People

Rev. Dr. Robert Candlish ( 1806 – 1873)

Robert Candlish was born in Edinburgh and educated in Glasgow. He attended services in St. John's Church, where the preachers were Dr. Thomas Chalmers (1780 - 1847) and Edward Irving (1792 - 1834).

From 1831, he served as Assistant Minister at Bonhill in the Vale of Leven, but in 1834 moved to St. George's in Edinburgh, where he was ordained, took charge of the congregation and gained a reputation as a powerful preacher.

Central to church politics of the time, Candlish was one of the Ministers who left the Church of Scotland following the Disruption of 1843 and he became a leader of the Free Church. When Thomas Chalmers died, Candlish briefly replaced him as Professor of Theology at New College while retaining his role at St George's but, within a year, he had resigned the former role to concentrate on his preaching. However, in 1861 he was Moderator of the Free Church Assembly and accepted the Principalship of New College the following year, succeeding Prof. William Cunningham (1805-61).

Candlish was honoured by the award of a Doctorate of Divinity by Princeton College (New Jersey) in 1841. His works included Contributions towards the exposition of the Book of Genesis (in three volumes from 1846).

Although assisted by Alexander Whyte (1836 - 1921) at Free St. George's from 1870, the strain proved too much and he suffered an extended bout of illness and died three years later aged 67.

Rev. Alexander Whyte 1836 - 1921

Born out-of-wedlock in Kirriemuir, Whyte's mother struggled to bring him up in poverty. He became an apprentice shoemaker and was self-educated, fitting his studies between work. In 1854, he was sufficiently well-educated to obtain a position as school-master in Padanaram and the following year moved to another teaching position in Airlie. Here the Minister encouraged Whyte, teaching him Latin and Greek enabling him to enter King's College ,Aberdeen in 1858.

While in Aberdeen, he was asked to serve as temporary minister in Woodside Congregational Church. He went on to study divinity at New College, Edinburgh under Prof. Robert Rainy (1826 - 1906). He preached at Free St. John's in Glasgow for three years, before returning to Edinburgh to serve as junior minister at Free St. George's under Rev. Dr. Robert Candlish (1806-73).

Whyte’s ministry spanned over fifty years (1870-1921) and he is remembered as a powerful preacher and teacher, ‘always like a fire on a cold day’, as one of his students remarked.

From 1909, Whyte also served as Principal of New College. He retired to Buckinghamshire, where he died, but was buried in Edinburgh.

Dr Joseph Bell (1837-1911)

Bell was a prominent member of Free St George’s throughout his life. Educated at the Academy and University in Edinburgh, Joseph Bell was Professor of Pathology at the Royal Infirmary in the city, and started the first training course for nurses in Scotland.

However, Bell is best known for providing the inspiration for Arthur Conan-Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Conan Doyle met Dr. Bell in 1877 at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Conan Doyle was studying to be a doctor and Bell was one of his professors.  Bell was thirty-nine years old when Conan Doyle first attended one of his lectures.  By the end of Conan Doyle's second year Bell had selected him to serve as an assistant in his ward.   This gave Conan Doyle the opportunity to view Dr. Bell's remarkable ability to quickly deduce a great deal about a patient.   

Joseph Houldsworth Oldham (1874-1969)

Joe Oldham was Assistant Minister and an elder at Free St George’s until he moved to England in 1921. During his time at here Joe served as the organizing secretary of the World Missionary Conference usually spoken of as "Edinburgh 1910."

Thereafter he was secretary of its Continuation Committee and, from 1921- 38, a secretary of the International Missionary Council. Co-operating with the "Life and Work" movement, he organized the Oxford Conference on Church, Community and State (1937), and then took the crucial steps that led to the emergence of the World Council of Churches, of which he became in his last years, honorary president.

He was born Joseph Houldsworth Oldham in India on October 20 1874, the eldest son of Lieut.-Colonel George Oldham of the Royal Engineers. Following his father's conversion the family moved from the affluent suburb of Bombay, where George's position entitled him to an excellent house in the fashionable society of Malabar Hill, to live in a CMS mission bungalow in Girgaum. Colonel Oldham retired in 1881 when Joe was seven years old and came to live in Crieff and later in Edinburgh. Joe attended school there and graduated "dux" from the Edinburgh Academy.

Alfred Hollins (1865-1942)

Alfred Hollins was born in Yorkshire, and educated the Wilberforce Institution for the Blind in York and the Royal Normal College for the Blind at Upper Norwood. His genius as a musician was soon recognised. Concert success followed concert success. He played the solo part in the Emperor Concerto at Crystal Palace and a year later he was performing at a private concert at Windsor in the presence of Queen Victoria.

At that time the ‘Free Church’ had little to do with music – either secular or religious. In fact the founder of the church the Reverend Robert S. Candlish had virulently opposed the installation of the ‘kist of whistles’ into his church. However the Reverend Hugh Black was able to persuade the Kirk Session. The tale goes that Black journeyed all the way to Nottingham to hear Hollins play and offered him the job there and then. Hollins accepted and from that moment was committed to the life and worship of St George’s. Hollins held the post of organist of Free St George’s for 45 years.

Hollins was a prolific composer. He wrote much for the organ – the three pieces which have best stood the test of time are:- The Trumpet Minuet, A Song of Sunshine, and Spring Song.

In the latter years of his life he wrote down his reflections on his life as an organist and teacher. The book he published was called "A Blind Musician Looks Back". It makes entertaining reading and gives great insight into an organist’s existence at the turn of the century. Hollins died in 1942.

Revd Prof Murdo Ewan Macdonald (1914 -2004)

Prof Macdonald was educated in the village school in Drinishader, Harris and from there he had received bursaries to Tarbert and Kingussie Schools and had then gone on to St Andrew’s University.  He was inducted to the Ministry in 1939, received a call up to the Armed Forces in 1940 and after a spell as chaplain to the Queen’s Own Highlanders in the Caribbean, he had volunteered for the 1st Parachute Brigade.  He was captured by German forces and imprisoned for the remainder of the war. After the war he received a call to Partick and from there to St George’s West where his preaching and personality had a profound effect on young people, particularly students.  In 1964 he became Professor of Practical Theology at Glasgow University.

Murdo Ewen brought a radical zeal and Celtic eloquence to his ministry and was always robust in his projection of Christianity and left-wing political beliefs.