Henry Grey (1778–1859) was a Scottish minister 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 ...

and following the

Disruption of 1843 The Disruption of 1843, also known as the Great Disruption, was a schism in 1843 in which 450 evangelical ministers broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland. The main conflict was over whether the Church of Sc ...

in the

Free Church A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1844.

Early life

Grey was born on 11 February 1778, at

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish border, inland from the North Sea ...

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

. His father was a physician in Morpeth. His education was at a private school in Highhedgely with a final 18 months in

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

. In Newcastle he attended lectures by

Henry Moyes Henry Moyes (1750–1807) was a blind Scottish lecturer on natural philosophy.A. D. Morrison-Low, ‘ Moyes, Henry (1749/50–1807)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004 Life As an itinerant public speak ...

(on a tour of Britain) and was greatly influenced by his thinking. His mother had an early breach with his father, and after his education moved with her son to

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

in 1793. There he passed through the usual course of study preparatory to entering into the office of the ministry in the

. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in November 1800. He was ordained in 1801.

Ministry

Grey's sympathies were wholly with the

evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

portion of the church. In September 1801 he was ordained as minister of the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

Stenton Stenton () is a parish and village in East Lothian, Scotland. It is bounded on the north by parts of the parishes of Prestonkirk and Dunbar, on the east by Spott and on the west by Whittingehame. The name is said to be of Saxon derivation. T ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; ; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a Counties of Scotland, historic county, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In ...

. This was a quiet place, where he spent 12 years, including getting married and starting a family. In 1813 he was called to the Buccleuch Chapel in south

- a charge recently formed by Rev Sir Wellwood-Moncrieff, as a Chapel of Ease to St. Cuthbert's parish to address the growing population inn south Edinburgh. Grey's discourses were presented in a scholarly style and fervent manner, leading the way for

Andrew Mitchell Thomson Andrew Mitchell Thomson (1779–1831) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, known as an evangelical activist and political reformer. Life The second son of the Rev. John Thomson, D.D., by his first wife, Helen Forrest, he was born in the ma ...

and

Thomas Chalmers Thomas Chalmers (17 March 178031 May 1847), was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, professor of theology, political economist, and a leader of both the Church of Scotland and of the Free Church of Scotland (1843—1900), Free Church of Scotl ...

Apocrypha controversy

On 11 January 1821 Grey was appointed to the New North Church, one of the four parish churches of Edinburgh contained within

St Giles Cathedral St Giles' Cathedral (), or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in the Old Town of Edinburgh. The current building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; significant alteratio ...

, in place of the late Rev David Dickson. In October 1824 the town council chose Grey as minister of St Mary's Church in the

Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. Bellevue or Belle Vue may refer to: Places Australia * Bellevue, Queensland * Bellevue, Western Australia * Bellevue Hill, New South Wales Canada * Bellevue, Alberta * Bellevue, Newfoundlan ...

district (which was still under construction) and on completion in January 1825 he was therefore its first minister, his first service there being on the first Sunday after 13 January. In the lead up to the

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...

, Grey had taken part in agitation against

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

. Four years after this last change of post, Grey clashed with Andrew Thomson, and they took opposite sides in the Apocrypha Controversy; they had been warm personal friends. In the

ecclesiastical {{Short pages monitor