Thomas Main (minister)

The Very Rev Thomas Main DD (1816–1881) was a 19th-century Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly for the Free Church of Scotland 1880/81.

St Mary's Free Church, Edinburgh c.1860
The grave of Rev Thomas Main, Warriston Cemetery

Life

He was born in Slamannan in central Scotland on 5 January 1816.

He studied Divinity at Glasgow University and was ordained at Kilmarnock in 1839.

In the Disruption of 1843 he left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland. In 1857 he translated to Free St Marys in Edinburgh. St Marys was on Albany Street in Edinburgh's Second New Town, in place of Rev Henry Grey. Main lived at 7 Bellevue Crescent, slightly to the north.[1] His church Deacon at St Mary's was David Octavius Hill.

He was Convenor of the Free Church Education Committee from 1873 and Convenor of the Free Church Foreign Mission Committee from 1878. In 1880 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly, in succession to Rev James Chalmers Burns. This is the highest position in the Free Church of Scotland. He was succeeded as Moderator in 1881 by Rev William Laughton.[2]

He died soon after the General Assembly of 1881, on 28 May. He is buried in Warriston Cemetery. His grave lies on the south side of the central roundel.

Due to his unexpected death the post as minister of St Mary's was not filled until 1883 (by Rev George Davidson).[3]

St Mary's was demolished in 1983 to make way for an office building. The building had been compromised by the removal of its beautiful spire in 1956.[4]

Artistic recognition

He was photographed by Hill & Adamson around 1844.[5]

Family

In 1850 he married Williamina Cuninghame (1813-1887), youngest daughter of John Cuninghame of Craigends.[6]

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References


  1. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1860
  2. Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church of Scotland
  3. Ewing, Annals of the Free Church; St Mary's in Edinburgh
  4. "Edinburgh, Albany Street, St Mary's Free Church | Canmore". canmore.org.uk.
  5. "Rev. Dr Thomas Main, 1816 - 1881. Of Kilmarnock and Free St Mary's, Edinburgh". National Galleries of Scotland.
  6. Grave of Thomas Main, Warriston Cemetery
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