January
1719-1809 A.D. William
Abernethy Drummond—Bishop of Edinburgh (1788-1805)
William Abernethy
Drummond
From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
Drummond, born in 1719 or
1720, was descended from the family of Abernethy of Saltoun in East Lothian. He at first studied medicine, and took the degree of M.D., but was subsequently for many years minister
of an Episcopalian church in Edinburgh. Having paid his respects to Prince
Charles Edward, when he
held his court at Holyrood in 1745, he was afterwards exposed to much
annoyance and even danger on that account, and was glad to avail himself of his
medical degree, and wear for some years the usual professional costume of the
Edinburgh physicians. He took the additional surname of Drummond on his
marriage, 3 November 1760, to Mary Barbara, widow of Robert Macgregor of
Glengarnock, and daughter and heiress of William Drummond of Hawthornden,
Midlothian, grandson of the poet.[2] He was consecrated bishop of Brechin at Peterhead,
26 September 1787, and a few weeks later was elected to the see of Edinburgh, to which the see of Glasgow was afterwards united. About the
middle of February 1788 the news reached Scotland that on 31 January of that
year Prince Charles Edward had died at Rome. Drummond was the first among the bishops to urge that the time had now
come for the Episcopalians to give a public proof of their submission to the House of Hanover by praying in the express words of the English liturgy for the king and royal family. This was accordingly
done throughout Scotland on 25 May. A bill of ‘relief for pastors, ministers,
and lay persons of the episcopal communion in Scotland’ having been prepared,
Drummond, with Bishops Skinner and Strachan, set out for London in April 1789
to promote its progress through Parliament. Drummond
continued bishop of Edinburgh till 1805, when, on the union of the two classes
of Episcopalians, he resigned in favour of Dr. Daniel Sandford. He retained,
however, his pastoral connection with the clergy in the diocese of Glasgow till his death, which took place at his residence,
Hawthornden, 27 August 1809, at the age of eighty-nine or ninety.[3] His wife died at Edinburgh, 11 September 1789, in
her sixty-eighth year,[4] having had an only child, a daughter, who died
before her. Drummond was a good theologian and well-meaning, but, says Russel, ‘his
intemperate manner defeated in most cases the benevolence of his intentions,
and only irritated those whom he had wished to convince.’[5] He wrote several small tracts, among which may be
mentioned: 1. ‘A Dialogue between Philalethes and Benevolus: wherein M. G. H.'s
defence of Transubstantiation, in the Appendix to his Scripture Doctrine of
Miracles displayed, is fully examined and solidly confuted. With some
Observations on his Scripture Doctrine of Miracles,’ 12mo, Edinburgh, 1776. 2.
‘A Letter to the Clergy of his Diocese, 8 March 1788,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1788. 3.
‘A Letter to the Lay Members of his Diocese, April 1788. With large notes,’
8vo, Edinburgh, 1788. He also furnished a preface and notes to Bishop Jolly's
abridgment of Charles Daubeny's ‘Guide to the Church,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1799.
His letters to Bishops Douglas and Skinner, mostly on the recognition of the
Scotch episcopal church of the Hanoverian line of succession, are among the
Egerton and Additional MSS. in the British Museum.[6] Drummond presented in 1782 to the University of Edinburgh the manuscripts of William Drummond of Hawthornden [q. v.], the ancestor of
his wife.
References
2.
Jump up^ Burke, Peerage, 1887, p. 444; Gent. Mag. xxx. 542
5.
Jump up^ Keith, Cat. of Scottish Bishops, ed. Russel, Append., p.
529; with which cf. Skinner, Annals of Scottish Episcopacy, p. 480
6.
Jump up^ Index to the Cat. of Additions to the MSS. 1854–75, p.
448
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