John Cunningham (1819–1893) was a Scottish minister who served as

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 ...

in 1886. He was instrumental in broadening appointments within 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 ...

to other

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

bodies. He was also the main mover in introducing

organs In a multicellular organism, an organ is a collection of tissues joined in a structural unit to serve a common function. In the hierarchy of life, an organ lies between tissue and an organ system. Tissues are formed from same type cells to a ...

into Scottish churches, which had previously sung

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

Life

He was born in Paisley on 9 May 1819, the son of Daniel Cunningham, an ironmonger, living and working at 53 High Street. He was educated at

Paisley Grammar School Paisley Grammar School is a secondary school in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Paisley, the largest town in Renfrewshire, Scotland. The school was founded in 1576 by royal charter of James VI of Scotland, King James VI and is situated on Glasgow Road. T ...

then studied Divinity at both

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 ...

and

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 ...

. At the latter he won Prof Wilson's prize for poetry with his poem "The Hearth and the Altar". He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of the

in Paisley in 1845. He worked briefly in Lanark then was ordained at

Crieff Crieff (; , meaning "tree") is a Scottish market town in Perth and Kinross on the A85 road between Perth, Scotland, Perth and Crianlarich, and the A822 road, A822 between Greenloaning and Aberfeldy, Scotland, Aberfeldy. The A822 road, A822 joins ...

in August 1845. He served as minister of Crieff Parish Church for 41 years. In 1860 Edinburgh University awarded him an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

(DD). In 1867 he came to fame whilst still at Crieff in a court case known as the "Crieff Organ Case", where he won the right to install an organ in his church. The court case caused a wave of church organs to be installed across Scotland. In 1886 he succeeded Very Rev

Alexander Ferrier Mitchell Alexander Ferrier Mitchell (1822–1899) was a Scottish ecclesiastical historian and Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1885. Life He was born at Brechin on 10 September 1822, son of David Mitchell, convener of local g ...

. He was elected Principal of

St Mary's College, St Andrews St Mary's College, founded as New College or College of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is the home of the Faculty and School of Divinity within the University of St Andrews, in Fife, Scotland. History The college was founded in ...

in the same year (replacing

John Tulloch John Tulloch (1 June 1823 – 13 February 1886) was a Scottish theologian and Presbyterian minister. Life Tulloch was born at Dron, south of Bridge of Earn, Perthshire, one of twin sons of Elizabeth (née Maclaren), the daughter of a Perthshi ...

) and also awarded a further doctorate (LLD) from Glasgow University. In 1887 he got a third doctorate (LLD) from

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

. He died in

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

on 1 September 1893.

Family

In December 1846 he married Susan Porteous Murray (d.1902) only daughter of Crieff banker, William Porteous and Susan Porteous. They had at least seven children. They had a daughter, Susan Porteous Cunningham (1852-1913). She married Rev Robert Davidson, minister of

St Cyrus St Cyrus or Saint Cyrus (), formerly Ecclesgreig (from ) is a village in the far south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. General information Traditional salmon fishing with nets is still conducted from St Cyrus beach. Two ice houses that used to pro ...

. They were parents to the anatomist

Daniel John Cunningham Daniel John Cunningham, (15 April 1850 – 23 July 1909) was a Scottish physician, zoologist, and anatomist, famous for ''Cunningham's Text-book of Anatomy'' and ''Cunningham's Manual of Practical Anatomy''. Biography Cunningham was born ...

Publications

*Popery and Scotch Episcopacy Compared (1849) *Church History of Scotland 2 vols (1859) (second edition 1882) *The Quakers: An International History (1868) (second edition 1897) *New Theory of Knowing and Known (1874) *Home Spun Religion (1880) *The Religion of Love (1880)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, John 1819 births 1893 deaths People from Paisley, Renfrewshire Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of St Andrews Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland People from Crieff