James Gunn Matheson

James Gunn Matheson (1 March 1912 – 28 October 2007) was a Scottish minister. He served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1975.[1] He did much to bridge differences between religions and was a strong friend of Archbishop Thomas Winning.

## Life

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Olrig Parish Church Knox Church, Dunedin, New Zealand

He was born 1 March 1912 in Caithness the son of Rev Matheson, a Free Church of Scotland minister. He was educated Inverness Royal Academy. He studied arts and divinity at the University of Edinburgh.[2]

He was ordained around 1934 and his first charge was Olrig in Caithness.

In the Second World War he served as an Army Chaplain in North Africa. He was captured by the Germans at the Battle of Tobruk in 1942. He was held as a prisoner-of-war in Italy for the remainder of the war. During this time he learned Italian and acted as a liaison officer with the Italian authorities.[3]

On release he rejoined the ministry and served at St Columba's Church in Blackhall, Edinburgh from 1946. In 1951 he travelled to the other side of the world as minister of Knox Church, Dunedin in New Zealand.

In 1961 he returned to Scotland to take on a senior administrative role at the Church of Scotland Offices on George Street in Edinburgh. During this period he was an elder in Mayfield Church in southern Edinburgh.[4] In 1973 he returned to ministry going north to the remote town of Portree on Skye. This post necessitated him learning Gaelic.[5] The University of Edinburgh awarded him an honorary doctorate (DD) in 1975.

He succeeded Very Rev David Steel as Moderator in 1975 and in turn was succeeded by Very Rev Thomas F. Torrance in 1976.

He died at his home in Totaig on the Isle of Skye on 28 October 2007 aged 95.

## Family

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In 1937 he married Janet Clarkson and together they had two daughters and three sons.

## Publications

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* Do You Believe This?
* Saints and Sinners

## References

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1. ^ "Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland genealogy project". geni_family_tree. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
2. ^ "Rev James Matheson". www.scotsman.com. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
3. ^ "Rev James Matheson". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
4. ^ "The Moderators". www.mayfieldsalisbury.org. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
5. ^ "Rev James Matheson". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 14 June 2019.

* v
* t
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Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland

Since reunification with the United Free Church of Scotland in 1929

1929–1950|

* John White
* Andrew Bogle
* John Graham
* Hugh Mackintosh
* Lauchlan Watt
* Peter Thomson
* Marshall Lang
* Daniel Lamont
* Dugald MacFarlane
* James Black
* Archibald Main
* James Forgan
* James Cockburn
* Charles Taylor
* John Baillie
* Edward Hagan
* Andrew Campbell
* John McKenzie
* Matthew Stewart
* Alexander Macdonald
* George Duncan

1950–1975|

* Hugh Watt
* William White Anderson
* George Johnstone Jeffrey
* James Pitt-Watson
* Ernest David Jarvis
* George Henderson
* Robert Scott
* George MacLeod
* John Fraser
* Robert Shepherd
* John Burleigh
* Archibald Campbell Craig
* Nevile Davidson
* James Stuart Stewart
* Duncan Fraser
* Archibald Watt
* Leonard Small
* William Roy Sanderson
* James Longmuir
* Thomas Murchison
* Hugh Douglas
* Andrew Herron
* Ronnie Selby Wright
* George T. H. Reid
* David Steel

1975–2000|

* James Gunn Matheson
* Thomas F. Torrance
* John Rodger Gray
* Peter Brodie
* Robert Barbour
* William Johnston
* Andrew Beveridge Doig
* John McIntyre
* Fraser McLuskey
* John M. K. Paterson
* David Smith
* Robert Craig
* Duncan Shaw
* Jim Whyte
* Bill McDonald
* Robert Davidson
* William Macmillan
* Hugh Wyllie
* James Weatherhead
* James Simpson
* James Harkness
* John McIndoe
* Sandy McDonald
* Alan Main
* John Cairns

Since 2000|

* Andrew McLellan
* John Miller
* Finlay Macdonald
* Iain Torrance
* Alison Elliot
* David Lacy
* Alan McDonald
* Sheilagh Kesting
* David Lunan
* William Hewitt
* John Christie
* David Arnott
* Albert Bogle
* Lorna Hood
* John Chalmers
* Angus Morrison
* Russell Barr
* Derek Browning
* Susan Brown
* Colin Sinclair
* Martin Fair
* Jim Wallace
* Iain Greenshields
* Sally Foster-Fulton
* Shaw Paterson

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