List of Moderators of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland


The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland is the most senior office-bearer within the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which is Northern Ireland's largest Protestant denomination.
The Moderator is elected by the General Assembly and serves for one year as the public representative of the denomination. The moderator may be either a teaching or ruling elder from within the denomination but, as yet, no ruling elder has ever been elected to the role. The appointee's formal role involves acting as the Moderator of the General Assembly. During the rest of the year, the moderator acts as an ambassador for the General Assembly and for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland as a whole.
The government of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland has a form known as Presbyterian polity, and is much like that of other Presbyterian churches around the world. Individual churches are represented at both the Presbytery level and General Assembly level.
The serving moderator is given the honorific style, Right Reverend. Former moderators are known as Very Reverend. The moderator and the two Church of Ireland and two Roman Catholic archbishops are thirteenth to seventeenth in the order of precedence in Northern Ireland, according to the seniority of their consecration or election.
The current moderator is David Bruce.

Past Moderators

  1. 1840 Samuel Hanna
  2. 1841 Henry Cooke
  3. 1842 John Edgar
  4. 1843 Robert Stewart
  5. 1844 John Brown
  6. 1845 James Carlile
  7. 1846 James Morgan
  8. 1847 William McClure
  9. 1848 Henry Jackson Dobbin
  10. 1849 John Barnett
  11. 1850 William Bailey Kirkpatrick
  12. 1851 John Coulter
  13. 1852 John Bleckley
  14. 1853 Henry William Molyneaux
  15. 1854 David Hamilton
  16. 1855 Robert Allen
  17. 1856 Robert Wilson
  18. 1857 Alexander Porter Goudy
  19. 1858 John Johnston
  20. 1859 William Gibson
  21. 1860 Samuel Marcus Dill
  22. 1861 John Macnaughton
  23. 1862 Henry Cooke
  24. 1863 John Rogers
  25. 1864 John Rogers
  26. 1865 David Wilson
  27. 1866 David Wilson
  28. 1867 Robert Montgomery
  29. 1868 Charles Lucas Morell
  30. 1869 Richard Smyth
  31. 1870 Richard Smyth
  32. 1871 Lowry Edmonds Berkley
  33. 1872 William Johnston
  34. 1873 William Johnston
  35. 1874 William Magill
  36. 1875 Josias Leslie Porter
  37. 1876 John Meneely
  38. 1877 George Bellis
  39. 1878 Thomas Witherow
  40. 1879 Robert Watts
  41. 1880 Jackson Smyth
  42. 1881 William Fleming Stevenson
  43. 1882 Thomas Young Killen
  44. 1883 Hamilton Brown Wilson
  45. 1884 James Maxwell Rogers
  46. 1885 James Weir Whigham
  47. 1886 Robert Ross
  48. 1887 John Henry Orr
  49. 1888 Robert John Lynd
  50. 1889 William Clarke
  51. 1890 William Park
  52. 1891 Nathaniel McAuley Brown
  53. 1892 R. McCheyne Edgar
  54. 1893 W. Todd Martin
  55. 1894 W. Todd Martin
  56. 1895 George Raphael Buick
  57. 1896 Henry McIlree Williamson
  58. 1897 Matthew Leitch
  59. 1898 William Beatty
  60. 1899 David Alexander Taylor
  61. 1900 John McC. Hamilton
  62. 1901 James Heron
  63. 1902 John Edgar Henry
  64. 1903 John MacDermott
  65. 1904 Samuel Prenter
  66. 1905 William McMordie
  67. 1906 William McKean
  68. 1907 John Davidson
  69. 1908 John McIlveen
  70. 1909 John Courtenay Clarke
  71. 1910 John Howard Murphy
  72. 1911 John Macmillan
  73. 1912 Henry Montgomery
  74. 1913 William John Macauley
  75. 1914 James Bingham
  76. 1915 Thomas Hamill
  77. 1916 Thomas West
  78. 1917 John Irwin
  79. 1918 James McGranahan
  80. 1919 John Morrow Simms
  81. 1920 Hugh Patterson Glenn
  82. 1921 William James Lowe
  83. 1922 William Gordon Strahan
