Robert Pont (1529–1606) was a Church of Scotland minister, judge and reformer. He was a church minister and commissioner and a Senator of the College of Justice.
John Douglas was Protestant Archbishop of St. Andrews from 1571 to 1574. As was tradition from the fifteenth to the seventeenth centuries, the Archbishop also took on the role of Chancellor of the University of St Andrews, as the University had strong links with the Pre-Reformation church.
John Durie (1537–1600) was one of the first Presbyterian ministers in Edinburgh after the Reformation in Scotland.
Robert Wallace was a British writer who had a varied career as a classics teacher, minister, university professor, newspaper editor, barrister and finally a Member of Parliament for Edinburgh East.
Walter Balcanquhall (1548–1617), was one of the first Presbyterian ministers in Edinburgh after the Reformation in Scotland.
Robert Durie (1555–1616) was a Scottish presbyterian minister. He achieved notoriety for his presbyterian principles which brought him into conflict with James VI who wished to impose an episcopalian system. He attended the General Assembly of Aberdeen in 1605 which had been prorogued by royal authority and was one of six ministers who were imprisoned and later exiled as a result.
Andrew Wallace Williamson KCVO, was a Church of Scotland minister who was Dean of the Thistle. He was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1913.
The disastrous General Assembly of Aberdeen was held in 1605. A few ministers of the Presbyterian party met in defiance of royal authority as the general assembly was prohibited by royal proclamation. There was doubt about the legality of the sederunt and the cancelling or the prorogation of the assembly; several of the ministers denied that the king had the authority in what they regarded as a purely spiritual matter. The king disagreed and several who met were tried at Linlithgow for high treason and exiled. They were: John Forbes of Alford; John Welch of Ayr, ; Andrew Duncan; Robert Dury, Anstruther; Alexander Strachan, Creich; and John Sharp, Kilmany. After the assembly King James gave more power to his bishops.
John Cook (1807–1874) was a Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the year 1866/67. In common with other members of the ecclesiastical family of Cook, he was a strong supporter of the moderate party in the Scottish church.
James Montgomery Campbell (1859-1937) was a Scottish clergyman who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1928.
John Sharp was a theologian and Church of Scotland minister. He achieved notoriety for his presbyterian principles which brought him into conflict with James VI who wished to impose an episcopalian system. Sharp graduated with an M.A. from St Andrews in 1592. He was admitted to Kilmany in 1601. He was one of those who, in opposition to the Royal command, attended the General Assembly of Aberdeen. For this he and five other ministers were committed to the Castle of Blackness on 2 August. He was brought before the Privy Council at Perth on 27 August and interrogated as to the constitution of the Assembly. Not giving satisfactory answers they were tried before the Justiciary Court at Linlithgow on 10 January 1606, on a charge of treason, found guilty, and banished for life. On 23 October Sharp went to Bordeaux and became Professor of Theology in the University of Die, but would probably have returned to Scotland had honourable terms of reconciliation been offered him. In 1630 he was compelled to leave France at the instance of Cardinal Richelieu, the Prime Minister, who had grown jealous of Sharp's reputation as a Protestant teacher. Sharp was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of Edinburgh on 17 November 1630. He died about 1647, aged 75.
George Kay (c.1710–1766) was an 18th century Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland. He was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1760.
George Hamilton of Cairns (1635–1712) was a Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1699.
John Paul DD (1795–1873) was a minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1847. A major figure in Edinburgh society, he was linked to both the Balfours of Leith and the Stevenson family of engineers.
James Bonar or Bonor was a Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1644. He was a strong supporter of the Covenanters. He was a Resolutioner and member of the Moderate Party within the church.
Robert Hamilton (c.1530–1581) was a Church of Scotland minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1572 and was Principal of New College in St Andrews.
George Cook (1812–1888) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, who served as Moderator of the General Assembly in 1876.
Robert Trail DD (1720–1775) was an 18th century Scottish minister who served as Professor of both Oriental Languages and Divinity at Glasgow University and as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1762.
Andrew Hay of Renfield (c.1540–1593) was a Scottish minister who served twice as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in both 1573/4 and 1580/1. From 1569 to 1586 he was also Rector of the University of Glasgow.
