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Thomas Pitcairn (1800 – 1854) was a Presbyterian minister at Cockpen in the parish of Dalkeith. He is remembered for his being elected Clerk of the Free Church General Assembly during the early days of, the Free Church of Scotland. He was the subject of a portrait by

Hill & Adamson Hill & Adamson was the first photography studio in Scotland, set up by painter David Octavius Hill and engineer Robert Adamson in 1843. During their brief partnership that ended with Adamson's untimely death, Hill & Adamson produced "the first s ...

Early life and ministry

Thomas Cairns was born at Edinburgh on 6 February 1800. His father, Alexander Pitcairn, was a merchant in Leith and Edinburgh, and was an elder in Lady Glenorchy's Chapel, where Dr Jones ministered as pastor for more than fifty years. After finishing the usual literary curriculum at college, he gave himself for a time to business, but he later abandoned this profession. He then studied for the ministry, being trained through the Edinburgh Divinity Hall he was licensed by the Presbytery to preach on 26 March 1828. While a probationer, he assisted successively Dr Stewart of Erskine, and William Thomson of Perth; and thereafter was ordained assistant and successor to Dr Grierson of Cockpen.

Church of Scotland ministry

Cockpen is in the Presbytery of Dalkeith. Pitcairn found work to do among a population partly rural and partly connected with the collieries of the neighbourhood. His preaching was reported as being solid and scriptural. In 1837, he was chosen to be Clerk to the Synod of Lothian and Tweeddale. Then came the days of trial to the Church of Scotland, which led to the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of S ...

. A Convocation was held at Edinburgh, on 17 November 1842, at which all those ministers who later left the established church were present, more than four hundred and fifty.

Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland. He has been called "Scotland's greatest nine ...

preside, and Pitcairn was chosen as clerk. When, next year, the Disruption did take place, Pitcairn was again chosen, along with

Patrick Clason Patrick Clason (13 October 1789 – 30 July 1867) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly to the Free Church of Scotland in 1848/49. Life He was born on 13 October 1789 in the manse at Dalziel near the Riv ...

of Edinburgh, to the Clerkship of the Free Church General Assembly.

Free Church ministry

The people of Cockpen who left the Established Church with Pitcairn built for him a church at Bonnyrigg, in the same parish, where he ministered to the day of his death.

Death and legacy

In 1854, Pitcairn became ill. He died on 21 December 1854. When the Commission of the Free Church Assembly met in March following, they recorded "the affectionate respect entertained for their departed brother;" saying "that, in no small measure, the Free Church has been indebted to him for much of what is good in the tone and character of the proceedings of her supreme court, and in the general conduct of her ecclesiastical affairs." He is buried in the Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh.

Family

He married, 7 June 1836, his cousin, Ann Hay (died 28 April 1862), daughter of Young Trotter of Cruicksfield, Berwickshire and had issue — *Alexander Young, W.S., born 5 April 1837 *Thomas, died in infancy *Jane Cranstoun, born 17 January 1840, died 2 October 1841.

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External sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitcairn, Thomas 1800 births 1854 deaths 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland