Robert Small

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1732–1808) 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 1791. He was keenly interested in mathematics and astronomy and was a founder member of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

, (elected

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

on 17 November 1783) to whose ''Transactions'' he contributed a paper proving some

theorem In mathematics and formal logic, a theorem is a statement (logic), statement that has been Mathematical proof, proven, or can be proven. The ''proof'' of a theorem is a logical argument that uses the inference rules of a deductive system to esta ...

s in

geometry Geometry (; ) is a branch of mathematics concerned with properties of space such as the distance, shape, size, and relative position of figures. Geometry is, along with arithmetic, one of the oldest branches of mathematics. A mathematician w ...

. He was Minister of the first charge (St Mary's) in the Parish of Dundee, and used his mathematical abilities to compile, in 1792, an exemplary Report on his Parish for the

First Statistical Account of Scotland The ''Statistical Accounts of Scotland'' are a series of documentary publications, related in subject matter though published at different times, covering life in Scotland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The ''Old (or First) Statistica ...

. In 1804 he published an explanation of

Kepler's laws of planetary motion In astronomy, Kepler's laws of planetary motion, published by Johannes Kepler in 1609 (except the third law, which was fully published in 1619), describe the orbits of planets around the Sun. These laws replaced circular orbits and epicycles in ...

. He was very active in social improvements in his parish, organising (in conjunction with Robert Stewart, a surgeon) a subscription for Voluntary Dispensary, and Surgery, which eventually became

Dundee Royal Infirmary Dundee Royal Infirmary, often shortened to DRI, was a major teaching hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Until the opening of Ninewells Hospital in 1974, Dundee Royal Infirmary was Dundee's main hospital. It was closed in 1998, after 200 years of opera ...

Life

Small was born on 12 December 1732 in

Carmyllie Carmyllie (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Càrn Mhoillidh'') is a rural parish in Angus, Scotland. It is situated on high ground between Arbroath, on the coast, and the inland county town of Forfar. The main human settlement, settlements in the pa ...

, Angus, the son of Rev. James Small (d.1771), the local minister, and his wife, Lillias Scott. As was normal with the clergy he was from a gentrified background. Robert received his education at

Dundee Grammar School The High School of Dundee is a private, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only private sc ...

. He then studied Divinity at the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

graduating BD around 1750. He was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population ch ...

by the Town Council of

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

to be preacher in the Cross Church and catechist and took up post on 2 May 1759. He was called to be minister of the first charge of the Parish of Dundee, St Mary's, where he was ordained on 20 May 1761. He was appointed chaplain to the Royal Highlanders (83rd Foot) in 1778. He was awarded an honorary doctorate (DD) by his alma mater in the same year. In 1783 he was a co-founder of the

. He was called before the General Assembly to reply to charges that, when ordaining Elders, on 9 September 1798, in his Parish he asked unconventional, surprise questions, and did not require them to subscribe to the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

. He was admonished and warned to be more careful in future. On Thursday 29 May 1800, the Assembly voted to

''enjoin Dr Small to be careful hereafter, to testify, by his whole conduct, that respect for the Standards of this Church, and for the fences wisely provided by our Ecclesiastical Constitution, against dangerous innovation, which corresponds to the declaration stated in his defences, as repeatedly made by him in the Kirk-session of Dundee, that he glorified in the Confession of Faith''.

He was reputed to be an excellent classical scholar and an interesting preacher, well versed in natural philosophy and mathematics and was a patron of literature. His brother,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

was by profession a physician but seems to was more active in scientific and industrial concerns. He emigrated for a time to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, where he was Professor of Mathematics at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public university, public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III of England, William III and Queen ...

and tutored

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

, but returned to Britain, carrying a letter of introduction from

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (April 17, 1790) was an American polymath: a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher and Political philosophy, political philosopher.#britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the m ...

to the industrialist

Matthew Boulton Matthew Boulton ( ; 3 September 172817 August 1809) was an English businessman, inventor, mechanical engineer, and silversmith. He was a business partner of the Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century, the par ...

