William Wilson (18 June 1808–14 January 1888) was a Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the chairperson of a General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbyteries may also style the chairperson as moderator. The Oxford Dictionary states th ...

in 1866/67.

Life

He was born in

Westruther Westruther is a village on the B6465, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the lower slopes of the Lammermuir Hills, in the former Berwickshire. The largest town nearby is Gordon. Places nearby include Duns, Greenlaw, the Lammermuir ...

on 18 June 1808. 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 befriended John Laird. They both then studied theology at Divinity Hall under Rev Dr Thomas Chalmers, graduating with an MA. Together with Robert McCheyne,

Alexander Somerville Alexander Somerville (15 March 1811 – 17 June 1885) was a British Radical journalist and soldier.Joseph Hamburger,Somerville, Alexander (1811–1885), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online ed ...

Horatius Bonar Horatius Bonar (19 December 180831 July 1889), a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M'cheyne was a Scotland, Scottish churchman and poet. He is principally remembered as a prodigious hymnodist. Friends knew him as Horace Bona ...

and

Andrew Bonar Andrew Alexander Bonar (29 May 1810 in Edinburgh – 30 December 1892 in Glasgow) was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland (1843-1900), Free Church of Scotland, a contemporary and acquaintance of Robert Murray M'Cheyne and youngest brother ...

they founded the Exegetical Society.Ewing, William ''Annals of the Free Church'' He was licensed to preach by 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 Scottish Reformation, Reformation of 1560, when it split from t ...

and Presbytery of

Lauder The former Royal Burgh of Lauder (, gd, Labhdar) is a town in the Scottish Borders in the historic county of Berwickshire. On the Southern Upland Way, the burgh lies southeast of Edinburgh, on the western edge of the Lammermuir Hills. Etymo ...

in 1833 but failed to find a patron, a then essential requirement and one of the main issues in the later establishment of the Free Church. While he awaited a patron he did parochial mission work south of the

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. He also became editor of the Scottish Guardian: a twice weekly evangelical newspaper, in this period. In 1837 he finally found a patron and was ordained at Carmyllie a village east of

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. This post was relatively short-lived as he left the

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 ...

and joined the Free Church. Unfortunately insufficient parishioners left with him and they were unable to establish a new church in the parish. Instead he and those who left worshipped in barns or the fields of sympathetic farmers. However, also losing his

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

, he lived six miles away from the parish. In 1845 a church and manse were finally built at Carmyllie. However, Wilson then left the parish in 1848 to serve the Mariners Church in

, a former Secessionist Church. Ownership issues forced the Free Church of Scotland to sell the church in 1850 and establish their own church. This was finished in 1852 and named St Paul's Free Church. It stood on the Nethergate and had a congregation of 440. Wilson did much mission work and in 1863 was appointed Convenor of the Home Mission Committee for the Free Church, holding the post for ten years. In 1866 he was elected

. From 1888 he stepped down as the full-time minister of St Paul's and was replaced by his assistant, Richard Waterston, replaced in turn by Rev William Patrick during Wilson's life. For his last 30 years he lived at 18 Afton Place in Dundee. In 1877 the

awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD). In November 1887 he resigned all roles due to ill-health, and quickly became bed-ridden. He died on 14 January 1888. He is buried in the

Western Cemetery, Dundee The Western Cemetery in Dundee, Scotland, is a still-operational cemetery founded in the mid 19th century. It rises northwards from the Perth Road, with terraces in its upper sections. It views over the Firth of Tay to the Tay Rail Bridge ...

Publications

*Statement of the Scriptural Argument against Patronage (Edinburgh, 1842) *The Duty of Bringing Helpless Souls to Jesus (Dundee, 1850) *The Kingdom of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Edinburgh, 1859) *The Heavenward Path (Edinburgh, 1862) *Christ setting His Face towards Jerusalem (Dundee, 1878) *Memorials of Robert Smith Candlish, D.D. (Edinburgh, 1880) *The Presence of Christ in the Meetings of the Office-Bearers of His Church *Free Church Principles halmers Lecture(1887) *Christ's Gift to the Church and His Authority (1858). *He edited Daniel Defoe's Memoirs of the Church of Scotland (Perth, 1844) and Stirling's Naphtali (Perth, 1845) *Sermons XXII., CXXVI. ; Lecture XIX. (Free Church Pulpit, i., ii.) *Biography of David Welsh, D.D. (Disruption Worthies, Edinburgh, 1876) *Account of the Parish (New Statistical Account Scotland, xi.).

Bibliography

*Eminent Arbroathians, 345-58 *The Border Almanac (1889) *Annals of the Disruption, 179, 263, 762 *Smith's Scottish Clergy, iii., 351

Family

He married 13 January 1840, Eliza Smith (died 25 February 1860), daughter of Alexander White of Drimmietermont, Forfar, and Helen Farquhar, and had issue — *Helen Farquhar, born 20 August 1841, died 17 February 1890 *Agnes Martin, born 4 July 1843 (married Irvine Drimmie) *Andrew James, born 10 April 1845, died at Coconada, Madras, 18 August 1881 *Eliza Jane, born 19 June 1847 *Ann Isabella, born 19 January 1849 (married William Wilson) *Mary Louisa, born 17 December 1850, died 29 October 1898 *Alexander White, born 1 October 1853, died in India 15 July 1875 *William, born 14 April 1855, died June 1918.

Artistic recognition

His portrait by James Michael Brown is held by Dundee Art Gallery.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, William 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland 1808 births 1888 deaths People from the Scottish Borders