![The Skating Minister](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/The_Skating_Minister.jpg)
Robert Walker
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 ...
(30 April 1755 – 30 June 1808) was a
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 ...
minister, best known as the subject of the oil painting ''
The Skating Minister'' by
Henry Raeburn.
Life
![Canongate manse, Edinburgh](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Canongate_manse%2C_Edinburgh.jpg)
Walker was born in
Monkton Monkton may refer to:
Places
;United Kingdom
*Monkton, Devon, England
*Monkton, Kent, England
*Monkton, Pembroke, Wales
* Monkton, South Ayrshire, Scotland
*Monkton, Tyne and Wear, England
* Monkton, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
;Canada
*Monkton, Onta ...
in
Ayrshire
Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...
, the son of William Walker, minister of the
Scots Church in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
.
Many of his male relatives were
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 ...
ministers
Minister may refer to:
* Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric
** Minister (Catholic Church)
* Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department)
** Minister without portfolio, a member of government w ...
: his father was the minister in Monkton; his uncle, also Robert Walker, was minister at
St Giles' Cathedral in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
and
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 1771; his grandfather had been minister at
Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. His mother was the daughter of a merchant from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
. His father became minister of the Scots Church in Rotterdam in 1760, and it is likely that Walker learned to
skate
Skate or Skates may refer to: Fish
*Skate (fish), several genera of fish belonging to the family Rajidae
* Pygmy skates, several genera of fish belonging to the family Gurgesiellidae
* Smooth skates or leg skates, several genera of fish belongin ...
on frozen canals in the Netherlands. After his mother's death in the Netherlands, his father remarried in 1767 to the widow of a Scottish merchant in Rotterdam.
Like his father and grandfather, Walker became a Church of Scotland clergyman. He was granted a
licence to preach
Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...
by the
Presbytery of Edinburgh on 24 April 1770, shortly before his 15th birthday (some sources
give his year of birth as 1746 which would put him at 24, a more normal age for ordination).
Willielma Campbell, Lady Glenorchy, presented him as minister of
Cramond, near Edinburgh, in November 1776. He moved to become senior minister at
Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh on 19 August 1784, a parish that includes the
Palace of Holyroodhouse, bringing him to the centre of the Scottish establishment. He remained minister at Canongate until his death in the manse, on 30 June 1808. Raeburn was appointed as one of the nine trustees of his will, along with
Charles Hamilton, 8th Earl of Haddington
Charles Hamilton, 8th Earl of Haddington DL (5 July 1753 – 17 March 1828) was a Scottish nobleman.
Life
Haddington was the eldest son of Thomas Hamilton, 7th Earl of Haddington and Mary Lloyd.
Following his accession to the Earldom of Haddi ...
, and Walker's publisher,
William Creech
William Creech FRSE (12 May 1745 – 14 January 1815) was a Scottish publisher, printer, bookseller and politician. For 40 years Creech was the chief publisher in Edinburgh. He published the first Edinburgh edition of Robert Burns' poems, and ...
.
He became a member of the
Royal Company of Archers
The Royal Company of Archers, The King's Bodyguard for Scotland is a ceremonial unit that serves as the Sovereign's bodyguard in Scotland—a role it has performed since 1822 during the reign of King George IV when the company provided a perso ...
in 1779, and was appointed chaplain of the Company in 1798. He was elected as a member 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 ...
in 1784, and served as chaplain of the
Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
from 1794 to 1807.
In 1791 he published a collection of his sermons in 1791 and in 1794 he published a book on the
Psalms of David
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
and also a book of observations on the Dutch.
He died in Edinburgh on 30 June 1808.
The painting
He became a member of
Edinburgh Skating Club
The Edinburgh Skating Club is recognized as the first organized figure skating club."In The Beginning...", ''Skating'' magazine, Jun 1970 While some sources claim the club was established in 1642, most sources accept 1742 or 1744 as the date of i ...
in 1780. The club met on
Duddingston Loch
Duddingston Loch is a lake, or freshwater loch, in Edinburgh. It is one of the last two remaining natural lochs within the city, the other being Lochend Loch. It is situated to the south of Holyrood Park and lies southwest of the village of Duddi ...
, near Edinburgh, as depicted in ''
The Skating Minister'' by Raeburn. The painting is thought to have been made in about 1795,
after Raeburn returned from a visit to Rome in 1786. The picture remained in the possession of Walker's descendants and virtually unknown for almost 150 years. Having failed to sell the painting at auction in 1914, Walker's great-granddaughter, Beatrix Scott, sold ''The Skating Minister'' privately in 1926. It was acquired by the
National Gallery of Scotland at a
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
auction in 1949 for £525.
Family
In May 1778 Walker married Jean Fraser, daughter of John Fraser, a lawyer. They had two daughters and three sons together: Magdalene (b.1779) married Richard Scougal of Leith in 1800, Jane (b.1781) married James Thomson of Leith, John (b.1784) and William (1786-1787) and Robert (b.1788).
['']Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae
''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae, The Succession of Ministers in the Church of Scotland from the Reformation'' is a title given to books containing lists of ministers from the Church of Scotland. The original volumes covered all ministers of the Estab ...
'' by Hew Scott
Publications
*Observations on the National Character of the Dutch (1794)
*The Psalms of David Methodized (1794)
*Golf, a Dutch Game (dnk)
References
* David Mackie, ‘Walker, Robert (1755–1808)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 3 May 2013The Skating Minister Scottish Review of Books, Volume 1 Issue 1 2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Robert
1755 births
1808 deaths
18th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland
Members of the Royal Company of Archers
Paintings by Henry Raeburn