Gilbert Gerard (1760–1815) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

theological writer. He became the minister of the Scots Church, Amsterdam. He was professor of Greek at

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 ...

, 1791, and divinity, 1795. In 1803 he was

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 ...

. Lee, Sidney (1903),

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

br>Index and Epitomep. 488
(see also main article xxi 220)

Life

Gerard was born in Aberdeen on 12 August 1760, son of Jane (d. 1818), the eldest daughter of Dr John Wight of Colnae and the Very Rev Alexander Gerard. He studied at

graduating with an MA in 1777, going on to study divinity 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 ...

. On being licensed he became a

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minister of the Scots Church in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, and during his time there studied modern languages and literature, contributing to the ''Analytical Review''. In 1791 he returned to Aberdeen to take up the chair of Greek in King's College. On his father's death, in 1795, Gerard succeeded him in the Chair of Divinity, and in 1811 he added to his professorship the second charge in the collegiate church of Old Machar in north Aberdeen. He was a King's Chaplain, and was elected

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 ...

of the Church of Scotland in 1803. He became second charge minister of Old Machar on 19 September 1811, and died 28 September 1815.

Bibliography

*
Institutes of Biblical Criticism
' (Edinburgh, 1808) * ''Compendious View of the Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion'' (1828) by Alexander and Gilbert Gerard, based on their divinity lectures.

Family

On 3 October 1787, he married Helen, daughter of John Duncan, three times Provost of Aberdeen. The couple had five daughters and six sons. Three of the sons,

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

, James Gilbert, and

Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

, were known as explorers in India.

References

;Attribution 1760 births 1815 deaths Scottish Calvinist and Reformed theologians 19th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 19th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers Scottish classical scholars Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Aberdeen Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 18th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 18th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers {{Scotland-writer-stub