Matthew Stewart (1 January 1881–1952) was a Scottish minister who 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 ...

in 1947.

Life

Stewart was born on

New Year's Day New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...

, 1 January 1881. He first studied a general Classics degree at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

graduating with an MA (Hons) in 1902, and then a

Snell Exhibitioner The Snell Exhibition is an annual scholarship awarded to students of the University of Glasgow to allow them to undertake postgraduate study at Balliol College, Oxford. The award was founded by the bequest of Sir John Snell in a will made in 1677 ...

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. One of Oxford's oldest colleges, it was founded around 1263 by John I de Balliol, a landowner from Barnard Castle in County Durham, who provided the f ...

, graduating with a BA in 1906. He returned to Scotland with a MacKenzie Scholarship with which he studied theology at Divinity Hall 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 ...

, graduating with a BD in 1909. He was licensed to preach by the

Presbytery of Glasgow The Presbytery of Glasgow is one of the 46 Presbyteries of the Church of Scotland. It dates back to the earliest periods of Presbyterian church government in the Church of Scotland in the late 16th century. The Presbytery of Glasgow currently has ...

and first served as an assistant at

Pollokshields Pollokshields ( gd, Buthan Phollaig, Scots: ''Powkshiels'') is an area in the Southside of Glasgow, Scotland. Its modern boundaries are largely man-made, being formed by the M77 motorway to the west and northwest with the open land of Pollok C ...

. In 1911, he moved to Blackfriars Church, Glasgow. In 1912 he was ordained as minister of St Paul's Church in Perth. He transferred to

Keith Keith may refer to: People and fictional characters * Keith (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters * Keith (surname) * Keith (singer), American singer James Keefer (born 1949) * Baron Keith, a line of Scottish barons ...

in 1914. After 12 years in Keith he made an unusual move back to "second charge" in

Hamilton Old Parish Church Hamilton Old Parish Church is a Church of Scotland parish church serving part of the Burgh of Hamilton in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is notable for its Georgian architecture and the church and grounds are Category A listed. History The churc ...

in 1926, and became minister (first charge) in 1930. He resigned in 1948. His additional roles included Chaplain to the 6th

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during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He lectured in Pastoral Theology at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

and the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He was active in the

Church Courts An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages, these courts had much wider powers in many areas of Europe than be ...

. In 1944 the University of Glasgow awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD). He was elected

Moderator of the Church of Scotland The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Asse ...

in 1948, and was succeeded by Alexander Macdonald. He died in 1952.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Matthew 1881 births 1952 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow 20th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland