Murthly Church
by Thornie - 11:15 on 16 March 2019
Just getting into a pile of documents, letters, invoices etc relating to the building and funding of Murthly's church.
One letter jumped out at me, mainly for its pawky informality, which was so untypical of the time. Dated 9th June, 1913, it was from Rev. RH Dunlop of the Church of Scotland Endowment Committee. Replying to a missive from William Rae, the estate factor, he congratulates him on the recently opened church and success in appointing a new minister, Rev. George Thomson. He hopes that will turn out for the good (but I'm thinking he has reservations about Thomson).
He drops in a bit of chat: 'We had a very pleasant (General) Assembly . . . with the minimum of cranks and the maximum of men in earnest so we got on well.'
Rae had known his share of cranks, and was to have his run ins with Rev Thomson. Not everything would continue as smoothly.
Interestingly, the prime mover behind the push to establish a Mission Church in Murthly was Rev. James Skinner Mackenzie (1834 - 1918), minister of Little Dunkeld for 47 years. A man of the cloth but something of an earnest crank. He would likely have been of the opinion that a good crank is necessary to turn the cogs that drive a machine forward. Mackenzie had been pressing the case for a church in the village since 1908. Pressing hard. From what I've read so far, Rae was a willing accomplice. . .
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