Review: Glasgow's Early Episcopalians

Roger Edwards' new book, Love and Loyalty: Looking for Glasgow's Early Episcopalians does far more than fill a useful gap in Scottish Episcopal History (which it does). It sets new standards for the semi-scholarly historical writing typical of Scottish Episcopalian history.

The first new standard is in the imaginative unearthing and use of very scarce sources. These are used not only to piece together a narrative but to challenge assumptions about episcopalian social history, for example, that 'not all episcopalians were wealthy and male' (p.21). Where national events impinge on the narrative, such as the coronation of George I, the battle of Sherriffmuir, or the arrival of Bonnie Prince Charlie's army after the '45, these are never shoehorned in from standard narratives, but told as the Glaswegians at the time would have heard about them, through locally-current ballads or descriptions of local responses.

The second, related new standard is Edwards' talent for historical visualisation, which takes the reader into the story with novelistic skill, while carefully adhering to the evidence. We are genteel worshippers being shuffled, terrified, in small groups out of the church into an angry mob throwing snowballs and threatening serious violence. We are small boys giggling and chasing after William Cockburn shouting 'Amen! Amen!'. We are Bonnie Prince Charlie, having to pass under the imposing equestrian statue of William of Orange as we go about the unfriendly city. There is nothing dry about this account. Ken Shaw's original illustrations of the churches add to this quality.

I found all kinds of interesting things in this book. Perhaps the most interesting was the clarification of what the much-used phrase 'high church' meant in Scotland. This included what now seems a bizarre enthusiasm for the feast of King Charles the Martyr, and the insistence on celebrating Christmas. It did not involve, for example, liturgical worship (the English Prayer Book was known as the 'English Mass') or a prominent communion table (dangerously superstitious). It was a long way removed from later Tractarian or Ritualist ideas, for all their insistence that they were reviving old Scots religion.

Roger Edwards promises a second edition (on-demand publication makes this easy), featuring the scholarly apparatus of references and index. This will certainly enhance the scholarly value of the work. I would also suggest its accessibility to the general reader would be enhanced by a dramatic personae with names, dates, occupations and relationships, to help us navigate the large cast of characters. A map would also be very useful especially for the non-Glaswegian reader.

But let the second edition not lose the best feature of this sort of history book: the infectious enthusiasm of the local tour-guide. 'I can recommend an excursion to the Auld Kirk at Kilbirnie'. Come on, let's pack the picnic!

Roger Edwards, Love and Loyalty: Looking for Glasgow's Early Episcopalians (2015) is available for £8 from lulu.com.

Eleanor Harris

The Diaries of Dean Charles Fyvie, 1829 and 1839-1841

Edited by Robert Preece (Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness, Inverness, 2013)

 

 

 

 

Dean Charles Fyvie was the minister of St John’s Episcopal Church in Church Street, Inverness, from 1819 until his death in 1849. At first he was appointed to serve solely in St John’s, but in 1839 he also became Dean of the Diocese of Moray (possibly Moray, Ross and Argyle) in what is now known as the Scottish Episcopal Church.

He left a notebook with a Sunday diary for part of 1829, and a daily diary for the years 1839 to 1841. This not only describes his clerical duties, but provides an account of middle-class life in and around Inverness at this period. In 1839, through his exertions he oversaw the opening of a new Church in Church Street, close to its present junction with Union Street. This replaced the smaller Church near to the north-east end of the street.

In 1922, extracts from these diaries were first published with some explanatory comment, but this booklet is now almost impossible to locate other than through specialist libraries. This new edition has copied the explanatory text from the 1922 edition, with corrections where necessary, but has the full text of the diaries. For the modern reader, notes identify many of the people mentioned and explain various events. Illustrations of the church and some key personalities have been added.

Robert Preece was for many years Principal Teacher of Geography at Inverness Royal Academy, and also a teacher of Media Studies. He has written the definitive history of the Academy, published in 2011, and also has produced an illustrated account of the history of the Scout Movement in its first hundred years in and around Inverness.

£6 from bookshops, or by post from:

Robert Preece, 10 Heatherley Crescent, Inverness, IV2 4AW

£5 for direct sales

Cheques payable to: Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness

ISBN: 978-1-905787-89-0

Printing and binding by For the Right Reasons, Printers and Publishers, 60 Grant Street, Inverness, IV3 8BN

Any surplus from sales of this book will be used to fund archive work in the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness  (Scottish Charity No. SC004655)

 

 

Books from St Ninian's, Perth

Historian Margaret Lye has published a series of books on Scottish Episcopalians in Perthshire, Angus and Fife. All of them are available to purchase on the St Ninian's Cathedral Website:

The Architecture of Hippolyte Jean Blanc, (1998). This is an honours dissertation at St. Andrews University of about 10,800 words on his church at Broughty Ferry for the Church of Scotland and at Invergowrie for the Episcopalians. £2

The Art of Henrietta Cater in St. Ninian’s MS1 & MS2, (2000): About 11,900 words and 12 colour plates this describes an illuminated manuscript of the Scotch Communion Office (MS1) presented to Bp. Torry in 1847 and decoration of a printed copy of the office (MS2). £3

A Guide to the Building and Development of St. Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth 1847-1914 (2003) About 23,500 words and 9 colour plates on the decision to build and stages in its development. £4

The Diaries of the Very Rev. G T S Farquhar (2007) Farquhar’s diaries cover the years 1881-1927 and amount to over 850,000 words. From 1883 he was based at St. Ninian’s and for most of the time was supernumerary of the diocese. They are in 2 volumes and include Lye’s Introduction of about 15,000 words. £8

A Guide to Episcopal Churches in the Diocese of St. Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane, (2010). About 76,900 words and over 90 colour plates. All 49 churches in the diocese are described. £5

Alexander MacDonald: Bard Of The Gaelic Enlightenment

This newly published set of thirteen conference papers on the Jacobite poet Alexander MacDonald was reviewed in the Herald:

His story provides a welcome counter to the modern fallacy that presents the Scottish Episcopal Church as the English Church. Whatever the ethnic origins of those who sit in its pews today, it was a very Scottish church whose genealogy goes back to Columba's Iona.

Click here to read the full article.

'In talent of the first rank; in inclination totally deficient'

John Mather, 1781-1850, First organist of St John's Episcopal Church, Edinburgh

If in Edinburgh around the time of Waterloo you passed a 'lusty man with spectacles' on the steep New Town streets, it might be John Mather, hurrying to visit his mistress, rehearse a chorus of 200 voices, give an organ lesson, escape an angry creditor or beat his unfortunate wife.

This lecture by Eleanor Harris marking the 200th anniversary of the concert series which launched his career introduces this colourful character of Regency Edinburgh. It explores the exalted aspirations and subsequent shambles in which John Mather launched the first Edinburgh Festival, the Choir of St John's, and the Edinburgh Institution for the Improvement of Sacred Music. It examines how the community of the New Town of Edinburgh dealt with a talented member who destroyed his own career through financial incompetence and domestic violence.

It includes a new edition by Anthony Mudge of John Mather's only extant composition, Hail to the Chief, a glee for three voices and keyboard, performed at the lecture.

Available for £4 from St John's Church Office, Princes Street, Edinburgh, 0131 229 7565, office@stjohns-edinburgh.org.uk