Cambuslang clergy

The sequence of Clergy of Cambuslang reflects pretty accurately the development of the Christian Church in Scotland.

The Catholic Church

The revenues of the Parish of Cambuslang (originally, Drumsagart) were obviously substantial enough for the priests to carry the title Rector. One - William Monypenny - had enough to endow a Chapel to Our Lady. These revenues also supported Vicars when the Rectors were made Prebendaries and were usually absent, attending to their official duties in Glasgow Cathedral. Cambuslang Parish was obviously a step on the career ladder of ambitious clerics who also had political ambitions. John Cameron (of the Lochiel Campbells) became Bishop of Glasgow - and made the Prebendaries of Cambuslang Chancelors of the Cathedral - and went on to hold all the Great Offices of State. David Beaton probably never even visited his Parish on his way up the ladder to become the Cardinal later murdered by soldiers supporting the Reformation in Scotland.

Both Cameron and Beaton were members of the Scottish aristocracy, as were a number of other Rectors and Prebendaries - such as Lord Claud Hamilton - and the “English Cleric” mentioned below no doubt accompanied the many Anglo-Norman adventurers who came to Scotland at the time. The issues associated with a the revenues of Cambuslang, and its entanglement with finding a living for young aristocrats, continued beyond the reformation. The revenues were in the hands of the landowners - the Heritors - who therefore nominated the Ministers, according to the Patronage Act, 1712.

The Established Protestant Churches

During the years of the Reformation, Cambuslang clergy were sometimes priests of the Episcopalian Church of Scotland and sometimes Ministers of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Several were doughty fighters for Presbyterianism - notably John Howison - while others, such as Patrick Hamilton gave their time to (sometimes provocative, not to say scurrilous) poetry. William M'Culloch organised great preaching festivals on the hillsides near his Kirk - inviting one of the founders of Methodism - George Whitefield - to meetings of upwards of 20 000 people. This “Cambuslang Wark” was part of an extraordinary series of revivalist movements which swept Scotland, England and New England in the 1740s. Many of Mr M’Culloch’s Elders opposed Duke of Hamilton’s nominee, Dr James Meek as his successor, on the grounds that he was unsound in doctrine. Dr Meek was a typical Moderate in the 18th Century Church of Scotland - well educated, ”enlightened”, well-connected - his friend and supporter was William Robertson, Principal of Edinburgh University - and more concerned with Christian conduct - which often meant good order - than what he thought of as the more contentious areas of scholastic Calvinist theology. He won the fight and was a much loved minister - followed in his place by Robertson’s nephew. The Rev Dr John Robertson died the year before a great split in the Church of Scotland over the long-standing issues of Patronage and doctrine. Later Ministers lived quieter lives. The Rev Dr Robert Blair not only helped translate the Bible into Gaelic - the found time to translate Gaelic Poetry. Robert Sibbald Calderwood wrote Bible Stories, but also proclaimed his patriotism on the coronation of George V.

Other Churches

In 1799 some Christians who were not prepared to attend the Parish Kirk - perhaps including some remnants of Mr M’Culloch’s Cambuslang Wark - rented a house to hold independent meetings. In 1801, they bought a building, which became known as the Tabernacle - in what is now Tabernacle Lane. David Dale, a Glasgow Merchant who lived nearby, contributed some money for this, and worshipped there himself. This began the Congregational Church in Cambuslang. After the Disruption of 1843, a Free Church of Scotland congregation was set up. The Duke of Hamilton gave land for and Episcopalian Church to serve the needs of English immigrants come to work in the Cambuslang collieries and Newton Steelworks. Later, Baptists and other Protestant denominations set up chapels, then more substantial churches. Similarly, Catholic immigrants from Ireland and the Highlands were served first by a chapel, then a more substantial church. Meanwhile, the growing population of Cambuslang meant that the Church of Scotland had to set up subsidiary churches - the mission church in Hallside , for example - to accommodate the growing population. These eventually became the separate Parishes the Church of Scotland - "Flemington Hallside Church, Trinity Parish Church" and "St Andrew’s Church of Scotland", are remaining examples. Smaller Protestant Churches were also set up - Cambuslang Evangelical Church for example, and the Gospel Hall.

Clergy of Cambuslang Parish Church

Pre-Reformation

RECTORS
* William, Rector of Drumsagart c 1180
* Conewall, Rector of Cambuslang c 1296
* An English Cleric c 1319
* William Monypenny c 1372
* John de Merton c 1387
* William de Fowlis, M.A. c 1421.
* John Cameron, M.A. c 1423 Later Bishop of Glasgow
* Thomas Roule c 1430

PREBENDARIES
* Thomas Roule c 1430
* John Cameron c 1438
* John Raulston c 1445 Later Bishop of Dunkeld
* John de Ironhose c 1458
* Edward de Calderwood, Vicar c 1458
* George Graham c 1462
* Alexander Hamilton, M.A. c 1497 - 1511
* David Burtoune, Chaplain - Vicar c 1500
* James Hamilton c 1503
* David Beaton - later Cardinal c 1520
* David Hamilton, cleric c 1531 - 1535
* William Hamilton c 1552 - 1570
* John Spreull c 1553
* James Lindsay, Vicar c 1554
* John Millar, Chaplain c 1565
* Lord Claud Hamilton c 1574

Post-Reformation Ministers

* James Lyndesay (Reader) 1560 -1572
* Adam Foulis 1572 -1580
* Mr John Howison 1580 -1618
* Robert Hamilton (Helper.)
* Mr Alexander Thomson 1623- 1626
* Mr Patrick Hamilton - Curate and poet 1626- 1645
* Mr John Baillie 1647- 1652
* Mr Robert Fleming 1653- 1663
* Mr David Cunningham Parson 1663- 1688
* Mr Archibald Hamilton 1688- 1723
* Rev William M'Culloch - 1731- 1771
* Rev Dr James Meek 1774- 1810
* Rev Dr John Robertson 1797 -1843
* Rev Dr James S Johnson 1809 -1881
* Rev Dr Robert Blair 1882 -1892 (as minister)
* Rev Dr J E Houston 1892 -1908 (as minister)
* Rev Robert Sibbald Calderwood - 1864 -

References

* Wilson, James Alexander OBE, MD "A History of Cambuslang: a Clydesdale parish". Chapter X Ecclesiastical History Jackson Wylie & Co Glasgow (1929)
* Porter, Wm Henry "Cambuslang and its Ministers" (in Mitchell Library - Glasgow Collection, reference GC941.433 CAM 188520 Box 952)