Alexander Duff was a Scottish missionary. He was born in 1806 at Perthshire and died in 1878. Educated at St Andrews, in 1829 he became the first missionary sent by the Church of Scotland when he was sent to India. Arriving in Calcutta after being twice shipwrecked, he began associating education with evangelism, and was instrumental in setting up many schools and colleges, and had much to do with the founding of Calcutta University. Research Alexander Duff
Sir Andrew Bartholemew Balfour was a Scotch botanist and physician. He was born in 1630 at Fifeshire in 1630 and died in 1694. After completing his studies at St Andrews and London, and travelling on the Continent, he settled at Edinburgh, where he planned, with Sir Robert Sibbald, the Royal College of Physicians, and was elected its first president. He also laid the foundation of a hospital in Edinburgh, which expanded into the Royal Infirmary. His familiar letters were published in 1700. Research Andrew Balfour
Andrew Bell was a Scottish clergyman. He was born in 1753 at St Andrews and died in 1832. He was the author of the mutual instruction or 'Madras' system of education. He took orders in the Church of England, and in 1789 went to India, where he became chaplain at FortSt George, Madras, and manager of the institution for the education of the orphan children of European soldiers. Failing to retain the services of properly qualified ushers, he resorted to the expedient of employing the scholars in mutual instruction; and after his return to Britain published a treatise on the monitorial or Madras system of education. Joseph Lancaster, a dissenter, began to work on the system, and a considerable amount of friction and rivalry ensued between the dissenters and the church party. Dr. Andrew Bell lived long enough to witness the introduction of his system into 12,973 national schools, educating 900,000 English children, and to know that it was employed extensively in almost every other civilized country. He latterly became a prebendary of Westminster, and was master of Sherborn Hospital, Durham. At his death he left 120,000 pounds for the erection and maintenance of schools on his favourite system, 60,000 pounds of which was set apart for his native town. Research Andrew Bell
Andrew Kennedy Hutchison Boyd was a Scottish clerical writer. He was born in 1825 and died in 1899. Educated at King's College, London, he entered the Middle Temple, and afterwards graduated at Glasgow University and entered the Scottish Church. He was parish minister from 1865 until his death, at St Andrews. He early made his name familiar, especially through his Recreations of a Country Parson, contributed to Fraser's Magazine, with his initials A. K. H. B. attached; and besides three series of these he wrote various collections of essays and papers, such as Graver Thoughts of a Country Parson; Leisure Hours in Town; Autumn Holidays of a Country Parson; Critical Essays of a Country Parson, etc. He also wrote rather full reminiscences in successive portions entitled Twenty-five Years of St Andrews; St Andrews and Elsewhere; and Last Years of St Andrews. Research Andrew Boyd
Balfour Stewart was a Scottish physicist. He was born in 1828 at Edinburgh and died in 1887. He was educated at St Andrews and Edinburgh. He went to Australia for several years and on his return was appointed successively assistant to Professor Forbes in Edinburgh, director of Kew Observatory, and professor of physics in Owen's College, Manchester. He wrote numerous books. Research Balfour Stewart
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson was an English doctor. He was born in 1828 at Somerby, and died in 1896. He graduated in medicine at St Andrews University in 1854 and in 1855 founded the Journal of Health. He gained the Astley Cooper prize for his treatise on the cause of the Coagulation of the Blood and the Fothergillian gold medal for a disquisition on the Diseases of the Foetus in Utero. He originated the use of ether spray for the local abolition of pain in surgical operations, and introduced methylene bichloride as a general anaesthetic. He was a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and of the Royal Society, and was knighted in 1893. He published works on medicine and hygiene, and was an earnest sanitary and temperance reformer. Research Benjamin Richardson
The Culdees were a religious body or order more. especially associated with the Celtic branch of the Catholic Church in Scotland from the 8th to the 13th centuries, communities of Culdees being mentioned as living at various places, including St Andrews, Glasgow, Iona, Dunkeld, Abernethy, Loch Leven, Monymusk, etc; while they were also known in Ireland, and are mentioned as existing in the north of England. The name is believed to be of Irish origin and to correspond with that of the Irish fraternity Cele De, the early form used in Scotland being Keledei. Etymologically the name is believed to come from Celtic words meaning one who is an attendant, associate, or closely connected with God, and to have been first applied to Irish hermits or anchorites, like the Latin designation Deicolas or 'God-worshippers'. The Culdees or Keledei of Scotland are first mentioned early in the 8th century, and according to Skene's investigations they 'originally sprang from that ascetic order who adopted a solitary service of God in an isolated cell as the highest form of religious life and who were termed Deicola', that they then became 'associated in communities of anchorites, or hermits; that they were clerics, and might be called monks, but only in the sense in which anchorites were monks'; and that they first made their appearance in the eastern districts of Scotland, succeeding the Columban monks - or monks of the church founded by Columba - who were driven from the kingdom of the Picts in the beginning of the 8th century.
