Malcolm MacColl (27 March 1831 – 5 April 1907)
was a Scottish cleric and publicist, noted for his views on
Islam and the
Eastern Question.
Early life
MacColl was a native
Scots Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...
speaker, the son of a poor crofter or labourer in
Glenfinnan
Glenfinnan ( gd, Gleann Fhionnain ) is a hamlet in Lochaber area of the Highlands of Scotland. In 1745 the Jacobite rising began here when Prince Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") raised his standard on the shores of Loch Shiel ...
. His father died when he was still a boy. Despite difficulties, MacColl succeeded in obtaining an education. He claimed
Jacobite
Jacobite means follower of Jacob or James. Jacobite may refer to:
Religion
* Jacobites, followers of Saint Jacob Baradaeus (died 578). Churches in the Jacobite tradition and sometimes called Jacobite include:
** Syriac Orthodox Church, sometimes ...
descent, and seems early to have adopted
High Church
The term ''high church'' refers to beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, liturgy, and theology that emphasize formality and resistance to modernisation. Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term originat ...
Anglican views. He won a place at
Trinity College, Glenalmond
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...
, for the
Scottish Episcopal
The Scottish Episcopal Church ( gd, Eaglais Easbaigeach na h-Alba; sco, Scots Episcopal(ian) Kirk) is the ecclesiastical province of the Anglican Communion in Scotland.
A continuation of the Church of Scotland as intended by King James VI, and ...
ministry, and was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church in 1857.
In May 1858 MacColl approached
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-con ...
in a letter warning him about measures against High Church bishops in the Scottish Episcopal Church, also alluding to his own financial circumstances. He tenaciously continued the correspondence, and eventually managed to meet Gladstone. There developed a lifelong friendship and political alliance. Gladstone secured preferment for his protégé, but MacColl never rose high in the Anglican Church. He refused to compromise his
Anglo-Catholic
Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.
The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...
theological views. Gladstone's first piece of assistance was to facilitate the young MacColl's transfer from Scotland to London and the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
.
MacColl was received as a priest of the Church of England in 1859, and then entered on a succession of curacies, in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and at
Addington Addington may refer to:
Places
In Australia:
* Addington, Victoria
In Canada:
* Addington, Ontario
* Addington County, Ontario (now Lennox and Addington County, Ontario)
* Addington Highlands, Ontario
* Addington Parish, New Brunswick
* Add ...
, Bucks. He also served between 1864 and 1867 as the Chaplain of the British Embassy in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, Russia, and Naples.
Campaigner
Despite limited knowledge of foreign languages, MacColl corresponded with continental Roman Catholic dissidents after the
First Vatican Council
The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I was convoked by Pope Pius IX on 29 June 1868, after a period of planning and preparation that began on 6 December 1864. This, the twentieth e ...
:
Josip Juraj Strossmayer
Josip Juraj Strossmayer, also Štrosmajer (; german: Joseph Georg Strossmayer; 4 February 1815 – 8 April 1905) was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic bishop, and benefactor.
Early life and rise as a cleric
Strossmayer was born in Osije ...
of Diakova, and
Ignaz von Döllinger
Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger (; 28 February 179914 January 1890), also Doellinger in English, was a German theologian, Catholic priest and church historian who rejected the dogma of papal infallibility. Among his writings which proved con ...
in Munich. He actrf as a discreet intermediary between them and Gladstone. Both Strossmayer and Döllinger were interested in the "Eastern Question" and the ending of Turkish rule in the Balkans. This, as well as similar currents of opinion in the Liberal Party, may have been responsible for MacColl's own interest in combatting Turkish political power during the last three decades of his life. From 1876 onwards, MacColl was an active defender of the Christian inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire, writing a series of vitriolic attacks on the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and its friends in Britain in letters to newspapers, articles in reviews, and publishing several books.
In August 1876, soon after the exposure of the killings of up to 15,000 Bulgarians the previous spring by Circassian irregulars in the Ottoman army, MacColl and
Henry Liddon
Henry Parry Liddon (1829–1890), also known as H. P. Liddon, was an English theologian. From 1870 to 1882, he was Dean Ireland's Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture at the University of Oxford.
Biography
The son of a naval capta ...
of
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglicanism, Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London ...
travelled to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
and
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
on a fact-finding tour. During a boat ride on the River Sava, then the frontier between
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...
and the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, the two clergymen claimed to have seen an impaled human corpse. Though their testimony could not be independently confirmed, and was challenged by the local British Consul who suggested that the object in question might have been only a bag of beans, MacColl and Liddon used this sighting as proof of the iniquity of Turkish rule in the Balkans. This fitted in with a theme in their sermons that those in Britain (such as Gladstone's arch-opponent
Benjamin Disraeli) who did not actively oppose Turkish rule were themselves guilty of its sins.
