Related Research Articles
John Michael Welsh of Irongray was a leader of the Scottish Covenanter movement. Dunlop an early 20th century writer says: "It is a noteworthy fact that there exists no memoir of John Welsh of Irongray, though from the Battle of Rullion Green till Bothwell Bridge he was the most conspicuous Covenanting minister in Scotland. Had he glorified God in the Grassmarket, or fallen in some scuffle with Claverhouse's dragoons, or even like his friend Blackadder of Troqueer languished in prison on the Bass Rock, some pious hand would have been moved to write his story." Dunlop also wrote: "The events of Welsh's life must be sought for in the pages of Wodrow and Kirkton and in the letters and State papers of the reign of Charles II. After spending a fortnight hunting him in the British Museum, I have come to sympathise with Clavers and his dragoons. Mr John Welsh is a most elusive gentleman."
Robert Wodrow was a Scottish minister and historian, known as a chronicler and defender of the Covenanters. Robert Wodrow was born at Glasgow, where his father, James Wodrow, was a professor of divinity. Robert was educated at the university and was librarian from 1697 to 1701. From 1703 till his death, he was parish minister at Eastwood, near Glasgow. He had sixteen children, his son Patrick being the "auld Wodrow" of Burns's poem "Twa Herds".
John Nevay was a Scottish Covenanter. He was the nephew of Andrew Cant, minister of Aberdeen. He graduated with an M.A. from King's College, Aberdeen, in 1626. He worked as tutor to George, Master of Ramsay. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Dalkeith 14 October 1630 on the recommendation of that of Alford, but left its bounds a fortnight after. He was admitted about 1637 and appointed in 1647 a member of committee to revise the Psalter. He was present at Mauchline Moor in opposition to the royal army in June 1648. He was subsequently pardoned by Parliament on 16 January 1649. Nevay was appointed a commissioner by Parliament for visiting the University of Aberdeen 31 July 1649. He was active in raising the western army in 1650, and in 1651 a prominent supporter of the Protesters. In 1654 he was named by the Council of England on a committee for authorising admissions to the ministry in the province of Glasgow and Ayr. On 23 December 1662 he was banished by the Privy Council from His Majesty's dominions and went to Holland, where he died in 1672, aged about 66.
Robert Dick of Prestonpans was a 17th-century merchant and inspector of salt works to Lord Carringtoune. He was arrested on 4 September 1676 for attending an open-air service in the Pentland Hills.
Patrick Anderson of Walston was a 17th-century minister and Covenanter.
Major Joseph Learmont was major in the Scottish Covenanter army. He was a tailor before he began his military career. He was proprietor of the lands of Newholm, near Dolphinton, which lay partly in the shire of Peebles and partly in that of Lanark.
John Rae was the son of William Rae, burgess of Edinburgh. He served heir 7 February 1666. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and graduated with an M.A. in 1651.
John Spreul was a town clerk in Glasgow who was educated at the University of Glasgow, where he completed his Master of Arts degree in 1635. His father was the Provost of Renfrew and an MP for Renfrew. After university, he thought about becoming a church minister but could not, in good conscience, sign the Five Articles of Perth. He was converted after hearing a sermon from David Dickson in 1644. He was a writer which is a Scottish term for a lawyer. For example William Lin is described as a Writer to the Signet which would make him a senior lawyer. He became unpopular with some Glaswegian magistrates because of his opposition to Hugh Binning. According to rumours, he potentially fought for the Covenanters at the Battle of Kilsyth. Spreul and John Graham fought together at the Battle of Philiphaugh in September 1645. Spreul became town clerk of Glasgow on 21 October 1645. He fought for the Scottish Covenanters in the Battle of Dunbar. He is reported to have had a very long beard and to have been mocked for it before the Privy Council of Scotland.
Thomas Ross of Nether Pitkerrie, was born about 1614. He was the son of George Ross of Nether Pitkerrie. He continued in Kincardine after the establishment of prelacy and owes his leaving to a meeting with John M'Gilligan.
Robert Ross was a Presbyterian preacher. He did not have a government licence to preach. He was apprehended at Leith and sent to the Bass Rock. He was kept in confinement there for upwards of three months from April 4-July 19 1679.
Robert MacWard, a covenanting minister, appears to have studied at the University of St. Andrews, where he was for some time regent of humanity. In 1654 he was appointed one of the regents of Glasgow University without competition on 4 August 1653, but resigned the appointment from ill-health, and on 8 September was ordained to the collegiate charge of the Outer High Church, Glasgow, the usual ordination trials being dispensed with. From 1656 to 1659 he had charge of the south district of the parish, in 1660 of the west, and in 1661 of the east. In 1659 he was named for the vice-chancellorship of the university, but the proposal, which was opposed by Robert Baillie, who seems always to have borne him a grudge, was unsuccessful.
John Brown, of Wamphray, church leader, was probably born at Kirkcudbright; he graduated at the university of Edinburgh 24 July 1630. He was probably not settled till 1655, although he comes first into notice in some highly complimentary references to him in Samuel Rutherford's letters in 1637. In the year 1655 he was ordained minister of the parish of Wamphray in Annandale. For many years he seems to have been quietly engaged in his pastoral duties, in which he must have been very efficient, for his name still lives in the district in affectionate remembrance. After the restoration he was not only compelled by the acts of Parliament of 1662 to leave his charge, but he was one of a few ministers who were arrested and banished, owing to the ability and earnestness with which they had opposed the arbitrary conduct of the king in the affairs of the church. On 6 November 1662 he was sentenced to be kept a close prisoner in the Tolbooth of Edinburgh, his crime being that he had called some ministers ‘false knaves’ for keeping synod with the archbishop. The state of the prison causing his health to break down, he was banished 11 December from the king’s dominions, and ordered not to return on pain of death. He went to Holland. In 1676 Charles II urged the States-General to banish him from their country, a step which they refused to take. For a few years he was minister of the Scottish church in Rotterdam, and shortly before his death, which occurred in 1679, he took part in the ordination of Richard Cameron.
