William Taylor (minister)

William Taylor

William Taylor (1744 – 29 March 1823) was a Scottish Minister, Principal of Glasgow University and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland.[1]

Parish Minister

William Taylor was born in 1744, the fifth son of Robert Taylor (possibly a land factor) of Trinity-Gask in Perthshire. He received his early education in the parochial school in the neighbouring Parish of Fowlis (or Foullis) Wester and proceeded to Edinburgh University, where he graduated M.A..[2] It was not until he was 28 that he was ordained Minister of the High Kirk, Paisley (22 July 1772),[3] perhaps indicating some difficulties in getting an initial position. This appointment seems to have been a result of his connections to the Patronage networks of Henry Dundas, the virtual ruler of Scotland and the Duke of Montrose. He was elected to represent the Paisley Presbytery in 1777.[4] However, in 1780 he moved to be Minister of the Inner High Kirk (or St Mungo's) in Glasgow.[2] It was a lucrative position, under the Patronage of the Crown, bringing him £400 per year,[5] along with other perquisites, including a glebe.[6] The Duke was, among many things, Chancellor of the University of Glasgow and Taylor strove for some time to get an appointment there. He mixed with the Professors in the College Literary Society[7][8] and was popular with them.[9] On 17 February 1783, the University awarded him the degree of Doctor of Divinity,[2] often a preliminary to an academic appointment, though formally in honour of his position as Minister of the High Kirk. However, he was never made a professor and in 1785, when Principal Davidson died, he was passed over in his efforts to succeed him, though he was the choice of the Professors, despite him not having any academic post.[10]

Loyal party man

He has been described as "a time serving party man".[5] During the French Revolutionary Wars, when there was fear of both a French invasion, and popular unrest, he became chaplain to two regiments. The 2nd Regiment of Loyal Glasgow Volunteers, raised in 1797, had 800 paid rank and file soldiers with volunteer officers from the Glasgow merchant classes. The Royal Glasgow Volunteer Light Horse, also raised in 1797, had 60 rank and file volunteers each with his own horse, arms and equipment, who elected their officers by ballot.[11] He seems to have been the author of a list of the Professors and their political sympathies sent to Ilay Campbell the Lord Justice General in 1800.[10] He was certainly the author of a letter to Charles Abbot, Speaker of the House of Commons, in 1816, giving a detailed, if partisan, report on the Roman Catholics in his Parish, to help him oppose any move towards Catholic Emancipation. "... an immense influx of low Irish and Scotch Highlanders"[12]

Moderator of the General Assembly

On 17 May 1798, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. In the troubled times of the war with France, and civil unrest at home, the King, in his letter to them, was anxious the Ministers should continue their efforts at properly instructing their parishioners. They were anxious, in a return letter were anxious to comply and expressed their devotion to him and his rule.

They are sensible that all that is sacred to them as Christians, and dear to them as men, is at stake; and that, in resisting their impious and ourtrageous foes, they are not only defending a Sovereign whom they love and revere, and supporting a constitution under which they have long been happy, but defending, at the same time, their own families, their persons, and property.[13]

One of his printed sermons[14] showed that Dr Taylor was anxious to continue the work he had begun as early as 1794.[15]

Principal of Glasgow University

In 1803, upon the death of Principal Hamilton, Dr William Turner became Principal of the University of Glasgow, to which was attached a stipend of £600 per year.[16] Taylor was allowed to continue with his post as Minister of the High Kirk (and its £400). It was strictly against Church law to hold a "plurality" of offices, and many objected. But it was argued that the Principalship was a merely honorific and ceremonial post that would not interfere with his Minister's duties and he took up post. (Dr William's son, defending the dual appointment of his successor, said the Principalship was "little more than a sinecure".[17] There was also the problem that Dr Taylor, as Minister of the High Kirk, was "visitor" to the University – a role that involved inspecting its Accounts.[5] His argument was that he had never personally done this There was later gossip that he (with the collusion of the othe Professors, nicknamed "Taylor and Co."[18]) manipulated endowments of the university to their own profit. A piece of land given as a garden for the students to rest in had been sold or, or rented, to the burgeoning industrial demands of the city. He did accept an offer from James Watt to endow an annual prize for the best student essay on scientific or mechanical topic.[19]

Other activities

He was elected Honorary Burgess of the City of Glasgow and was appointed Librarian of Stirling's Library in 1791.[20] In 1805, he was asked to chair a two-day, heated debate in the General Assembly on a complaint against the Professor of Natural Philosophy at Edinburgh University. Professor John Leslie had written an Essay on Heat, which was thought to echo too closely some sceptical philosophic views of David Hume, and were therefore "destructive of religion". The public crowded in to hear the obscure debates, but in the end, the Assembly dismissed the complaints.[21] In 1806 we Dr Taylor is Moderator of Glasgow Presbytery where we find him remitting £888 1s 6 to London for the British and Foreign Bible Society.[22] The next year, October 1807, Dr Taylor objected to a decision of the Presbytery, which banned all organ music in worship, as being contrary to the law of the land and of the Church. He promised to come back with his reasoning.[23]

He married Ann Stewart on 22 June 1773, a year after he had been ordained, and had six sons and three daughters by her. Principal Taylor died on 29 March 1823, having outlived his wife and all but one of his numerous children.[2] (Another, not immediately related William Taylor, junior was Minister of St Enoch's, Glasgow, and became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1806.)

Publications

References

  1. ↑ William Taylor. Glasgow University (multi-tab page)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Scott, p. 458
  3. ↑ Scott, p. 172
  4. ↑ The North British Intelligencer; or Constitutional Miscellany, edited by Robert Dick and A Belshis Vol V Edinburgh 1777 p. 31
  5. 1 2 3 Emerson, p. 200
  6. ↑ Statistical Account of Scotland (1792) Vol V Parish of Glasgow, p. 517
  7. ↑ Duncan, William James Notices and documents illustrative of the literary history of Glasgow Maitland Club, Glasgow (1831) p. 134
  8. ↑ Scottish Thought and Letters in the Eighteenth Century
  9. ↑ Emerson, p. 183
  10. 1 2 Emerson, p. 199
  11. ↑ Cleland, pp. 279–80
  12. ↑ Abbot, Charles The diary and correspondence of Charles Abbot, Lord Colchester: Speaker of the House of Commons Vol II, J Murray, London, 1861, p. 595
  13. ↑ 'Acts: 1798' Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1638–1842 (Church Law Society, Edinburgh 1843), pp. 858–865.
  14. ↑ Trust in God, an incitement to national exertion: a sermon, preached on Thursday 8 March 1798, being the day appointed by the King for a national fast. / By the Rev. William Taylor, D.D Minister of the High Church of Glasgow. Glasgow, The Courier Office 1798
  15. ↑ French irreligion and impiety alarming to Christians. An address to the people of Scotland. By William Taylor,Glasgow, The Courier Office 1794
  16. ↑ The Monthly Anthology, and Boston Review, Vol V, 1808, Boston, USA, p. 185
  17. ↑ The Eclectic Review (New Series) Vol XX London 1823, p. 468
  18. ↑ The Edinburgh Monthly Magazine [afterw.] Blackwood's Magazine ..., Volume 4, 1819, Edinburgh, p. 620
  19. ↑ Muirhead, James Patrick, The Life of James Watt: with selections from his correspondence J. Murray London 1858, p. 430
  20. ↑ Cleland, p. 443
  21. ↑
    • The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany, Volume LXVII 1805, p. 401
  22. ↑ Cleland, p. 238
  23. ↑ A statement of the proceedings of the Presbytery of Glasgow, relative to the use of an organ in St. Andrew's church on the 23d August, 1807 Glasgow Presbytery 1808 p. 20

Sources

External links

See also

Church of Scotland titles
Preceded by
John Adamson		 Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
1798 		Succeeded by
William Moodie
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