Formerly very erroneous ideas prevailed regarding them, some holding that they were the earliest teachers of Christianity in Scotland, that their teaching was free from some of the doctrines most characteristic of the Roman Church, and that the ecclesiastical system established by them closely resembled the Presbyterian, and that this led to their suppression by the dominant body. The Culdees no doubt had some distinctive peculiarities, but not so great as to prevent them from becoming amalgamated with the Roman Church in its fully developed condition in Scotland. Though living in communities devoted to religion and in a manner somewhat similar to monks, they did not belong to any of the monastic orders, might possess private property of their own, and might even be married. Andrew Lang in his History of Scotland compares them to married fellows of an English college. Research Culdees
David Beaton was a British divine. He was born in 1494 and died in 1546. He was raised to the rank of cardinal in December, 1538 by Pope Paul III. On the death of his uncle, Archbishop James Beaton, he succeeded him in the see of St Andrews in 1539. After the accession of Mary he became Chancellor of Scotland, and distinguished himself by his zeal in persecuting members of the Reformed party, among the rest the famous Protestant preacher George Wishart, whose sufferings at the stake he viewed from his window with apparent exultation. At length a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was assassinated at his own castle of St Andrews, on the 29th of May, 1546. His private character was marked by pride, cruelty, and licentiousness. Research David Beaton
Sir David Brewster was a British natural philosopher. He was born at Jedburgh in 1781 and died in 1868. He was educated at Edinburgh University for the church, but was attracted by the lectures of Robison and Playfair to science. In 1807 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mathematical chair at St Andrews, but became in the same year MA of Cambridge, LLD. of Aberdeen, and member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to the Transactions of which he contributed important papers on the polarization of light.
In 1808 he became editor of the EdinburghEncyclopaedia, and in 1819, in conjunction with Jameson, founded the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, of which he was sole editor from 1824 until 1832. David Brewster was one of the founders of the British Association, and its president in 1850. In 1832 he was knighted and pensioned, and both before and after this time his services to science obtained throughout Europe the most honourable recognition. From 1838 to 1859 he was principal of the united colleges of St Leonard's and St Salvador at St Andrews, and in the latter year was chosen principal of the University of Edinburgh - an office which he held until his death in 1868.
Among his inventions were the 'polyzonal lens' (introduced into British lighthouses in 1835), the kaleidoscope, and the improved stereoscope. His chief works are a Treatise on the Kaleidoscope published in 1829; Letters on Natural Magic published in 1831; Treatise on Optics (1831); More Worlds Than One (1854) and biographies of Euler, Newton, Galileo, Tycho, Brahe and Kepler. Research David Brewster
Eadmer was an English monk and the friend and biographer of St Anselm. In 1120 he was chosen Bishop of St Andrews; but as the Scottish king refused to recognize the right of the Archbishop of Canterbury to consecrate him, he returned to England and died a simple monk about 1124. Besides the life of St Anselm, Eadmer wrote biographies of St Wilfrid, St Dunstan, St Odo, and other English saints, as well as a valuable history (Historia Novorum) of events in England and the English Church from 1066 to 1122. Research Eadmer
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Abbreviations
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