In his private correspondent with Gladstone after the Bulgarian atrocities, MacColl urged the Liberal leader to denounce the Ottomans and is perhaps partly responsible for the campaigning speeches Gladstone made on the issue in the last months of 1876 and early 1877. After returning to power Gladstone rewarded MacColl with the London living of
St George Botolph Lane
St George Botolph Lane was a church off Eastcheap, in the ward of Billingsgate in the City of London. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane, where the fire of London started. It was first recorded in the twelfth century, and destroyed in ...
, in 1871, and with a canonry of Ripon in 1884. The latter posting aroused the active opposition of
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...
who had not forgotten or forgiven MacColl's virulent campaign against the Ottoman Empire in 1876-78 after the 'Bulgarian Agitation'.
The living at Ripon was practically a sinecure. MacColl maintained a large house at Kirby Overblow, south of Harrogate, and continued to devote himself to political pamphleteering and newspaper correspondence, the result of extensive European travel, a wide acquaintance with the leading personages of the day, strong views on ecclesiastical subjects from a high-church standpoint, and particularly on the politics of the
Eastern Question, the uprising in
Crete
Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cypru ...
, then still an Ottoman province, the cause of the
Armenians
Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...
and
Islam.
Later life and death
MacColl was on close terms with
George I of Greece
George I (Greek: Γεώργιος Α΄, ''Geórgios I''; 24 December 1845 – 18 March 1913) was King of Greece from 30 March 1863 until his assassination in 1913.
Originally a Danish prince, he was born in Copenhagen, and seemed destined for ...
, and leaders of the Armenian movement. During the
Greco-Turkish War of April 1897, he visited
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...
to confer with the King, conveying the monarch's private views both to Gladstone and also to the Prime Minister
Lord Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...
. In the first years of the twentieth century, he was an opponent of the Muslim spokesmen
Syed Ameer Ali
Syed Ameer Ali Order of the Star of India (1849–1928) was an Indian/British Indian jurist hailing from the state of Oudh from where his father moved and settled down at Bengal Presidency. He was a prominent political leader, and author of a nu ...
and
Halil Hâlid
Halil Hâlid (1869 – 1931) was a Turkish writer, diplomat, academic and a member of the Ottoman Parliament. He was a teacher at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and the University of Istanbul in Turkey.
Early life and educatio ...
. He admonished them, arguing for instance that the Ottoman Sultan was not the
Caliph
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
of all Muslims.
MacColl died in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
on 5 April 1907. In his will, he left his library to the Gladstone collection at
Hawarden
Hawarden (; cy, Penarlâg) is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Deeside conurbation on the Wales-England border and is home to Hawarden Castle. In the 2011 census the ward of the same name ha ...
.
Works
Most of MacColl's earlier writings centred on the theology. After his arrival in London, he began to publish articles, writing with increasing proficiency. Major works include:
* ''Lawlessness, Sacerdotalism and Ritualism'' (1875), an attack on the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC) is the highest court of appeal for the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some Commonwealth countries and a few institutions in the United Kingdom. Established on 14 Augus ...
, associated with controversy over the
Public Worship Regulation Act 1874
The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict c 85) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing ritua ...
.
* ''The Eastern Question: Its Facts and Fallacies'' (1877), five editions.
* ''Three Years of the Eastern Question'' (1878), which appeared immediately after the
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at ...
had ended.
MacColl's research usually relied on British
Blue Book
A blue book or bluebook is an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of England. Th ...
collections of consular despatches, written up in a prosecutorial style.
Family
In 1904 MacColl married Consuelo Albinia Crompton-Stansfield, daughter of Major-General William Henry Crompton-Stansfield (1835–1888) of
Esholt Hall
Esholt Priory was a Cistercian priory in West Yorkshire, England which was sold after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and the present Grade II* listed Esholt Hall now stands on the site of the priory.
Esholt Priory
The priory was buil ...
.
MacColl had a younger brother,
Hugh MacColl
Hugh MacColl (before April 1885 spelled as Hugh McColl; 1831–1909) was a Scottish mathematician, logician and novelist.
Life
MacColl was the youngest son of a poor Highland family that was at least partly Gaelic-speaking. Hugh's father died w ...
, who became known as a logician. He had tried to persuade Gladstone to pay for Hugh to be educated at the
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...
; but Hugh had refused to become an Anglican priest as Gladstone insisted.
References
*
**Gladstone Correspondence, British Library, 1858.
***Gladstone Papers, 1884, British Library.
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccoll, Malcolm
1838 births
1907 deaths
Church of England priests
Scottish Episcopalian priests
People educated at Glenalmond College
Scottish political writers