Norman Macleod

Norman Macleod (3 June 1812 – 16 June 1872) was a Scottish clergyman and author who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1869/70.

Early life

Norman Macleod was born in Kirk Street, Campbeltown, to Norman Macleod and Agnes Maxwell; his paternal grandfather, a minister of the parish of Morvern in Argyllshire, bore the same name.

His father, at that time minister of Campbeltown, was closely bound to the Highlanders of Scotland, catering to their spiritual and intellectual needs. He was the author of literature described by Professor Blackie as the "great work of classical Gaelic prose....written in a dialogue form, enriched by the dramatic grace of Plato and the shrewd humour of Lucian", and played a major role in the creation of an educational infrastructure for the Highlands and Islands. He was a supporter of the interests of the Highlanders.

In 1827, Macleod became a student at the University of Glasgow; in 1831, he went to Edinburgh to study divinity under Thomas Chalmers. On 18 March 1838, he became parish minister at Loudoun, Ayrshire.

Career

At this time the troubles in the Scottish Church were already gathering to a head. Macleod wished the Church to be free to do its proper work, and clung firmly to the idea of a national Established Church, and therefore remained in the Establishment when the Disruption of 1843 took place. He was one of those who took a middle course in the non-intrusion controversy, holding that the fitness of those who were presented to parishes should be judged by the presbyteries, the principle of Lord Aberdeens Bill. On the secession of 1843 he was offered many different parishes, and settled at Dalkeith. He was largely instrumental in the work of strengthening the Church. In 1847 he became one of the founders of the Evangelical Alliance, and from 1849 edited the Christian Instructor. In 1851 he was called to the Barony church, Glasgow, in which city the rest of his days were passed. There the more liberal theology rapidly made way among a people who judged it more by its fruits than its arguments, and MacLeod won many adherents by his practical schemes for the social reform of the people. He instituted temperance refreshment rooms, a Congregational penny savings bank, and held services specially for the poor.