Old Photograph Horatius Bonar Scotland

Old photograph of Horatius Bonar who was born on 19 December 1808 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Horatius was a Scottish churchman and poet. He was the son of James Bonar, Solicitor of Excise for Scotland. One of eleven children, his brothers John James and Andrew Alexander were also ministers of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1853 Bonar earned the Doctor of Divinity degree at the University of Aberdeen. He entered the Ministry of the Church of Scotland. At first he was put in charge of mission work at St. John's parish in Leith and settled at Kelso. He joined the Free Church at the time of the Disruption of 1843, and in 1867 was moved to Edinburgh to take over the Chalmers Memorial Church, named after his teacher at college, Dr. Thomas Chalmers who was born in Anstruther in the East Neuk of Fife. In 1883, he was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland. He had married Jane Catherine Lundie in 1843 and five of their young children died in succession. Towards the end of their lives, one of their surviving daughters was left a widow with five small children and she returned to live with her parents. Bonar's wife, Jane, died in 1876. He died on 31 May 1889 and is buried in the Canongate Kirkyard.



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