  84. 1923 George Thompson
  85. 1924 Robert Wilson Hamilton
  86. 1925 Thomas Haslett
  87. 1926 Robert Kennedy Hanna
  88. 1927 James Thompson
  89. 1928 Thomas Alexander Smyth
  90. 1929 John Love Morrow
  91. 1930 Edward Clarke
  92. 1931 James Gilbert Paton
  93. 1932 James Jordan Macaulay
  94. 1933 William Corkey
  95. 1934 Thomas McGimpsey Johnston
  96. 1935 Andrew Frederick Moody
  97. 1936 F. W. S. O'Neill
  98. 1937 John Waddell
  99. 1938 William John Currie
  100. 1939 James Haire
  101. 1940 James Barkley Woodburn
  102. 1941 W. A. Watson
  103. 1942 Wilson Moreland Kennedy
  104. 1943 Phineas McKee
  105. 1944 Andrew Gibson
  106. 1945 Robert Corkey
  107. 1946 Thomas Byers
  108. 1947 Robert Boyd
  109. 1948 Alfred William Neill
  110. 1949 Gordon Douglas Erskine
  111. 1950 Joseph Hugh Rush Gibson O.B.E., M.A.
  112. 1951 Hugh McIlroy B.A.
  113. 1952 John Knox Leslie McKean M.A.
  114. 1953 James Ernest Davey M.A.
  115. 1954 John Knowles B.A.
  116. 1955 James Carlile Breakey B.A.
  117. 1956 Thomas McCurdy Barker M.A.
  118. 1957 Robert John Wilson M.A.
  119. 1958 William McAdam M.A.
  120. 1959 Thomas Alexander Byers Smyth B.A.
  121. 1960 Austin Alfred Fulton M.A., PhD
  122. 1961 William Alexander Albert Park M.A.
  123. 1962 John Higginson Davey B.A.
  124. 1963 William Alexander Montgomery M.A.
  125. 1964 James Dunlop M.A.
  126. 1965 Samuel James Park M.A.
  127. 1966 Alfred Martin M.A.
  128. 1967 William Boyd M.A.
  129. 1968 John Herbert Withers B.A.
  130. 1969 John Talbot Carson B.A.
  131. 1970 James Loughridge Mitchell Haire M.A., M.Th.
  132. 1971 Frederick Rupert Gibson B.A.
  133. 1972 Robert Victor Alexander Lynas O.B.E., B.A., B.D.
  134. 1973 John Whiteford Orr B.A.
  135. 1974 George Temple Lundie M.A., LL.B.
  136. 1975 George Frederick Hampton Wynne B.A.
  137. 1976 Andrew John Weir MSc
  138. 1977 Thomas Algeo Patterson B.A.
  139. 1978 David Burke B.A.
  140. 1979 William Magee Craig M.A., B.D.
  141. 1980 Ronald Gavin Craig B.A.
  142. 1981 John Girvan B.A.
  143. 1982 Eric Paul Gardner B.A.
  144. 1983 Thomas John Simpson M.A., LL.B., Dip.Ed., D.Litt.
  145. 1984 Howard Cromie M.A., B.D.
  146. 1985 Robert Dickinson M.A., B.D., PhD, Th.D.
  147. 1986 John Thompson B.A., B.D., PhD
  148. 1987 William Fleming B.A.
  149. 1988 Andrew William Godfrey Brown B.A., B.D., PhD, Litt.D.
  150. 1989 James Alexander Matthews B.A., B.D.
  151. 1990 Robert Finlay Gregg Holmes M.A., M.Litt.
  152. 1991 Rodney Sterritt B.A.
  153. 1992 John Dunlop C.B.E., B.A. B.D., LL.D.
  154. 1993 Andrew Rutherford Rodgers M.A.
  155. 1994 David Joseph McGaughey B.A.
  156. 1995 John Ross B.A.
  157. 1996 David Henry Allen M.A., B.D.
  158. 1997 Samuel Hutchinson B.A., B.D., M.Th.
  159. 1998 Samuel John Dixon B.A.
  160. 1999 John William Lockington B.A., B.D., M.Th., PhD
  161. 2000 Trevor William John Morrow M.A., B.D., M.Th., PhD
  162. 2001 Hugh Alastair Dunlop B.A., B.D.
  163. 2002 Russell Ivan Birney B.A., B.D., D.Min.
  164. 2003 Ivan Alexander McKay B.A., B.D.
  165. 2004 Kenneth Norman Ernest Newell B.A., B.D., M.Th.
  166. 2005 Robert Ernest Henry Uprichard B.A., B.D., M.Th., PhD
  167. 2006 David Clarke LL.B., B.D.
  168. 2007 John Mateer Finlay B.A., B.D.
  169. 2008 William Donald Patton B.S.Sc., B.D., PhD
  170. 2009 John Stafford Carson BSc, M.A., MAR, M.Th.
  171. 2010 Thomas Norman Hamilton O.B.E, B.A., B.D.
  172. 2011 Ivan James Patterson B.A., M.Th.
  173. 2012 Robert Alexander Patton B.A., B.D.
  174. 2013 Robert Lyle Craig B.A., B.D.
  175. 2014 Michael Alexander Barry B.A., B.D., D.Min.
  176. 2015 David Ian James McNie B.D., M.Min.
  177. 2016 Frank Sellar
  178. 2017 Noble McNeely
  179. 2018 Charles McMullen
  180. 2019 William Henry
  181. 2020 David Bruce