Rev. John Hodgson – MD was the Minister of the second Blantyre Parish Church in the kirkyard at High Blantyre from 1809 for 23 years until 1832. The Rev. Doctor John Hodgson, son of the minister at Carmunnock, succeeded Mr. Stevenson.
Born on 26th January 1781, Mr Hodgson was educated at the University of Glasgow and was licensed by the Presbytery of Jedburgh on 2nd May 1804. Thereafter he studied medicine at Edinburgh University where in 1809 he qualified as a Doctor of Medicine: however it was the Church that John Hodgson was to devote his life to and so on the 7th September of the same year, after presentation by Robert, Lord Blantyre, he was ordained and inducted to the parish of Blantyre.
An eloquent preacher of the Gospel, Dr. Hodgson delivered some fine sermons, the most famous of which was one entitled ” Stephen’s Prayer” – preached before the Synod of Glasgow in Ayr in 1819, Another published sermon was “The Hamiltonian Sermon on the Advantages of the Reformation from Popery”. First delivered in 1819 within the Tron Church of Glasgow, this sermon calls for the people to remember gratefully the work of Knox and the Reformers of the Faith.
The Rev. John Hodgson was married to Ann, the daughter of Valentine White Esq., of Brackloch on 2nd February 1810. She died on 9th October 1844.
Dr. Hodgson died very suddenly in Edinbugh on 9th February 1832, at age of 52 whilst on a call to Edinburgh. The Rev James Anderson succeeded John Hodgson in High Blantyre.
It is interesting to note that during Hodgson’s time as minister, his former church in the kirkyard at High Blantyre was overcrowded and there was a real need for another religious outlet in Blantyre, something that occurred with the creation of the Village Works School & Chapel in 1828.
A watercolour painting of Rev Hodgson hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland, by artist James Howe.
From “Blantyre Explained” by Paul Veverka (c) 2017
Featuring Blantyre Project Social Media with permission. Strictly not for use by others on or offline, our visitors said,
The Blantyre Project this man may be buried beside Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh, so I’m told. I plan on investigating next week.