers Border reivers were Cattle raiding, raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scotland, Scottish and England, English people, and they raided the entire border ...

. After he learned being a reiver was less glamorous than expected, he sought reconciliation with his father, and was sent to the

, where he obtained an MA in 1588. On 6 March 1589 he was nominated by the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

as one of three people for maintaining the true religion in the Forest and Tweeddale, and was settled at Selkirk. In 1594 he was transferred to

, and on 29 March 1596 he was appointed one of the visitors for Nithsdale, Annandale, Lauderdale, Eskdale, and Ewesdale. On 18 December, while occupying the pulpit of

St Giles' Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral ( gd, Cathair-eaglais Naomh Giles), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town, Edinburgh, Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended ...

, Welsh preached against King James VI of Scotland's conduct shortly after the Presbyterians revolted against the king. He " llegedthat his majesty was possessed of a devil, and after the outputting of that devil there joined to his highness seven devils, quhilk was his majesty's council"; and that as it was lawful for a son to bind a lunatic father, it was equally lawful "to his highness's subjects to bind his majesty, being in the like case". After failing to answer the charge of having justified the tumult, Welsh was denounced as a rebel on 17 January (ib.). On the petition of the assembly in the following March he was, mainly through the intervention of

Lord Ochiltree Lord Ochiltree (or Ochiltrie) of Lord Stuart of Ochiltree was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. In 1542 Andrew Stewart, 2nd Lord Avondale (see the Earl Castle Stewart for earlier history of the family) exchanged the lordship of Avondale with Si ...

(Moysie, Memoirs, p. 133), allowed to return to his charge. Welsh was re-appointed as one of the visitors for Nithsdale at the assembly held at Montrose in March 1599 (Calderwood, vi. 23), and in August of the same year, he was transferred to the parish of Ayr as an assistant to

John Porterfield John Porterfield (fl. 1571–1571x3) was a Scottish prelate in the sixteenth-century. A mysterious figure, he emerges in 1571 as the successor to James Beaton II as Archbishop of Glasgow. He was described by Robert Keith as "a kind of titul ...

. When he arrived he succeeded in quelling feuds and riots, and effected the reformation in public manners. His preaching attracted crowds such that the town council resolved to build a new church on 26 May 1603. He succeeded Porterfield after the latter died in 1604. Although Welsh did not arrive in Aberdeen until two days after the July 1605 General Assembly had been held, he was ordered to become a ward or prisoner in

Blackness Castle Blackness Castle is a 15th-century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth. It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blacknes ...

. As they had put in a declinature of the jurisdiction of the council in the matter the king decided to put them on trial for high treason, which was done at an

assize The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

held at Linlithgow, the majority was declared guilty.David Masson, ''Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1604-7'', vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1885), pp. 478–86, 493–6: ''Declaration of the Just Causes of his Majesty's Proceedings against those Ministers who are now lying in Prison attainted of High Treason, Edinburgh'', printed by Robert Charteris, 1606, reprinted in ''Reg. P. C. Scotland'' vol. 7, pp 189–202, and in Calderwood's ''History of the Kirk of Scotland'', vi. pp. 419–37; and Forbes, ''Records touching the Estate of the Kirk in the Years 1605 and 1606''. The punishment for high treason was normally death, but by the king's direction the sentence was commuted on 23 October 1606 to perpetual banishment from the king's dominion, and they were commanded to board a ship on 1 November that sailed from

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by '' Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. When Welsh arrived in France he immediately began to learn the French language, and within fourteen weeks he was able to preach in French. Shortly afterwards he became the pastors of the Protestant churches of Nerac, Jonsac, and eventually

Saint-Jean-d'Angély Saint-Jean-d'Angély (; Saintongeais: ''Sént-Jhan-d'Anjhéli'') is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. The commune has its historical origins in the Abbey of Saint-Jean-d'Angély. Royal abbey Founded in the ...

in Saintonge, where he remained for sixteen years. The town council of Ayr continued to regularly remit his stipend as minister of the parish to him for several years after his banishment. When Saint-Jean-d'Angély, a strongly fortified town, was besieged by

King Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...

