David Rait (c. 1560–1632) was a Scottish clergyman in 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 ...

, serving as minister of

St Machar's Cathedral St Machar's Cathedral is a Church of Scotland church (building), church in Aberdeen, Scotland, located to the north of the city centre, in the former burgh of Old Aberdeen. Technically, St Machar's is no longer a cathedral but rather a Kirk ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and 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 Aberdeen in 1605.

Life

He belonged to the Rait family of Hallgreen in The Mearns. In 1598, he succeeded Alexander Arbuthnot as minister of

Old Aberdeen Old Aberdeen is part of Aberdeen in Scotland. Old Aberdeen was originally a separate burgh, which was erected into a burgh of barony on 26 December 1489. It was incorporated into adjacent Aberdeen by Act of Parliament in 1891. It retains the sta ...

and concurrently served as Principal of the nearby

King's College, Aberdeen King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland, the full title of which is The University and King's College of Aberdeen (''Collegium Regium Aberdonense''), is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and now an integral part of the Univer ...

. He chaired the General Assembly in Aberdeen in 1605 in his capacity as Moderator of the Synod. Rait received 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 ...

degree in 1620. He retired from St Machar's Cathedral in 1621, with Alexander Scrogie succeeding him, but continued as Principal of King's College until his death in 1632.

Family

In December 1592, he married Elizabeth Allardice, the daughter of John Allardice of Allardice Castle. The couple had one son, James Rait.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rait, David 1560 births 1632 deaths Academics of the University of Aberdeen Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 16th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 16th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers 17th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 17th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers