William Paterson Paterson


The Very Rev Prof William Paterson Paterson DD FRSE LLD was a late 19th-century and an early 20th-century Scottish minister. He was professor of divinity at the University of Edinburgh from 1904 to 1934. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1919. He was central to the reunification of the United Free Church of Scotland with the Church of Scotland in 1929.

Life

He was born on 25 October 1860 at Skirling Mains in Peeblesshire, the eldest son of Mary Paterson and John Paterson, a farmer.
He was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh then studied first classics then divinity at the University of Edinburgh. He did further postgraduate study in various German universities at Leipzig, Erlangen and Berlin, returning to Scotland in 1885.
His first role was as an assistant minister in Galashiels then he moved to St Columba's Church in London. He was ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland in 1887 and was then minister of St Michaels in Crieff until 1894. In 1894 he was created professor of systematic theology at the University of Aberdeen. In 1904 he moved to the University of Edinburgh as professor of divinity, succeeding Prof Robert Flint. He was dean of the Faculty of Divinity 1912 to 1928.
In 1918 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Cargill Gilston Knott, James MacKinnon, James Alfred Ewing and Sir Edmund Taylor Whittaker.
In 1919 he succeeded James Nicoll Ogilvie as moderator. His year in office did much to bring about reunification with the United Free Church of Scotland.
He retired in 1934. The University of Edinburgh granted him a second honorary doctorate in 1937. He also received honorary doctorates from Pennsylvania, Dublin, Glasgow and St Andrews.
He died at home, 3 Royal Terrace in Edinburgh on 10 January 1939. He is buried close to his family in Skirling.

Family

In 1888 he married Jane Sanderson. They had three daughters and four sons. Two sons were killed in the First World War. There is much family information in the following publication, coordinated by his granddaughter Mrs. Anne Gray: "The Diaries of William Paterson Paterson", edited by Clive L. Rawlins, Faith and Life Books, Edinburgh, 1987.

Publications