Henry Grey (minister)

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Rev Henry Grey of Edinburgh

The Very Rev Dr Henry Grey DD (1778–1859) was a Scottish minister in the Church of Scotland and following the Disruption of 1843 in the Scottish Free Church. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1844.

Early life[]

5 East Claremont Street, Edinburgh

Grey was born on 11 February 1778, at Alnwick, Northumberland. His father was a physician in Morpeth. His education was chiefly left to his mother, who had an early breach with his father, and moved with her son to Edinburgh. There he passed through the usual course of study preparatory to entering into the office of the ministry in the Church of Scotland. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Edinburgh in Novevmber 1800.[1] He was ordained in 1801.[2][3]

Ministry[]

Grey's sympathies were wholly with the evangelical portion of the church, then gradually acquiring position and power. He gained attention and preferment.

In September 1801 he was ordained as minister of the parish of Stenton in East Lothian. This was a quiet place, where he spent 12 years, including getting married and starting a family. In 1813 he was called to St. Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease, better known as Buccleuch Parish Church in south Edinburgh - a charge recently formed by Rev Sir Wellwood-Moncrieff, of St. Cuthbert's parish. Grey's discourses were presented in a scholarly style and fervent manner, leading the way for Andrew Mitchell Thomson and Thomas Chalmers.[3]

Apocrypha Controversy[]

Henry Grey and his wife

In 1821 Grey was appointed to the New North Church, one of the four parish churches of Edinburgh contained within St Giles Cathedral. In October 1824 the town council chose Grey as minister of St Mary's Church in the Bellevue district (which was still underconstruction) and on completion in January 1825 he was therefore its first minister.[4]

In the lead up to the , Grey had taken part in agitation against slavery in the West Indies.

Four years after this last change of post, Grey clashed with Andrew Thomson, and they took opposite sides in the Apocrypha Controversy; they had been warm personal friends.[3]

In the ecclesiastical struggle of the next few years, Grey opposed the civil courts. At the Disruption of 1843 he left the Church of Scotland and joined the Free Church of Scotland. Taking a large proportion of the Bellevue congregation with him, and had a new church built for him on the north side of Barony Street, 300m south of the original church. The building held a congregation of 800.[5] This structure was short-lived, as it was not intended as the permanent home of the congragation. Although Grey was involved in the contract for the permanent building (on the corner of Albany street and Broughton Street) it was not completed until after Grey's death due to contractual problems.[6]

In 1844, Grey was chosen as the second Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church. In the jubilee year of his ministry, a public testimonial was presented to him, which was turned into a foundation for the Grey Scholarships in the New College, Edinburgh.[3] Grey's elders included David Octavius Hill.[7]

A political reformer, he was the target of adverse criticism from some who agreed with his religious views.[3]

Death[]

The grave of Rev Henry Grey DD, St Cuthberts Churchyard, Edinburgh

Grey retired from active ministry in 1857 with Free St Mary's being taken over by Rev Thomas Main.[8]

Grey died suddenly in his eighty-first year, on Thursday 13 January 1859[3] at his home 5 East Claremont Street, a very large Georgian flat on the eastern fringe of the Edinburgh New Town.[9]

He is buried in St Cuthbert's Churchyard at the west end of Princes Street[10] with his wife Margaretta (1786–1858) and children Emily Isabella and George Edward Grey. The grave lies in the north-east corner of the northernmost section, abutting the churchyard of St John.

Family[]

In October 1808 he married his cousin Margaretta Grey (1786-1858) eldest daughter of his paternal uncle, Rev George Grey of in Northumberland. Their children included:[11]

  • Mary Grey (1810-1857) married Rev John Hampton Gurney, rector of St Mary's Church, Bryaston Square in London
  • Harriet Jane Grey (1811-1863) married Rev Charles Birrell of Pembroke Baptist Church in Liverpool, parents to Augustine Birrell
  • George Edward Grey (1812-1819)
  • Rev Henry Campbell Grey (1814-1854) vicar of
  • Emelia Isabella (1816-1843)
  • Edward John Grey (1820-1869)

Publications[]

  • Catechism on Baptism (1811)
  • Sermon on Behalf of Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum (1815)
  • The Diffusion of Christianity, Dependent on the Exertions of Christians (1818)
  • The Veil of Moses Done Away in Christ (1820)
  • Man's Judgement at Variance with God's (1824)
  • Thoughts in the Evening of Life (1871) edited by his son-in-law Charles M Birrell

Memorials[]

A marble bust of Henry Grey stands in New College, Edinburgh, sculpted by Patric Park in 1853.[12]

References[]

  1. ^ Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana by Hew Scott
  2. ^ Obituary of Henry Grey February 1859
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Grey, Henry (1778-1859)" . Dictionary of National Biography. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  4. ^ Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana by Hew Scott
  5. ^ 1849 OS map Edinburgh
  6. ^ https://sites.google.com/site/albanystreetedinburgh/the-building-of-the-street/st-mary-s-church
  7. ^ Ewing's Annals of the Free Church: Edinburgh St Mary's
  8. ^ Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church
  9. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1858-9
  10. ^ Monuments and monumental inscriptions in Scotland: The Grampian Society, 1871
  11. ^ Fasti Ecclesiastae Scoticana by Hew Scott
  12. ^ "PMSA NRP: Work Record" (PDF). orapweb.rcahms.gov.uk. 2 June 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Grey, Henry (1778-1859)". Dictionary of National Biography. 23. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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