during the war against the Protestants in 1620, Welsh encouraged the citizens to form a resistance and helped operate the guns on the walls. After the town surrendered, he continued to preach as usual until he was summoned before the king, who reprimanded him for violating the law forbidding anyone from providing religious services other than the standard. Welsh replied that if the king knew what he preached he would himself both come to hear him and make all his subjects do the same, for what he preached was that there was none on earth above the king, which none who had adhered to the pope would say. His answer impressed the king, who answered, "Very well, father, you shall be my minister", and promised him his protection. When the town was captured again in the following year, the king ordered guards to be placed around the house of Welch and provided horses and wagons to convey him, his family, and his household goods to Rochelle in safety. Welsh never returned to his charge and went to

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

. He sent a petition to King James asking for permission to return to his native country, and obtained the freedom to go to London. Through John Young, Dean of Winchester, an attempt was unsuccessfully made to obtain a general approval of episcopacy from Welsh. When Welsh's wife went to King James to ask his remission, the king answered that he would pardon him if she would induce him to submit to the bishops. She replied that she would rather receive his decapitated head in her lap. On hearing that Welsh would die soon, the king granted his request for permission to preach in London. He died on 2 April 1622, two hours after concluding the services. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth, youngest daughter of

John Knox John Knox ( gd, Iain Cnocc) (born – 24 November 1572) was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Born in Giffordgat ...

the reformer, and four sons and two daughters, of whom

Josias Josiah ( or ) or Yoshiyahu; la, Iosias was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE) who, according to the Hebrew Bible, instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Josiah is credited by most biblical s ...

became minister of Temple Bar, or Temple Patrick, Ireland. Jane Welsh, the wife of

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

, claimed descent from Welsh.

Family

Welsh married previous to 8 April 1596, Elizabeth (died at Ayr, 8 Jan. 1625), youngest daughter of John Knox the Reformer, and had issue— *John, baptised 8 June 1606 *William, doctor of physic, died before 1633 *

, minister of Temple-patrick, Ireland, died 1634 *Nathaniel *Lucy *and another.

Works

*"Reply against Mr. Gilbert Browne, priest" (Edinburgh, 1602; another edition, Glasgow, 1672) *"L'Armageddon de la Babylon Apocalyptique," Jonsac, 1612 *"Forty-eight Select Sermons … to which is prefixed the History of His Life and Sufferings," Glasgow, 1771, 8vo *"Letters to Mr. Robert Boyd of Tochrig," in the Wodrow Society. *Reply against Mr Gilbert Brown, priest (Edinburgh, 1602) eprinted as Popery Anatomized by Matthew Crawford, minister of Eastwood (Glasgow, 1672)*Thirty-Five Sermons (Edinburgh, 1744) *Discourses (1752) *"Letters to Mr Robert Boyd of Trochrig" (Woodrow Miscell.) *A Cry to the Whole Earth (Glasgow, 1785) *Forty-eight Select Sermons (Glasgow, 1811)

Bibliography

*Select Biographies in the Wodrow Society *Hew Scott's Fasti Ecclesiæ Scoticanæ, ii. 85–6 *The History of Mr. John Welsh, Minister at Aire, Glasgow, 1703 *McCrie's Life of John Knox *Chambers's Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen *Reg. Assig. *Life (Sermons) *Livingston's Charac. *Select Biog., L, 1-61 *Edinburgh Christian Instructor, xxii. *Glasgow Testates. *Edin. Reg. (Bapt.) *Young's Life of Welsh *Calderwood's History, v., 420, 621, 685, et passim *

National Records of Scotland National Records of Scotland ( gd, Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is a non-ministerial department of the Scottish Government. It is responsible for Civil registry, civil registration, the census in Scotland, demography and statistics, family histor ...

Register of Deeds, cccclxiii., 282 *Dictionary of National Biography *Notes and Queries, 9th ser., iv., 433 *Craig-Brown's Selkirkshire, ii., 220 *M'Crie s Knox, App., p. 417.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

*
Biographical sketch

The Original Secession Magazine, J. Maclaren 1866page 562
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, John 16th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians Scottish evangelicals 1568 births 1622 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 16th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 17th-century Calvinist and Reformed theologians 16th-century Scottish writers 16th-century male writers 17th-century male writers People of Linlithgow Palace