Alexander Russel was a Scottish journalist. He was born in 1814 at Edinburgh and died in 1876. He was appointed to the Berwick Advertiser in 1839, acting as reporter as well as editor; became editor of the FifeHerald at Cupar in 1842, and of a journal at Kilmarnock in 1844. He joined the staff of the Scotsman in Edinburgh in 1845 and was promoted to editor in 1848. His articles infused vigour and freshness into the paper. Under his able management, the Scotsman, hitherto issued twice weekly, appeared daily at the reduced price of one penny in 1855. Research Alexander Russel
Arthur Elphinstone, LordBalmerino was a Scottish Jacobite. He was born in 1688 and died in 1746. He took part in the Jacobite rebellion of 1715, and fought at Sheriffmuir. Having joined the young Pretender in 1745, he was taken prisoner at Culloden, tried at Westminster, found guilty, and beheaded. His title was from Balmerino in Fife. Research Arthur Elphinstone
Ebenezer Erskine was the founder of the SecessionChurch in Scotland. He was born in 1680 and died in 1756. He studied at Edinburgh, and was ordained minister of Portmoak, in Fife, in 1703, in which situation he continued for twenty-eight years, when he removed to Stirling. His attitude towards patronage and other abuses in the church led to his being deposed, when, in conjunction with his brother and others he founded the Secession Church. He was the author of several volumes of sermons. Research Ebenezer Erskine
Herbert Henry Asquith was an English politician. He was born in 1852 at Morley, Yorkshire and died in 1928. Educated at the City of London School and Balliol College Oxford he was called to the Bar in 1876 and became a QC in 1890. From 1886 until 1918 he was Liberal member of parliament for East Fife, being Home Secretary from 1892 until 1895 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1905 until 1908. From 1908 until 1916 he was prime minister, resigning in 1916 over a lack of progress in the Great War. He lost his seat in 1918 only to return to parliament in 1920 as member of Paisley as an Independent Liberal, rejoining the Liberal party and becoming leader from 1923 until 1926. In 1925 he was created the first earl of Oxford and Asquith. He is perhaps most notable for introducing the old-age pension in Britain. Research Herbert Asquith
John Baliol was King of Scotland from 1292 to 1296. He was born in 1249 and died in 1315. On the death of Margaret, the Maiden of Norway and grandchild of Alexander III, John Baliol claimed the vacant throne by virtue of his descent from David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother to William the Lion, King of Scotland, Robert Bruce (grandfather of the king) opposed John Baliol; but Edward I's decision was in favour of John Baliol, who did homage to him for the kingdom, On November the 20th, 1292. Irritated by Edward's harsh exercise of authority, John Baliol concluded a treaty with France, then at war with England; but after the defeat at Dunbar he surrendered his crown into the hands of the English monarch. He was sent with his son to the Tower, but, by the intercession of the pope in 1297, obtained liberty to retire to his Norman estates, where he died. His son, Edward, in 1332 landed in Fife with an armed force, and having defeated a large army under the regent Mar (who was killed), got himself crowned king, but was driven out in three months. Research John Baliol
John Campbell (LordCampbell) was a Lord-chancellor of England. He was born in 1779 at Cupar, Fife and died in 1861. He was the son of Dr. George Campbell, minister of Cupar, Fife, and was educated at Cupar, and afterwards at the University of St Andrews. In 1798 he went to London, and after acting some time as reporter and theatrical critic to the Morning Chronicle, entered himself a student of Lincoln's Inn, and in 1806 was called to the bar. He acquired a considerable practice, was elected member of parliament for Stafford in 1830, and two years after made solicitor-general.
In 1841 he was created Lord-chancellor of Ireland and raised to the peerage as BaronCampbell of St Andrews. Some years after he accepted a post in the ministry of LordJohn Russell and in 1850 was made chief-justice of the Queen's Bench, and nine years after was raised to the woolsack as lord-chancellor. He is known as the author of a considerable work, Lives of the Chancellors, which, with its supplementary volumes, Lives of the Chief-justices, enjoyed great popularity. Research John Campbell
Richard Cameron was a Scottish Covenanter. He was born at Falkland in Fife and died in 1680. Becoming an enthusiastic votary of the pure Presbyterian system, on the 20th of June, 1680, at the head of a small band of followers, he entered Sanquhar, and formally renounced allegiance to the king (Charles II) on account of his misgovernment. The little band kept in arms for a month in the mountainous country between Nithsdale and Ayrshire, but were at length surprised by a much superior force at Aird's Moss, and after a stubborn fight overcome. Cameron was amongst those killed. Research Richard Cameron
Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish divine. He was born in 1780 at AnstrutherEaster, Fife and died in 1847. At the age of twelve he was sent from the parish school to the University of St Andrews, and after studying there seven years, was licensed as a preacher in July, 1799. During the two following years he studied mathematics and chemistry in Edinburgh, and then became assistant to the professor of mathematics at St Andrews. In 1803 he was presented to the parish of Kilmany, in Fife, where he made a high reputation as a preacher. In 1804 he was defeated in an application for the chair of natural philosophy at St Andrews, and again in 1805 for the same chair in Edinburgh University. In 1808 he published an Inquiry into the Extent and Stability of National Resources. In 1813 his article on Christianity appeared in the EdinburghEncyclopaedia, and shortly afterwards his review of Georges Cuvier's Theory of the Earth, in the Christian Instructor.
His fame as a preacher had by this time extended itself throughout Scotland, and in 1815 he was inducted to the TronChurch of Glasgow. His astronomical discourses delivered there in the following winter produced a sensation not only in the city but throughout the country, 20,000 copies selling in the first year of their publication. It was while pastor of this church that he developed his scheme for the reorganization of the parochial system with a view to more efficient work among the destitute and outcast classes, his influence leading to a considerable extension of the means of popular instruction, both religious and secular.
In 1819 he was transferred from the Tron to St John's, a church built and endowed expressly for him by the Town Council of Glasgow, but his health having been tried by overwork he accepted, in 1823, the chair of moral philosophy at St Andrews. In 1827 he was elected to the divinity chair in the University of Edinburgh, an appointment which he continued to hold until the Disruption from the Scottish church in 1843. In 1832 he published his Political Economy, and shortly afterwards his Bridgewater Treatise On the Adaptation of External Nature to the Moral and Intellectual Constitution of Man. During this period he was occupied with the subject of churchextension on the voluntary principle, but it was in the great non-intrusion movement in the Scottish church that his name became most prominent.
Throughout the whole contest to the Disruption in 1843, he acted as the leader of the party that then separated from the Establishment, and may be regarded as the founder of the Free Church of Scotland, of the first assembly of which he was moderator. Having vacated his professorial chair in the Edinburgh University, he was appointed principal and primarius professor of divinity in the new college of the Free Church. In addition to his duties in these posts, he continued in Edinburgh his zealous labours for the elevation of the 'home-heathen', giving a practical exemplification of his schemes by the establishment of a successful mission in West Port. Research Thomas Chalmers
Abbreviations
Research Alexander Russel