Hugh Mackail, Scottish martyr, was born about 1640 at Liberton, near Edinburgh. His father was Matthew Mackail who was minister at Bothwell before being deprived of his ministry by the government in 1662. At an early age he went to reside with an uncle, Hugh Mackail, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. He entered the university, studying divinity, where he distinguished himself, graduating, as the records show, in 1658 under Thomas Crawford. Shortly afterward he became chaplain and tutor in the family of Sir James Stuart of Coltness and Goodtrees, then Lord Provost of Edinburgh. In 1661, being then in his twenty-first year, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Edinburgh and afterward preached several times with much success. A sermon which he delivered in the High Church, Edinburgh, in September 1662, in which he declared that "the church of Scotland had been persecuted by an Ahab on the throne, a Haman in the state, and a Judas in the church," gave such offence that a party of horse was sent to apprehend him. He escaped, however, and, after lying concealed in his father's house in Bothwell for some time, retired into Holland, where he improved his time by studying for several years perhaps near Rotterdam. Then, returning to Scotland, he lived chiefly at his father's house, until in November 1666 he joined a rising of the covenanters. After nine days' marching, however, his weak health obliged him to leave the insurgents, and on his way back to Liberton he was arrested, carried to Edinburgh, and committed to the Tolbooth. He was several times brought before the council and tortured with the boot. Finally, after trial, despite the efforts of his cousin, Matthew Mackail, an apothecary, who interceded with James Sharp, archbishop of St. Andrews, on his behalf, Hugh was hanged at the market-cross of Edinburgh on 22 December 1666, amid "such a lamentation," says Kirkton, "as was never known in Scotland before, not one dry cheek upon all the street, or in all the numberless windows in the market-place." According to MS. Jac. V. 7. 22, in the Advocates' Library, "immediately after the execution of the aforementioned four men there came a letter from the king, discharging the executing of more; but the Bishop of St. Andrews kept it up till Mr. Hew was executed," Mackail behaved with great fortitude on the scaffold, addressing the crowd with singular impressiveness. He was buried in Greyfriars churchyard. Wodrow describes him as "universally beloved, singularly pious, and of very considerable learning."
William Gordon was a 17th-century landowner and Covenanter. He is remembered as being a correspondent in Samuel Rutherford's Letters and being one of the biographies in John Howie's Scots Worthies. He was regarded as a man of strong religious convictions and piety. In 1664 he was banished for listening to ministers who lacked a government licence, both at his mother's house and in the woods. He arrived at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge after the fighting was over and, hesitating to surrender, was shot.
James Wood was a Covenanter and Church of Scotland minister. He was appointed to be Professor of Divinity and Principal of the Old College, St. Andrews by Cromwell's government. He was deposed after the Restoration under the influence of Archbishop Sharp in 1663. He was then holding Presbyterian principles at a time when Charles II was promoting Prelacy. He died in 1664.
John Semple was a seventeenth century minister in Ulster and Scotland. He began to preach after exhorting the people while leading the psalm-singing. His Presbyterian principles brought him into opposition to the policies of the civil authorities. He refused The Black Oath and was pursued by those sent from Dublin to apprehend non swearers. He relocated to Scotland and was named multiple times and threatened with severe punishment throughout his life including shortly before his death in his 75th year.
Robert Ker known as Robert Ker of Kersland was a Covenanter. He sympathised with the insurgents who fought at Rullion Green and consequently was declared a rebel and his lands became forfeit. He escaped to Holland but following his wife home on business he was captured while visiting her in her sick-bed in Edinburgh. He spent many years in various jails. He is remembered by Christian historians and biographers such as Wodrow and Howie as one who suffered for the Presbyterian cause in Scotland.
John King was an outlawed minister of the Covenant, chaplain at one time to Lord Cardross, but seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. King was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John Kid. They were each subjected to torture, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death King's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
John Kid was an outlawed minister of the Covenant. He was seized by Claverhouse among the insurgents after the affair at Drumclog. He was released by the insurgents but recaptured in a bog a few miles from Bothwell Bridge with a sword in his belt. Kid was taken to Edinburgh along with another preacher named John King. They were each subjected to torture, condemned to death, and executed. Following his death King's head and limbs were displayed at the Netherbow Port on Edinburgh's Royal Mile beside James Guthrie's skull.
John Balfour of Kinloch was the principal actor in the assassination of Archbishop Sharp in 1679. For this crime his estate was forfeited and a large reward offered for his capture. He fought at Drumclog and at Bothwell Bridge, and is said to have escaped to Holland, and to have there tendered his services to the Prince of Orange.
References
- Citations
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Scott 1917, pp 265-266.
- 1 2 Scott 1920, p 323.
- ↑ M'Crie 1847, App1 p378.
- ↑ Scott 1917, p 81.
- 1 2 3 Henderson 1899, p. 200-201.
- ↑ Scott 1920, p 49.
- ↑ Scott 1917, p 165-166.
- ↑ Anderson 1851.
- ↑ Fairly 1846.
- ↑ Veitch & Brysson 1825, p 219.
- ↑ Scott 1920, pp 11-12.
- ↑ Scott 1917, p 81.
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- Attribution
