| Administrative History | William MacLeod Macartney was born on 11 October 1912 in Partick, Glasgow, the son of Edinburgh City Engineer, William Allan Macartney, and Camelia Stevenson. He was educated at Dumbarton Academy (1921-26), and Edinburgh's George Watson's College, (1926-30). He obtained degrees from the University of Edinburgh (M.A. in History 1934) and the University of Zurich (1938). In 1938 he married Janet Helen Inch, MA, and they had three children, Margaret Ruth (b.1939), William John Allan (b.1941, later Rector of Aberdeen University), and Elizabeth Morag (b.1947). In the year of his marriage and ordination he was appointed to Akropong on the Gold Coast, and served there until 1946, when he returned to Scotland and to St. Machar's, Bridge of Weir. He left there in 1951 and was appointed to St. Giles', Elgin, in 1952, where he remained until his appointment to St. Machar's Cathedral, Aberdeen, in 1960. While there, he suffered a coronary but was back to work in a few months. In 1967 he moved again to Hutton and Fishwick parish, and in 1973 was appointed to the Vienna Community Church, where he served until his retirement in 1979. He and his wife celebrated the jubilee of his ordination and their golden wedding anniversary in 1988, their 'Year of Jubilee'. During his retirement, he continued to help at Ardler and Kettins parish from 1979 to 1982, and Bendochy and Kinclaven parish in 1984. He was a prolific writer of plays, sermons, newspaper articles, speeches, talks and stories, many for children and for the radio. His publications include 'Dr. Aggrey', London 1948; 'The Church and the Underdog', Edinburgh 1952; and 'The Tree', London 1952. He died in 1999. |
| Description | Sermons preached in Africa, 1938 - 1945; Bridge of Weir, 1946 - 1950; Elgin, 1952 - 1960; Aberdeen, 1960 - 1966; Hutton, 1967 - 1973; Vienna (with farewell / retirement items, 1973 - 1978); and during retirement, 1978 - 1988. Also, one notebook containing sermons preached in Scotland, 1936 - 1938.
Literary manuscripts, published and unpublished, 1940s - 1990s, including 'Aggrey' (publ. 1948) and 'The Church and the underdog' (publ. 1952), radio and television scripts, sketches and plays, and Bible studies.
Miscellaneous papers, 1950s - 1988, including cuttings, orders of service & Holy Week, Dublin (1955), USA (1963), Jubilee (1988), Bridge of Weir and Aberdeen. Also includes photograph of Macartney at Aberdeen, 1967.
Bob Sterling: The 'Bob Sterling Story': record of script written by Macartney to promote Church of Scotland Stewardship Campaign,
1963 / 1964. With film reel of same. |