Alexander Neill Somerville

Alexander Neill Somerville (1813–1889) was a Scottish minister and evangelist, who served as Moderator of the General Assembly for the Free Church of Scotland 1886/87. Glasgow University called him "Missionary to the World".[1]

Life

He was born in Edinburgh on 29 January 1813, the eldest of eight children of Alexander Sommerville (sic), a wine-merchant living at 65 York Place,[2] and his wife, Elia Munro. He was educated at the High School on Calton Hill, his friends including Robert McCheyne and Horatius Bonar. He then studied Divinity at Edinburgh University.[3]

He was ordained by the Church of Scotland at Anderston in Glasgow in 1837, replacing Rev Charles John Brown.

In the Disruption of 1843 he left the established Church of Scotland to join the Free Church of Scotland, a new church being built for him in Cadogan Street. Following this he became an evangelist for the Free Church in Canada, Spain and especially in India. In Spain he organised a confession of faith for Spanish Protestants.[4][5]

In 1873 he had a legitimate claim to the title of Baron Somerville but did not press his claim.[6]

In 1874 he was invited to India By Rev John Fordyce of the Anglo-Indian Union. He visited over 20 cities in six months including Calcutta, Agra, Allahabad, Madras, Delhi and Bombay. An avid traveller his later trips included Australia and New Zealand in 1877/78. The visit to Dunedin and Otago in New Zealand in May 1878 proved particularly influential in promoting the Free Presbyterian movement in that country. This was partially at the invitation of a family friend, Captain William Cargill.[7]

Later trips included Italy in 1880, Germany and Russia in 1881, South Africa 1882/3, Greece and Turkey 1885/6. In the summer of 1886 he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly the highest position in his church. He was succeeded by Rev Robert Rainy in 1887. Following his year in office he returned to evangelism, this time concentrating on Jewish areas in Hungary and southern Russia.[4]

He died at home, 11 South Park Terrace in Glasgow on 18 September 1889.[8] He is buried in the Western Necropolis, Glasgow.

Publications
  • A Course of Lectures on the Jews (1839)
  • Sacred Triads, Doctrinal and Practical (1859)
  • A Day in Laodicea (1861)
  • The Churches in Asia (1885)
  • Evangelism from the World (1886)
  • Precious Seeds Sown in Many Lands (1890-posthumously)

Family

In 1841 he married Isabella Mirrlees Ewing, daughter of James Ewing of Halifax, Nova Scotia. They had three sons and two daughters.

His daughter Marianne Somerville married Rev George Halley Knight of Dollar, Clackmannanshire.[9]

References
  1. "University of Glasgow :: Story :: Biography of Alexander Neil Somerville". www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk.
  2. Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1813
  3. ODNB Alexander Somerville
  4. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Somerville, Alexander Neil" . Dictionary of National Biography. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  5. Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church of Scotland
  6. ODNB Somerville Baronets
  7. "FOOTPRINTS AND TRACES – DR. ALEXANDER SOMERVILLE". April 8, 2010.
  8. Glasgow Post Office Directory 1889
  9. Ewing, William Annals of the Free Church; Rev G H Knight
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