John Henry Lorimer - Archibald Hamilton Charteris

Archibald Hamilton Charteris (13 December 1835 – 24 April 1908) was a Scottish theologian, a

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 ...

, professor of

biblical criticism Modern Biblical criticism (as opposed to pre-Modern criticism) is the use of critical analysis to understand and explain the Bible without appealing to the supernatural. During the eighteenth century, when it began as ''historical-biblical c ...

at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and a leading voice in Church reforms. He is credited as being the father of the Woman's Guild and founder of "Life and Work" magazine.

Life

He was born in

Wamphray Newton Wamphray is a village in Dumfries and Galloway. Wamphray is the name of the surrounding parish and of the Wamphray Water, which flows south-west through the Wamphray Glen to join the River Annan near the small village, or hamlet, of Newto ...

,Obituary of Matthew Charteris, BMJ, July 1897

Dumfriesshire Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries () is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the hi ...

, the eldest son of John Charteris, the parish schoolmasterLife and Work, May 1908, obituary and his wife, Jean Hamilton, daughter of Archibald Hamilton a farmer at Broomhills. Charteris studied Divinity at the

graduating MA in 1854 and then did postgraduate studies in both Tubingen and

Bonn University The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Will ...

in Germany. In 1858 he was ordained a parish minister of

St Quivox St Quivox is a small Scottish village north of Ayr and east of Prestwick. It lies on the B7035 east of the A77 road, A77. History The uniquely named village is said to be a corruption either of St Kevoca, St Kevoch or St Kennocha. It is tho ...

in Ayrshire in place of Rev Stair Park McQuhae, his patron being Alexander Haldane Oswald of

Auchincruive Auchincruive is a former country house and estate in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located east of Ayr, on the north bank of the River Ayr. Auchincruive House was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier mansion. In 1927, the estat ...

House. In 1859 he translated to

New Abbey New Abbey () is a village in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is south of Dumfries. The summit of the prominent hill Criffel is to the south. History The village has a wealth of history incl ...

Galloway Galloway ( ; ; ) is a region in southwestern Scotland comprising the counties of Scotland, historic counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire. It is administered as part of the council areas of Scotland, council area of Dumfries and Gallow ...

and then

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

. In 1868 he became Professor of Biblical Criticism at the

, until his retirement due to ill health in 1898. He was

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 1892 and founded Edinburgh's Deaconess Hospital in 1894. Charteris also led the foundation of the St Ninian's Mission next to the Deaconess Hospital on

Pleasance Pleasance may refer to: People * Pleasance Pendred (1864–1948), British women's rights activist and suffragette * Pleasance Smith (1773–1877), English letter writer, literary editor and centenarian * Richard Pleasance, Australian rock musici ...

in 1891. In 1913, the attached mission church was named Charteris Memorial in his memory. Since 2016, the complex has been known as the

Greyfriars Charteris Centre The Greyfriars Charteris Centre is a community centre in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the mission of Greyfriars Kirk. The centre opened in 2016 and occupies the 20th century church buildings which became Kirk o' Field Parish Church ...

in his memory. He was appointed a Chaplain-in-Ordinary in Scotland to

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

in October 1901. Charteris was a conservative Biblical scholar, and a mild

Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...

. In April 1875, he was accused of writing an anonymous review in the

Edinburgh Evening Courant The ''Edinburgh Courant'' was a broadsheet newspaper from the 18th century. It was published out of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Its first issue was dated 14–19 February 1705 and was sold for a penny. It was Scotland's first regional newspa ...

William Robertson Smith William Robertson Smith (8 November 184631 March 1894) was a Scottish orientalist, Old Testament scholar, professor of divinity, and minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He was an editor of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' and contributor ...

's article on the Bible in the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

. His criticism led indirectly to Robertson Smith's trial for heresy in the

Free Church of Scotland In contemporary usage, the Free Church of Scotland usually refers to: * Free Church of Scotland (since 1900), that portion of the original Free Church which remained outside the 1900 merger; extant It may also refer to: * Free Church of Scotland (1 ...

. However, it was perhaps as a churchman that Charteris exercised his greatest influence. He was instrumental in initiating the Church's

Committee of Christian Life and Work A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

in 1869. He founded the magazine '' Life and Work'' in 1879, and began the

Young Men's Guild The Young Men's Guild (YMG), commonly referred to as Amadodana, is a lay organization of the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA). Focusing on spiritual development, leadership, and community service among men, the YMG has played a vital r ...

and the Woman's Guild. He also was a leading proponent of the restoration of the office of Deaconess within the Church. In 1887 he founded the Church of Scotland's Woman's Guild. In 1880 he passed the editorship of ''Life and Work'' to Rev John McMurtrie. In 1900-1901 he is listed as living in Cameron House on Dalkeith Road (now part of

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 ...

Pollock Halls of Residence Pollock or pollack (pronounced ) is the common name used for either of the two species of North Atlantic marine fish in the genus ''Pollachius''. '' Pollachius pollachius'' is referred to as "pollock" in North America, Ireland and the United Ki ...

). He died on the afternoon of Friday 24 April 1908. He is buried with his parents in his home town of

Family

His brother was

Matthew Charteris Matthew Charteris MD FRSE LRCSE (1840 – July 1897) was a Scottish physician and academic who was the Regius Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Glasgow. He was also the author of the standard medical textbook the ''Practice of M ...

, Regius Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics 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 ...

. His wife was the philanthropist Catherine Charteris, daughter of Sir Alexander Anderson (advocate and Lord Provost of Aberdeen). They married on 18 November 1863 in Aberdeen, but had no children.

Sources

''Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology'' Wright, D.F. ''et al.'' (eds) Edinburgh 1993 {{DEFAULTSORT:Charteris, Archibald 19th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1835 births 1908 deaths Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians Academics of the University of Edinburgh People from Dumfries and Galloway Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish biblical scholars Scottish literary critics