David Welsh

Welsh was born at Braefoot Farm near Moffat on 11 December 1793, the youngest of 12 children of David Welsh, a sheep farmer at Earlhaugh and Tweedshaws, and his wife (and cousin) Margaret Welsh daughter of Alexander Welsh of Patervan.Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae; vol. 7; by Hew Scott, p. 390

He was educated at Moffat Parish School, and tutored at home by Rev McWhir, later minister of Urr in Galloway, then David was sent to the High School in Edinburgh. He studied divinity at the University of Edinburgh and was licensed to preach in 1816 by the Presbytery of Lochmaben. In 1821 he was ordained as minister of Crossmichael. From there he was translated to St David's Church in Glasgow.Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland: The Grampian Society, 1871 Glasgow University granted him a Doctor of Divinity (DD) in 1831.{{Cite web|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi|title=Account Suspended|website=royalsoced.org.uk|access-date=23 February 2020|archive-date=5 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200205122226/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cgi-sys/suspendedpage.cgi|url-status=dead}}

In the 1820s, Welsh was notable for his attempt to forge an alliance between the evangelicals and the Edinburgh Phrenological Society - then at the height of its influence. However, Welsh was out-manoeuvered by George Combe - the "high priest" of the phrenologists - who prohibited all discussion of religious matters at phrenological meetings. Welsh and his fellow evangelicals then left the society.

In 1831 he was appointed professor of ecclesiastical history in the University of Edinburgh. In 1834 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, his proposer being Sir William Hamilton.

Welsh later presided at a major event in 19th-century church history. In 1842 he was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland therefore being moderator during the critical Disruption of 1843. Sadly for the established church, but happily for the Free Church, he headed the secession on the day of the exodus. He then chaired the first General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland.{{cite Nuttall|noicon=1|title=Welsh, David}}{{PD-notice}} He is seen on the Disruption Painting by Hill to Thomas Chalmers's right holding the protest he read to the Church of Scotland assembly.

He was secretary of the Scottish Bible Board and also editor of the North British Review.

In later life he lived with his family at his Edinburgh townhouse, 59 Melville Street.Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directories 1840-47

He retired to Drumfork House near Helensburgh in his final years. He died of a heart attack on 24 April 1845 at Camus Eskan in Dumbartonshire, and is buried against the western outer wall of the southern section of St Cuthbert's churchyard in Edinburgh.

David Welsh was married to Mary Hamilton (1797–1873) in Glasgow on 1 June 1830.{{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Hew |title=Fasti ecclesiae scoticanae; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation |volume=7|page=[https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc07scot/page/390 390]|date=1915 |publisher=Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd |url=https://archive.org/details/fastiecclesiaesc07scot |access-date=27 February 2019}}{{PD-notice}} Mary was sister to William Hamilton, Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1826 to 1828.Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church of Scotland Her father John Hamilton was three times Lord Provost of Glasgow and her paternal grandfather Rev Dr John Hamilton served in St Mungos (Glasgow Cathedral) and was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1766.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146633009|title=Summary of Individual | Legacies of British Slavery}}

They had 10 children, including:{{fact|date=September 2024}}

• David James Welsh FRSE (1832–1890), Major-General in the Royal Artillery;
• John Hamilton (1833–1867), merchant;
• Helen (c. 1835 – ?);
• Margaret Mary (1837–1879), who married William A. Porter, secretary to the Maharaja of Mysore; and
• George Robert (1842–1844).

• The Life and Writings of Thomas Brown (1825)
• The Elements of Church History (1844)

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1=Allibone |first1=S. Austin |title=A critical dictionary of English literature and British and American authors, living and deceased, from the earliest accounts to the latter half of the nineteenth century. Containing over forty-six thousand articles (authors), with forty indexes of subjects |date=1897 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=J. B. Lippincott |pages=[https://archive.org/details/criticaldictiona03alli/page/2643 2643]-2644 |url=https://archive.org/details/criticaldictiona03alli|volume=3 |author-link=Samuel Austin Allibone}}
• {{cite book |last1=Welsh |first1=David |last2=Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop |first2=Alexander |author1-link=David Welsh |author2-link=Alexander Colquhoun-Stirling-Murray-Dunlop |title=Sermons by the Late Reverend David Welsh D.D. With a Memoir by A. Dunlop |date=1846 |publisher=W. P. Kennedy |location=Edinburgh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k1diAAAAcAAJ}}
• {{citeDNB|wstitle=Welsh, David|volume=60|first=George |last=Stronach|p=237-238|noicon=1}}

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Category:1793 births

Category:1847 deaths

Category:Scottish scholars and academics

Category:Academics of the University of Edinburgh

Category:Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Category:19th-century ministers of the Free Church of Scotland

Category:19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers

Category:People from Moffat

Category:19th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland