Robert Trail DD (1720–1775) was an 18th century Scottish minister who served as Professor of both Oriental Languages and Divinity at

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

and as

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

in 1762.

Life

Trail was born in the small village of Benholme in

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire or the County of Kincardine, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the stewartry"), is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area on the ...

in 1720, the second son of Rev William Trail, the parish minister. He studied at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

and was licensed by the Presbytery of Brechin to preach as a minister of the Church of Scotland in August 1744.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott In April 1745, Trail was presented by the Crown to the congregation of Kettins. In January 1746 he was formally ordained, taking place at

Meigle Meigle (, ) is a village in Strathmore, Angus, Strathmore, Scotland. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross in the Coupar Angus and Meigle ward. It lies on the A94 road, A94 road between Perth and Forfar.The A94 used to be the main ro ...

due to a mob assembling at Kettins. In December 1753 he translated from

Kettins Kettins is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland about northeast of Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous ci ...

to St Mary's Church in Banff (Banff Parish Church). In 1760

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

awarded him a

Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (DD or DDiv; ) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity (academic discipline), divinity (i.e., Christian theology and Christian ministry, ministry or other theologies. The term is more common in the Englis ...

.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 7; by Hew Scott In October 1761, Trail joined

as Professor of Oriental Languages. On the promotion of William Leechman to Principal, a few weeks later, Trail was asked to fill his place as Professor of Divinity. In 1762, Trail succeeded the John Hyndman as

the highest position in the Scottish Church. He was succeeded in turn by William Robertson. Trail died in Glasgow on 17 October 1775. His position at Glasgow University was filled by Rev Dr James Baillie.

Family

In November 1747 he married Christian Thomson daughter of Rev Thomas Thomson of

Auchtermuchty Auchtermuchty ( ; , 'upland of the pigs/boar') is a town in Fife, Scotland. It is beside Pitlour Hill and north of Glenrothes. History Until 1975 Auchtermuchty was a royal burgh, established under charter of James V of Scotland, King Jame ...

. No children are recorded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trail, Robert 1720 births 1775 deaths Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland Academics of the University of Glasgow