Elizabeth Brown Barr (2 October 1905 – 23 June 1995) was a British minister. She was the first woman to be a Presbyterian minister. She was the first female moderator of a general assembly of a Scottish church.

Life

Barr was born in

Dennistoun Dennistoun is a mostly residential district in Glasgow, Scotland, located north of the River Clyde and in the city's east end, about east of the city centre. Since 2017 it has formed the core of a Dennistoun ward under Glasgow City Council, h ...

in Glasgow in 1905. Her parents were Elizabeth (born Brown) and James Barr. Her father was a minister who would lead the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

and become a member of parliament. During the first world war, her parents took in a refugee Belgian family. Barr became friends with them and this friendship continued all her life. She attended

Bellahouston Academy Bellahouston Academy is a non-denominational state-run secondary school in Bellahouston, south-west Glasgow, Scotland. History Bellahouston Academy first opened in 1876 as a private school run by Alexander Sim. It was taken over by the Gov ...

and then was a model student at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

where she was a keen member of the Student Christian Movement. She won academic prizes culminating in a first class masters degree in 1925. left, The United Free Church, Auchterarder had the first woman minister in Scotland In 1929 (another source says 1930), the first meeting of the new church (that would be the

) passed an important resolution. At a time when women under 30 were not allowed to vote, the meeting agreed that "any member of the Church in full communion shall be eligible to hold any office within the Church"; the path was open for a woman to be a practising minister. She was accepted as a candidate and she returned to Glasgow University to study the

New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...

and to become a Bachelor of Divinity. She gained the churches license to preach on 12 September 1933. In 1935, she was ordained and left to run the parish of

Auchterarder Auchterarder (; gd, Uachdar Àrdair, meaning Upper Highland) is a small town located north of the Ochil Hills in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, and home to the Gleneagles Hotel. The High Street of Auchterarder gave the town its popular name of " ...

in what is now

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross ( sco, Pairth an Kinross; gd, Peairt agus Ceann Rois) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, Clackmannanshire, Dundee, Fife, Highland an ...

. She was the first woman to become a minister after nearly 400 years of a men-only Presbyterian clergy. In 1943, she moved parish to Clydebank, and in 1955, she led the parish of Glasgow Central. In 1966, she went to her final parish of Miller Memorial Church in Maryhill. She retired from there in 1975. She had become a leader in the church starting with the "Perth United Free Church Presbytery", where she was the moderator in 1939. In 1950, she was the moderator of the Glasgow presbytery, and ten years later she led her church's general assembly as its moderator on her church's 400th birthday. She was the first female moderator of a general assembly of a Scottish church.Keith Robbins, ''England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales: The Christian Church 1900–2000'' (Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 387–88. Barr died in the

Gartnavel General Hospital Gartnavel General Hospital is a teaching hospital in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland. The hospital is located next to the Great Western Road, between Hyndland, Anniesland and Kelvindale. Hyndland railway station is adjacent to the hospital ...

in Glasgow.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barr, Elizabeth 20th-century Scottish women 1905 births 1995 deaths People from Dennistoun Presbyterian ministers Alumni of the University of Glasgow Women Protestant religious leaders 20th-century Presbyterian ministers Ministers of the United Free Church of Scotland