Henry Drummond FRSE FGS (17 August 1851 – 11 March 1897) was a Scottish evangelist,

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

, writer and lecturer. Many of his writings were too adapted to the needs of his own day to justify the expectation that they would long survive it. His sermon "The Greatest Thing in the World" remains popular in Christian circles.

Early life

Drummond was born at Park Place in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, the son of William Drummond (d.1888) a seedsman and founder of Drummond Seeds, and his wife, Jane Campbell Blackwood (d.1910). His early education was at

Stirling High School Stirling High School is a state high school for 11- to 18-year-olds run by Stirling Council in Stirling, Scotland. It is one of seven high schools in the Stirling district, and has approximately 972 pupils. It is located on Torbrex Farm Road, ...

and

Morrison's Academy Morrison's Academy is a co-educational independent day school in Crieff, Perth and Kinross, in Central Scotland. The school provides nursery, primary and secondary school facilities. It draws many pupils from surrounding Perth and Kinross ...

. Drummond was educated at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

, where he displayed a strong inclination for physical and mathematical science. The religious element was an even more powerful factor in his nature, and he entered the Free Church of Scotland. While preparing for the ministry, he became for a time deeply interested in the evangelizing mission of D.L. Moody and I.D. Sankey, where he was active for two years. Theologically, Drummond was significantly influenced by the Reveil movement in Reformed Protestantism.

Career

In 1877 he was lecturer on natural science in the Free Church College on Lynedoch Street in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, which enabled him to combine all the pursuits for which he felt a vocation. Drummond advocated for

theistic evolution Theistic evolution (also known as theistic evolutionism or God-guided evolution) is a theological view that God creates through laws of nature. Its religious teachings are fully compatible with the findings of modern science, including biological ...

. His studies resulted in his writing ''Natural Law in the Spiritual World'', the argument being that the scientific principle of continuity extends from the physical world to the spiritual. Before the book was published in 1883, an invitation from the African Lakes Company took Drummond to Central

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. In 1880 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This socie ...

. His proposers were Sir

Archibald Geikie Sir Archibald Geikie (28 December 183510 November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer. Early life Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband James Stuart Geikie, a musician and music critic. T ...

William Thomson, Lord Kelvin William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin, (26 June 182417 December 1907) was a British mathematician, mathematical physicist and engineer born in Belfast. Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Glasgow for 53 years, he did important ...

John Gray McKendrick John Gray McKendrick FRS FRSE FRCPE LLD (12 August 1841 – 2 January 1926) was a distinguished Scottish physiologist. He was born and studied in Aberdeen, Scotland, and served as Regius Professor of Physiology at the University of Glasgow fro ...

, and Sir

Robert Christison Sir Robert Christison, 1st Baronet, (18 July 1797 – 27 January 1882) was a Scottish toxicologist and physician who served as president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1838–40 and 1846-8) and as president of the British ...

. On his return in the following year he found himself famous. In 1884 he was a guest at

Haddo House Haddo House is a Scottish stately home located near Tarves in Aberdeenshire, approximately north of Aberdeen (). It has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since 1979. The Gordons, who later became the Earls of Aberdeen and Marques ...

for a dinner hosted by

John Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon, 1st Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair, (3 August 1847 – 7 March 1934), known as The 7th Earl of Aberdeen from 1870 to 1916, was a British politician. Born in Edinburgh, Lord Aberdeen held office in several coun ...

in honour of

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

on his tour of Scotland. Large bodies of serious readers, among the religious and the scientific classes alike, discovered in ''Natural Law'' the common ground they needed; and the universality of the demand proved, if nothing more, the seasonableness of its publication. Drummond continued to be actively interested in missionary and other movements among the Free Church students. In 1888 he published ''Tropical Africa'', a valuable digest of information. In 1890 he travelled in Australia, and in 1893 delivered the Lowell Lectures in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He had meant to keep them aside for mature revision, but an attempted piracy compelled him to hasten their publication, and they appeared in 1894 under the title of ''The Ascent of Man''. Their object was to ratify altruism or, the disinterested care and compassion of animals for each other, important in effecting the survival of the fittest, a thesis previously maintained by philosopher Professor John Fiske.

Personal life

A bachelor, Drummond never married and had no children. In this late stage of his life he lived at 3 Park Circus in

Death

Drummond's health failed shortly afterwards – he had suffered from

bone cancer A bone tumor is an abnormal growth of tissue in bone, traditionally classified as noncancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Cancerous bone tumors usually originate from a cancer in another part of the body such as from lung, breast, thy ...

for some years, and he died on 11 March 1897 whilst travelling in

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. T ...

. His body was returned to Holy Rude Cemetery in Stirling for burial with his parents. The grave, marked by a large distinctive red granite Celtic cross, stands just north-east of the church. In 1905 a medallion plaque to his memory was erected in the Free Church College in Edinburgh, sculpted by

James Pittendrigh Macgillivray James Pittendrigh MacGillivray (1856 – 29 April 1938) was a Scottish sculptor. He was also a keen artist, musician and poet. He was born in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, the son of a sculptor, and studied under William Brodie and John Mossman ...

Selected writings

See Lennox's book for a fuller bibliography of Drummond's writings.* *
Natural Law in the Spiritual World
' (1883) *
Tropical Africa
' (1888) * '' The Greatest Thing in the World: an Address'' (1890) * '' The Greatest Thing in the World: and Other Addresses'' (1891) *
The Ascent of Man
' (1894) *
The Eternal Life
' (1896) * ''The Ideal Life and Other Unpublished Addresses'' (1897) *
The Monkey That Would Not Kill
' (1898) * ''The New Evangelism and Other Papers'' (1899)

References

External links

* * * *
Zaremba narration of The Greatest Thing in the World

''The Monkey Who Would Not Kill''
with full text and full page images from the

Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature The Baldwin Library of Historical Children's Literature in the Department of Special and Area Studies Collections at the University of Florida's George A. Smathers Libraries contains more than 130,000 books and serials published in Great Britain a ...

''Evangelicalism in Transition: A Comparative Analysis of the Work and Theology of D.L. Moody and His Proteges, Henry Drummond and R.A. Torrey,''
a Doctoral Dissertation by Mark James Toone, presented to the Faculty of St. Mary's College, University of St. Andrews, 1988 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drummond, Henry 1851 births 1897 deaths 19th-century evangelicals British nature writers British religious writers Evangelical writers People associated with Glasgow People educated at Morrison's Academy People from Stirling Scottish evangelicals Scottish non-fiction writers Theistic evolutionists Scottish biologists Modern Christian devotional writers 19th-century Ministers of the Free Church of Scotland