John Roxburgh (minister)

The Very Rev Dr John Roxburgh DD (1806–1880) was a 19th-century Scottish minister of the Free Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly 1866/67.

Rev John Roxburgh in 1844
St. John's Church, Dundee

Life

He was born on 8 March 1806 the son of Archibald Roxburgh (1773-1823), a Glasgow shipping merchant, and his wife, Elizabeth Clark (1777-1813). In 1820 he was living with his father at 21 Charlotte Street in Glasgow, his mother having died.[1]

He studied Divinity at Glasgow University and was licensed to preach by the Church of Scotland in 1831. He then did mission work in Manchester before returning to do mission work in St David's Parish in Glasgow then in Barony parish.[2]

He was ordained at St John's Church in Dundee in 1834. In 1836, due to great expansion, his parish was split to create a new quoad sacra church called St Peters.[3]

He left the established church in the Disruption of 1843 and joined the Free Church of Scotland. In 1847 he moved to the newly completed St John's Free Church near George Square, Glasgow, designed by John Thomas Rochead.[4]

In 1849 he received an honorary doctorate (DD) from Glasgow University.[5] In 1850 he was living at 6 Provanside in central Glasgow.[6]

From 1857 to 1862 he was Convenor of the Home Missions Committee for the Free Church. From 1866 he was assisted at St John's Free by Rev Alexander Whyte. In 1866 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly (some records say 1867).[7]

He lived his final years at 122 Hill Street, a fine Georgian villa in the Garnethill district of Glasgow.[8] He died at his son's house in Weston-super-Mare on 2 November 1880.[9]

St John's Free Church was demolished in 1971.

Family

In 1836 he married Catherine Grey. They had at least ten children but only six lived to adulthood.[10]

Artistic recognition

He was photographed by Hill & Adamson in 1844.[11]

References


  1. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1820
  2. Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church
  3. Parliamentary Papers 1836 vol.24
  4. "TheGlasgowStory: St John's Free Church". www.theglasgowstory.com.
  5. Free Church Monthly December 1880
  6. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1850
  7. Ewings Annals of the Free Church
  8. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1880
  9. Free Church Monthly; December 1880
  10. "Rev John Roxburgh". geni_family_tree.
  11. "Rev. Dr John Roxburgh, 1806 - 1880. Of Dundee; Moderator of the Free Church Assembly". National Galleries of Scotland.
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