William Aird Thomson (1773-17 March 1863) was a Scottish minister and antiquarian 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 1835.

Life

He was born on 28 January 1773 in the manse at

Sanquhar Sanquhar ( sco, Sanchar, gd, Seanchair) is a village on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh. It is notable for its tiny post office, established in 1712 and con ...

the son of Rev Dr John Thomson DD. The family moved to

Markinch Markinch (, (Scottish Gaelic: Marc Innis) is both a village and a parish in the heart of Fife, Scotland. According to an estimate taken in 2008, the village has a population of 2,420. The civil parish had a population of 16,530 (in 2011).Cens ...

while he was still young.Ewing, William ''Annals of the Free Church'' He studied at 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 ...

and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...

in September 1796.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott He was ordained by the Church of Scotland as minister of

Dalziel Dalziel, Dalzell or Dalyell ( ) is a Scottish surname. Pronunciation The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic ''Dail-gheal'', meaning bright dale. The sound now spelled with a or is historica ...

in September 1801, then moved in 1808 to the far larger Middle Church in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in 1807. The parish was at that time one of three contained within the large St John's Church in the city centre. At the same time his brother Rev Andrew Thomson was translated from

Sprouston Sprouston is a village, parish and former feudal barony in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, as well as the historic county of Roxburghshire, located 2 miles north-east of Kelso.Survey Gazetteer of the British Isles, publ. J.G. Bartholome ...

to the East Church in Perth contained in the east end of the same building. However, Andrew translated to New Greyfriars 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 ...

in 1810. In 1833 the University of Glasgow. awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD). In 1835 he succeeded Very Rev Patrick McFarlan as Moderator of the General Assembly. In 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 ...

he left the established

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 ...

and joined the Free Church of Scotland, establishing a new Free Church of Perth. He went into semi-retirement in 1845 when Rev Thomas Dymock came to assist him. He died at home, 6 Athole Crescent in Perth on 17 March 1863.

Family

In March 1802 he was married to Margaret Fraser (d.1844), daughter of Luke Fraser the infamous master at

's High School. In 1841 their daughter Mary Anne Thomson married Walter Glass of Smiddiegreen who committed suicide by shooting himself in the head two months after the wedding. She then married Prof

Patrick Campbell MacDougall Patrick Campbell MacDougall FRSE (28 November 1806–30 December 1867) was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland who became Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. Life He was born in the manse at Killin in ...

. Her sister Helen Mary Thomson married Prof Patrick Campbell Macdougall of the

. The daughter Margaret Thomson married Rev John Reid Omond. Other children included Gilbert James Thomson (b. 1813) and Rev John William Thomson of the Free Church. His younger brother was Rev

Andrew Mitchell Thomson Andrew Mitchell Thomson (1779–1831) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, known as an evangelical activist and political reformer. Life The second son of the Rev. John Thomson, D.D., by his first wife, Helen Forrest, he was born in the ma ...

Publications

*''A History of the Circulation of the Scriptures'' (1814) with "Mr Orme" *''Memoirs of the Late Rev James Scott'' (1820) *''John Campbell of Carbrook'' (1827) *''Letters on Church Politics'' (1832-6) *''Questions for Young Communicants'' *''A Catechism on the Gospel of St Luke''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, William Aird 1773 births 1863 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow 19th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland