Chalmers, Thomas, 1780-1847 (Principal and Professor of Divinity at New College)

Person

Staff Only

Dates

Existence: 1780 - 1847

Biography

The theologian, preacher, and philanthropist Thomas Chalmers was born in Anstruther, Fife, on 17 March 1780. He was educated first at the parish school and then at St. Andrews University where he became a keen mathematician and scientist. He also wanted to be a preacher and when he became a Minister at Kilmeny in Fife, in 1803, he also gave lectures on Chemistry at St. Andrews. As a preacher he made his name at the Tron Church from 1815, and at St. John's Parish, Glasgow, from 1820. In 1828, Chalmers became the first principal and Professor of Divinity at the New College, University of Edinburgh (then called Divinity Hall of the Free Church of Scotland), and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1832. Within the Church, Chalmers was the leader of the Evangelical party, and as such he proposed the Veto Act (1834) which gave some power to the parishes to reject a minister proposed by the patron. This stand against patronage contributed to the Disruption in 1843 when he led around one third of Church ministers to form the Free Church of Scotland. He became the first Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. The Rev. Dr. Thomas Chalmers died overnight on 30-31 May 1847.

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Bound volume of manuscript materials by and about Scottish poet Thomas Brown

Fonds — Box CLX-A-1593

Identifier: Coll-1986

Content Description Ths is a bound volume of manuscript material, correspondence and verse, by and about Thomas Brown, Scottish poet and Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1810 until the end of his life in 1820. The collection was almost certainly put together by his friend and colleague William Erskine, to whom the vast majority of the manuscripts are addressed.Contents: ...

Dates: 1797-1835

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

Collection of letters of Thomas Chalmers, mostly to Rebecca Bell

Fonds

Identifier: Coll-2083

Scope and Contents Collection of 15 signed autograph letters from Thomas Chalmers, Edinburgh and Burntisland, 1832-1842. All but one are addressed to Miss Rebecca Bell of Woodhouse Lee, Canonbie, Dumfriesshire (the remaining letter to George Bell of Leith), discussing the state of the Church of Scotland during the campaign that culminated in the Disruption and the establishment of the Free Church of Scotland in 1843. He also offers spiritual advice, and discusses Miss Bell's proposed foundation of a new...

Dates: 1832-1842

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

Letters from Thomas Chalmers to various correspondents

Fonds — Box CLX-A-360

Identifier: Coll-1856

Scope and Contents A group of thirteen letters from Thomas Chalmers to various correspondents, 1820-1846. Autograph Letter Signed to an unnamed correspondent, 16 February 1820: ('One reason for calling 1 upon you this evening was earnestly to solicit the hastening forward of our school estimates. Another was to speak to you of Mr McLeod in his capacity as a candidate for the reading school belonging to the Highland...

Dates: 1820-1846

Found in: University of Edinburgh Library Heritage Collections

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Subject: Correspondence X

University of Edinburgh Archive and Manuscript Collections

Chalmers, Thomas, 1780-1847 (Principal and Professor of Divinity at New College)

Dates

Biography

Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:

Bound volume of manuscript materials by and about Scottish poet Thomas Brown

Collection of letters of Thomas Chalmers, mostly to Rebecca Bell

Letters from Thomas Chalmers to various correspondents

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