William Struther(s) (1578–1633) was a high-ranking Scottish church minister and poet. He was involved in an infamous

witch trial A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America took place in the Early Modern perio ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. He was renowned for his "spiced sermons". His huge endowment in his will created the Struthers Bursaries in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, which was responsible for funding many hundreds of Divinity students.

Life

He was born 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 ...

around 1578 the son of the "reader" in Glasgow High Church. He studied at

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

gaining an MA in 1599.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott He worked as an assistant ("expectant") in the Merse near

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census reco ...

in 1602. In 1607 he was ordained as minister of Kirkintilloch. He translated to the High Kirk of Glasgow in 1612. In 1614 he translated to St Giles High Kirk in Edinburgh, then still having a collegiate format. In 1619 he was appointed to the Court of the High Commission. In that year, he was the minister of the "College Kirk" (St Giles) with

Thomas Sydserf Thomas Sydserf(f) (1581 – 1663) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Protestant Bishop first of Brechin, then Galloway and finally Orkney. Life The eldest son of James Sydserf, an Edinburgh merchant, Sydserf gr ...

when a new order of the communion service was introduced. Struthers provided a poem in Ancient Greek flattering

James VI and I 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 ...

for the celebrations at

Dunglass Castle, East Lothian Dunglass Castle was a castle at Dunglass in East Lothian, Scotland. It was a seat of the Home family and frequently visited by the Stewart kings. A fgortification was built during the Rough Wooing. There are no upstanding masonry remains of th ...

, on 13 May 1617 when the king returned to Scotland for the first time since the

Union of the Crowns The Union of the Crowns ( gd, Aonadh nan Crùintean; sco, Union o the Crouns) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas dip ...

. In 1619, he reminded his congregation of a riot in Edinburgh involving James VI on 17 December 1596, which was blamed on a radical

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 ...

faction. When official news came to Edinburgh in 1623 that Prince Charles had left the country for the Spanish Match, the Earl of Melros ordered Struthers to ask his colleagues in the

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 Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

to refrain from discussing the events in the kirks. Struthers appears to have left St Giles at some point but rejoined by 1626, when the parish was divided into four (and the church was physically subdivided) with Struthers taking the south-east quarter. and rose to be Dean of the diocese of Edinburgh. At this time he lived 100m west of the church on the north side of the Lawnmarket (the house is preserved and now called Gladstone's Land). Struthers was one of the clergy who counselled Margaret Wood, a servant of his Edinburgh neighbour,

James Crichton of Frendraught James Crichton of Frendraught or Frendraucht was a Scottish landowner involved in a fire on 18 October 1630. Eight guests were killed at Frendraught Castle and arson was suspected. The facts of the case were widely disputed. Family backgroun ...

, to confess her perjury. Wood had been tortured with the boot for her testimony after a fire at

Frendraught Castle Frendraught CastleCoventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.184 or House is a 17th-century house, about east of Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and west of Largue, on the site of a 13th-century castle. History The ori ...

. As a perjurer, she was whipped and banished. In 1632 he was involved in a witch trial which resulted in the execution of one woman and torture of two others. In this Marion Mure of

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 ...

was accused of "folk healing". The trial took place in Leith. Marion was found guilty and executed on 23 February 1632 (probably at the

Pilrig Pilrig is an area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The name probably derives from the long field (rig) on which a peel tower (pil/peel) stood. There is evidence of a peel tower situated on an area of higher ground above the Water of ...

gibbet). He died in Edinburgh on 9 November 1633 and is presumed buried in

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

. His will left 6000 merks (around £4000 or £1 million in 2020) to both

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

and

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

to fund bursaries for Divinity students. In Glasgow this was merged with the Gilhagie Bursary in 1858.

Family

He married Elizabeth Roberton (d.1641), daughter of Andrew Roberton of Stonehall. They had six children.

Publications

*Christian Observations and Resolutions (1628) *A Looking Glasse for Princes and People with a Looking Glasse for Princes and Popes (1632) *True Happiness, or King David's Choice (1633) *Letter to the Earl of Airthe: Grievances of Ministers (1635) *The Sanctuary of the Troubled Soul

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Struthers, William 1578 births 1633 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow 17th-century Ministers of the Church of Scotland