| Activity | James Brown Johnston was born in Edinburgh in 1862 and educated at Edinburgh University and New College, Edinburgh. He served as assistant at St. Matthew’s Free Church, Glasgow, from 1886 to 1888, then was appointed minister of Falkirk Free Church (later St. Andrew’s Church of Scotland), where he remained until 1928. He was also in charge of the Scots Church, Biarritz, from 1907 to 1908. He was on the staff of the New English Dictionary for several periods between 1883 and 1927, and on the staff of the Scottish National Dictionary from 1931. He published extensively on place names and on Scottish surnames, and died in 1953. |