| Administrative History | James Cooper was born in Elgin in 1846, the son of John Alexander Cooper, a merchant and later farmer, near Elgin. He was an eminent minister of the Church of Scotland, serving at St. Stephen's Church, Broughty Ferry, from 1837 to 1881, and at East St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen from 1881 to 1898. He was then appointed to the chair of Church History at Glasgow University, where he remained until his retirement in 1922. He acted as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1917 and was one of the founders of the Scottish Church Society and the Scottish Ecclesiological Society.
For further details see 'Aberdeen University Review', vol.X |
| Description | MS 2283/1-4 are apparently volumes ii, iv, vii, viii, of a diary kept by Cooper from 1867 to 1874 when he was a student of arts and divinity at Aberdeen University, travelling abroad, and acting as an assistant minister in Banchory, Stirling and Elgin. They cover the beginning of his ministry at St. Stephen's Church, Broughty Ferry, entries breaking off abruptly at 18th May 1874. There are no diaires for the period from June 1874 to December 1882 and the remainder, for 1883-1922, are written in volumes of 'Charles Lett's Improved Diaries and Notebooks' for each fo these years. Entires are now mainly concerned with engagements to be filled, movements etc., but some 715 letters, papers and newspaper cuttings have been pasted in between pages, on interleaving blotting papers, or remain loosely enclosed. |