Stevenson McGill


The Very Rev Dr Robert Stevenson McGill DD was an 18th/19th-century Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1828. He was professor of divinity at Glasgow University.

Life

He was born in Port Glasgow in 1765, possibly the son of Rev William Gill of Ayr, and his wife the daughter of a colleague Nathaniel Stevenson.
He studied divinity at Glasgow University. He was minister of Eastwood from 1792 to 1798.
From 1798 to 1814 he was minister of the Tron Kirk in Glasgow. In 1800 he was living on Queen Street in Glasgow. He received an honorary doctorate from Glasgow University around 1802.
In 1805 he was living at North Hanover Street in Glasgow.
In 1814 he became professor of theology at Glasgow University.
In 1825 he began campaigning for a monument to John Knox on Fir Hill adjacent to Glasgow Cathedral. This met with success and is now the centrepiece of the Glasgow Necropolis which grew around it.
In 1828 he succeeded Very Rev Robert Haldane as Moderator of the General Assembly. He in turn was succeeded in 1829 by Rev Patrick Forbes of Old Machar.
In 1834 he succeeded Very Rev John Inglis as Dean of the Chapel Royal. He died on 18 August 1840.

Publications