. In turn, Dr Small introduced Boulton to

James Watt James Watt (; 30 January 1736 (19 January 1736 OS) – 25 August 1819) was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved on Thomas Newcomen's 1712 Newcomen steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776, which was f ...

Robert Small was an integral part of the

Scottish Enlightenment The Scottish Enlightenment (, ) was the period in 18th- and early-19th-century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By the eighteenth century, Scotland had a network of parish schools in the Sco ...

with worldwide connections to the broader

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. Both the Small brothers played a crucial part in the education of the economist and mathematician

William Playfair William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823) was a Scottish engineer and political economist. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfair invented several types of diagrams: in 1786 he introduced the line, area and ...

br>
Robert, in particular, recommended Playfair to

for the position of draughtsman and assistant. He died on 23 August 180

He is buried in the churchyard of

St Andrews Cathedral The Cathedral of St Andrew (often referred to as St Andrews Cathedral) is a ruined cathedral in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was built in 1158 and became the centre of the Medieval Catholic Church in Scotland as the seat of the Archdiocese o ...

Family

On 24 April 1764 Robert married Jean Yeaman of Blacklaw, daughter of a Patrick Yeaman of Blacklaw, a merchant and twice

Provost Provost may refer to: Officials Ecclesiastic * Provost (religion), a high-ranking church official * Prince-provost, a high-ranking church official Government * Provost (civil), an officer of local government, including the equivalent ...

of Dundee. His children were, Isabel, Lillias, James, Catherine and Agnes. His son, James, is described (in Fasti Ecclesiae) as "a manufacturer in Dundee, whose failure in business ruined his father".

Publications

* ''An account of the astronomical discoveries of

Kepler Johannes Kepler (27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws of p ...

'' (published by J Mawman, London 1804

* Demonstrations of some of Dr Matthew Stewart's General Theorems, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Vol 2, 1785, read by the author 7 February 178

* ''The Importance of the Poor'' illustrated in a sermon preached, 15 December 1793, on the occasion of making a charitable contribution, for the support of the Sunday-schools, lately opened in ... Dundee 1793 sold by Edward Lesslie * Defence delivered by Dr. Small, at the bar of the General Assembly, Edinburgh, 1800. * Statistical Account of Scotland, Vol 8, Number XI, page 192 et seq Town and Parish of Dundee by Rev Robert Small DD one of the Ministers of that City, Edinburgh 179

* The history of Dundee, from its origin to the present time : with a copious appendix containing a translation of the charter given by Charles I (Separately published version of his Statistical Report) Edinburgh 1842

Sources

* Scott, Hew ''Fasti ecclesiæ scoticanæ; the succession of ministers in the Church of Scotland from the reformation'' Vol V Synods of Fife and of Angus and Mearns, page 317, Edinburgh 1925 *

Founder Members * Acts of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 1638–1842, Church Law Society, Edinburgh 1843. *

James Patrick Muirhead James Patrick Muirhead FRSE (26 July 1813 – 15 October 1898) was a Scottish advocate and author, best known as the biographer of James Watt. Life Born at The Grove, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, he was son of Lockhart Muirhead; George Muirhead (lingu ...

, ''The Life of James Watt: with selections from his correspondence, J. Murray, London, 1858 '' * Descendants of James and Lillias Scott Small, Genealogy of David L. Crai

* The Dundee book: an anthology of living in the city, Billy Kay, Mainstream, 1990

References

External links

* Dundee in 1793 and 1833: the first and second statistical account

* The gazetteer of Scotland, Volume 1 By Robert Chambers, William Chambers, Jack 184

{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Robert Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 18th-century ministers of the Church of Scotland 18th-century Scottish Presbyterian ministers People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of St Andrews 1732 births 1808 deaths Founder fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish mathematicians Scottish astronomers Clergy from Angus, Scotland People associated with Dundee Health in Dundee