| Administrative History | According to William Walker, author of 'The Ballads of Bon Accord', Hugh Allan was a weaver at Cummineston, Monquhitter, and for some time precentor to the Episcopal congregation at Turriff. Allan was known as the author of the 'Elegy on the Auld Kirk of Turriff', and a sister was also a rhymer.
Rev. John Skinner of Linshart (1721 - 1807) graduated from Marischal College, Aberdeen in 1838. Brought up as a Presbyterian, he joined the Episcopalian Church at aged 19, and was ordained and appointed to the Episcopalian congregation of Longside, Aberdeenshire, in 1742, where he remained until his death in 1807. A committed and outspoken member of the Church, he was imprisoned for 6 months in 1753, for defying the 1748 Penal Act against the Episcopalian Church of Scotland, and in the latter part of the eighteenth century became involved in training many Aberdeenshire and Brechin clergy for the ministry. His writing, in Latin, English and Scots, earned him widespread popular and critical acclaim. His best known works are 'An Ecclesiastical History of Scotland' (London, 1788) and 'Tullochgorum'. His second son, John Skinner (1744 - 1816), Bishop of Aberdeen, 1782 - 1816, and Primus of the Episcopalian Church in Scotland, 1788 - 1816, was a leading figure in the recovery of the Church after the troubles of the eighteenth century.
For further details see the entry for Skinner by G.N. Pennie in 'Dictionary of Scottish Church History and Theology', ed. by Nigel M. de S. Cameron (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1993), pp 777 - 778 (from which this administrative history was compiled); John Skinner, 'Theological Works of the late John Skinner, Episcopal Clergyman in Longside, Aberdeenshire: to which is prefixed, a biographical memoir of the author' (Aberdeen: Chalmers, 1809); William Walker, 'The Life and Times of the Rev. John Skinner' (London, 1883); and 'Tullochgorum's Memory: Tributes in Longside and London Worthy of his Work and Character' (n.p.: n.pub., 1921). |