The Scottish Military Research Group - Commemorations Project

spoons · Last edited by spoons on Wed Aug 26, 2009 6:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

I thought that we should have some notes on this – I have been corrected a few times for schoolboy errors and thought others might find some notes helpful. This is a first draft so if you have any suggestions for corrections or additions, please add a reply or PM me. Sources used were mainly Wikipedia and church homepages. Church and organisation websites are useful in identifying potential sites of memorials and contacts for access.

(on matters of religion and similar organisations, I try to stay as neutral as possible and avoid emotive phrases such as victimised or persecuted)

Church of Scotland is the established Kirk and dates from the reformation of 1560. It is a Presbyterian organisation with no cathedrals or Bishops. The church considers itself to be the National rather than Established church to emphasise its independence from the state. The responsibilities at local level are split between the minister, who may have several parishes, and a committee called the Kirk Session who look after all non-spiritual matters. The minister is addressed formally by his full name, for example The Reverend John Davies (never abbreviated) and is referred to or addressed informally as ‘minister’ or ‘the minister’. A wide range of memorials is to be found in Church of Scotland churches although I understand that it is church policy that no new memorials are to be added to the body of the church although that might allow new memorials to be placed in an entrance vestibule. The Church of Scotland is run by various committees and the supreme body is known as the General Assembly, its chairperson is known as the Moderator of the Church of Scotland and serves for one year. The church’s emblem is the burning bush. At a local level, the best person to contact about access etc would be the session clerk. http://www.churchofscotland.org.uk/contact/contactmap.htm See also notes on covenanters.

Free Church of Scotland also known as the ‘Wee Free’ split from the Church of Scotland in the ‘great disruption’ of 1843. Part of the Free Church joined with the United Presbyterian Church to form the United Free Church in 1900 but part remains independent. http://www.freechurch.org/. The remaining Free Church had a further split in 2000 with the breakaway group being called the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing). http://www.freekirkcontinuing.co.uk/FCC/Welcome.html

United Free Church of Scotland (U.F. Church) had its origins in the ‘great disruption’ of 1843. The United Presbyterian Church was formed in 1847 by a union of the United Secession and Relief Churches, both of which had split from the Church of Scotland. In 1900, the United Presbyterian Church and part of the Free Church of Scotland combined to form the United Free Church. The majority of the U.F. Church rejoined the Church of Scotland in 1929 but part continues. http://www.ufcos.org.uk/

Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland also known as the ‘Wee Wee Frees’ was formed in 1893. A small and strict church based in the highlands. http://www.fpchurch.org.uk (website is closed on Sundays!). This is not the same organisation as the Free Presbyterian Church which operates in Northern Ireland. A small group broke away in 1989 and called itself the Associated Presbyterian Churches. http://www.apchurches.org/

Roman Catholic churches seem to have very few memorials but the do have some. The priest is addressed as ‘father’. http://www.bpsconfscot.com/CatholicScotland/tabid/57/Default.aspx each diocese has its own website (search in google).

Scottish Episcopal Church (Anglican) is sometimes known colloquially as the English Church or English Kirk and sometimes as Pisky or Piskie but any of these terms may be considered offensive by the church members so it might be best to avoid them. The church had its origins in 1582 when the Church of Scotland, rejected episcopal government (by bishops), and adopted presbyterian government by elders. See also notes on covenanters. In my experience, Episcopal churches tend to have more than the average number of memorials for a church. [/url]http://www.scotland.anglican.org/[/url] See also notes on covenanters.

Baptist Church – most are part of the Baptist Union of Scotland but some churches which use Baptist in their name are not part of this union. http://www.scottishbaptist.org.uk/

Quakers (Society of Friends) are pacifist and therefore one would not expect war memorials, however the Friends Ambulance Unit (independent of the Quaker organisation) operated in both wars so it is possible there are memorials associated with this and possibly with victims of war.
http://www.quakerscotland.org/welcome

There are other places of worship in Scotland such as Methodist Church, River of Life Church, Elim Pentecostal Church, Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormon) and Mosques. Any of these could potentially contain some sort of memorial, not least because many buildings have had previous existences with other religious organisations.

Salvation Army
http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf/vw-search/D84DBE1F9F3EFFF780256F07004CF131?opendocument

Covenanters - this is a simplification of a complicated period of history. Covenanters were those people in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638 or the solemn league and covenant of 1643. They signed this Covenant to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. Ministers were removed from their churches and parishioners were fined for failing to attend the new Episcopal church services. Conventicles (open air services) were held by deposed ministers. In 1680 the Sanquhar declaration led to the ‘killing times’ which lasted until 1688. During this period soldiers could require anyone to declare an oath of allegiance to the crown including accepting the King as head of the church, anyone who refused could be summarily executed and many were. Those covenanters who were summarily executed during this period are regarded as martyrs.

Orange Order http://www.orangeorderscotland.com/

British Legion http://www.rblscotland.org/

Oddfellows - there are a number of different organisations that go under the name Oddfellows and this Wikipedia entry gives a good background http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oddfellows. Though not a religion, members are expected to belong to a religion which believes in a single supreme being.

Freemasonry is not a religion but prospective members are required to declare their belief in a supreme being. There are a number of branches or orders of Freemasonry
http://www.grandlodgescotland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=50

Adam Brown · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 12:24 pm Post subject:

Paul

An excellent introcuction to these organisations. Another one which crops up now and again is the The Independent Order of Rechabites. This was a Friendly Society based on the temperance movement.

Adam

Keptie · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 3:32 pm Post subject: organisations

I see that you mention that the Church of Scotland have no cathedrals but there is a Church of Scotland at BRECHIN and there is St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh and there will be more Church of Scotland cathedrals

The Scottish Episcopal Church tends to be known as "PISKIE " by the Public in Scotland . The Archbishop of Canterbury or the Church Of England has no jurisdiction over the Scottish Episcopal Church . The English Church /Kirk has no bearing on the Scottish Episcopal Church. Members of the Scottish Episcopal Church were generally Jacobites .

Patrick W Anderson

Adam Brown · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 4:02 pm Post subject: Re: organisations

spoons · Posted: Wed Aug 26, 2009 6:00 pm Post subject:

Episcopal churches are indeed known colloquially as piskie or pisky but this is offensive to some of the worshippers so is a term to be avoided like 'English Church'. I will edit this into the original post.

I will also clarify the position of St Giles (and presumably other) Church of Scotland Churches which are commonly known as cathedrals. Although the term cathedral is in common usage, the correct name of St Giles (as given by the Church of Scotland) is the High Kirk of Edinburgh. A Cathedral is the base of a Bishop who is the head of a diocese. Church of Scotland has had no Diocese, Bishops or Cathedrals since 1689. St Giles was made a cathedral in 1635 and this term remained in common use after it ceased to be a cathedral in 1689.

\Paul

Jim · Joined: 30 May 2008 Posts: 195

spoons · Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 10:24 pm Post subject:

thanks Jim, interesting read, worth asking around then

\Paul

DelBoy · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 3:20 am Post subject:

A nice reference piece, I missed it first time around.

Derek.