Andrew Bell (c. 1795–1861) was a minister of the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

, who served as

Moderator of the General Assembly The moderator of the General Assembly is the Chair (official), chairperson of a General Assembly (presbyterian church), General Assembly, the highest court of a Presbyterian or Calvinism, Reformed church. Kirk sessions and presbytery (church pol ...

in 1855.

Life

Torphichen Preceptory and Parish Church - geograph

He was born the son of John Bell, a farmer on

Hill of Tarvit The Hill of Tarvit is a 20th-century mansion house and gardens in Fife, Scotland. They were designed by Sir Robert Lorimer and are today owned by the National Trust for Scotland. Description The house is situated on a hillside a mile and a ...

in central

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. He studied at the nearby

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of

Linlithgow Linlithgow ( ; ; ) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a historic route between Edi ...

on 31 December 1817.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; by Hew Scott In March 1822 he was ordained at the church of

Torphichen Torphichen ( ) is a historic small village located north of Bathgate in West Lothian, Scotland. The village is approximately west of Edinburgh, south-east of Falkirk and south-west of Linlithgow. The village had a population of 570 in the ( 2 ...

West Lothian West Lothian (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, bordering (in a clockwise direction) the City of Edinburgh council area, Scottish Borders, South Lanarkshire, North Lanarkshire and Falkirk (council area), Falkirk. The modern counci ...

. In June 1827 he was presented by

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

to the congregation of Linlithgow Parish Church and was formally translated there in June 1827 in place of James Dobie. In July 1842 St Andrews University awarded him an honorary

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 ...

. In 1855 he succeeded James Grant 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 ...

, the highest position in the Scottish Church. He was succeeded in turn by John Crombie of Scone. He died in Linlithgow on 7 February 1862.

Family

In August 1861, he married Clementina Napier, widow of Henry Glassford of Dougalston.

Artistic recognition

He was portrayed by John Adam Houston and this was made into a

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...

by T. G. Flowers. This is held at the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collec ...

Publications

*''Statistical Account of Linlithgow'' (1845)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Andrew 1790s births 1861 deaths Year of birth uncertain Clergy from Fife Alumni of the University of St Andrews Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland