Quick Facts
Biography
Very Rev Dr John Smyth DD (1796–1860) was a 19th century Scottish minister who served as Moderator of the General Assembly for the Free Church of Scotland 1853/54.
Life
He was born in Ayr in 1796. He studied divinity at the University of Edinburgh and was ordained by the Church of Scotland in 1823 as minister of St George's in Glasgow, living in a manse on Stirlings Road.
In the Disruption of 1843 he left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland. St Georges (on Bath Street) was one where the entire congregation moved to the Free Church, thereby not requiring a new building.
In 1853 he succeeded Very Rev Angus Makellar as Moderator. He was succeeded in turn by Rev James Grierson in 1854. He was then living at 17 Elmbank Place.
Smyth died in 1860. St Georges was sold in 1864 and renamed St Davids, with a new St Georges then being built.
Publications
- The Forgiveness of Sins
- The Popish Anti-Christ
Family
He married twice: Margaret Davidson in 1825; and Violet Isabella Lockhart in 1834.
Artistic Recognition
He was photographed by Hill & Adamson in 1843.