PresidentialAddress Preacher, Prose-writer, Politician, Journalist and Scholar: The Very Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison (1907-84) DONALD E. MEEK, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.Hist.S., F.R.S.E. The subject of my Presidential Address is a distinguished minister of the Church of Scotland, to whom the title of Dr Elizabeth Sanderson’s previous paper, “Hidden from History”, could well be applied. Although many people still have vivid memories of the Very Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison, comparatively few are aware of his achievements as preacher, prose-writer, politician, journalist and scholar. I do not know of any other minister ofthe Church of Scotland who commanded so many roles so successfully, but in the twenty years since his death in 1984 Dr Murchison has been largely forgotten, and no significant memorial has been raised in his honour.1 He deserved much greater recognition than he has received, and it is my hope that this paper, despite its limitations, will go at least part ofthe way to paying proper tribute to a multi-skilled minister who made an immense contribution to the life of the church in Scotland in the twentieth century. I hope too that my paper will underline afresh the strategic importance ofparish ministers who have a knowledge ofthe history and culture of the Highlands and Islands, and particularly of Gaelic language and literature. I greatly fear that this is a dimension of Brief biographical sketches ofT. M. Murchison are to be found in Derick S. Thomson (ed.). The Companion to Gaelic Scotland{Oxford. 1983), 206, and Nigel M. de S. Cameron (ed.), The Dictionary ofScottish Church History and Theology (Edinburgh, 1993), 611. Donald Meek 6 E. ministerial training which has been very seriously neglected by the divinity colleges and universities since Dr Murchison’s time. Tom Murchison, as he was affectionately known, served the Church of Scotland as Moderator in 1969-70. The Queen attended the General Assembly in 1969, and so also did the late Rev. Jack Glass, who was protesting against the presence of a Roman Catholic representative at the Assembly. The Moderator was forced to suspend the Assembly for half an hour, while the protesters were ejected.3 Notwithstanding these events, what remains in my mind is how proud I was when I heard that Dr Murchison had been chosen to serve as Moderator. I was then an undergraduate at the University of Glasgow, and had come to know the Moderator-Designate in various contexts, I but particularly through the Ossianic Society, run by Gaelic and Highland students. I met him occasionally at formal dinners and lectures arranged by the society, as he himself had once been President ofthat society, and had maintained a keen interest in it across the years. Later, when I returned to Glasgow University in 1973 and began to serve on its academic staff, I gave my first-ever formal public lecture to the Gaelic Society ofGlasgow. Dr Murchison was in the audience, and his remarks after my lecture were warm and encouraging, and very enlightening. That meant a great deal to me. Thirty years later I can see him still in my mind’s eye, as he was on that occasion, with his round face, thick glasses, bald head and genial smile. During the 1970s I became familiar with Dr Murchison in another very important role — that of reviser of the Gaelic Bible. In the mid- 1970s was raw enough to suggest in a radio broadcast that it might be I beneficial if a new translation ofthe Bible into today’s Gaelic could be produced. An acrimonious press correspondence followed, which 1 found terrifying at the time, as I had not expected such an adverse 2 See further Donald E. Meek, The Scottish Highlands: The Churches and Gaelic Culture (Geneva, 1996). 3 Gaelic-language video interview, T. M. Murchison with Finlay J. MacDonald (Glasgow University Television Service 1982). Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison 7 reaction.4 In the midst of my dismay, I received a letter unexpectedly from Dr Murchison, who had been following the heated exchanges in the press. In his usual kind manner, he disclosed that he had similar views to mine, and that an attempt had been made to initiate such a project at an earlier stage. He himself had been reviser of the standard Gaelic Bible since the late 1940s, and he informed me that he felt that he must give up his role, as he was now struggling because ofdiminish- ing eyesight, and asked if I would be willing to take over as reviser in his place.5 He also enquired, around the same time, if I would be prepared to act as his Literary Executor after his death, and whether I would be willing to edit a selection ofhis writings for publication. I felt greatly honoured, but I was very reluctant to assent, as I considered myself too young and too inexperienced to do justice to his scholarly wishes. However, following Dr Murchison’s death in 1984, 1 did indeed assume responsibility for the Gaelic Bible, and completed his edition in New 1992, with a further revision ofthe Testament (in a Gaelic-English 6 diglot) in 2002. I agreed to his request that I should be his Literary Executor, and we discussed matters informally from time to time, but unfortunately no formal arrangement was ever made. After Dr Murchison’s death, most of his papers were deposited in Glasgow University Library (where they lie largely unindexed to the present), but the key Gaelic papers went missing until 2001, when they came unexpectedly into my hands. Consequently I am now completing the anthology which he requested, and in the process I have been given a remarkable opportunity to review the career and interests of a truly outstanding churchman, whose many skills and talents I had not fully Oban Times, 5, 12 and 19 January 1978. 5 T. M. Murchison to D. E. Meek, 16 January 1978. Bioball Gaidhlig. The National Bible Society of Scotland (Edinburgh. 1992); An Tiomnadh Nuadh: The New Testament. The Scottish Bible Society (Edinburgh 2002 ). •j They were passed to me by the Rev. Roderick MacKinnon, Conon Bridge, Ross-shire, in January 2001. MacKinnon served as an assistant to Murchison, and he had received the papers from Murchison’s widow, Mrs Mary Murchison. 8 Donald E. Meek appreciated before I began to edit his papers.8 Through reading these papers, I have come to understand a little ofthe strategic role that Tom Murchison played not only in the Church of Scotland, but also in the development of Gaelic literature and scholarship (including the history of the church in the Highlands), as well as in the political life of the Highlands. His was certainly an all-round ministry, which left its mark very quietly, but very effectively, in a number ofvery different areas. Even before I went to Glasgow University in 1967, I was well acquainted with the voice and work ofTom Murchison. I knew him as a regular preacher on Gaelic radio, and the name of his church in Glasgow - St Columba-Copland Road, later to be St Columba- Summertown, in Govan - became warmly familiar. Murchison was immensely well regarded and highly respected in my home in Tiree, and often, after a radio transmission by Dr Murchison, my father would comment on the quality ofthe sermon and ofthe man himself. He never tired of telling me how, when economic circumstances were very difficult in the Highlands and Islands in the mid-1930s, Tom Murchison had come to the aid of beleaguered crofters who were unable to pay their loans and rates. My father, as a crofter himself, was greatly impressed. For my part, I was fascinated by the streak of pro-crofter radicalism which was attached to Murchison’s name. I found it very appealing, as I knew at first hand how difficult it was to eke out an existence on a croft. In addition to his contribution to radio broadcasting - which included regular talks on many aspects of Highland affairs, past and present - Tom Murchison was the editor of the Gaelic Supplement of Life and Work from 1950 to 1981, a period of almost thirty years. 8 Os Cionn Gleadhraich nan Sraidean (“Above the Noise of the Streets ) (OCGNS) will be published by the Scottish Gaelic Texts Society. Item numbers and references given in this paper are provisional at this stage, and some may be altered. Additional information is derived from Murchison’s unpublished autobiography, “Mo La gu Seo” (“My Day Thus Far”), which is held among the Murchison papers in Glasgow University Library. I am currently editing the autobiography for publication. Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison 9 having succeeded the Rev. Dr Donald Lamont, a native ofTiree, in that capacity.9 Like many other Gaelic-speaking families in the Highlands and Islands, my family received the Supplement every month, and we We looked forward to it greatly. had very little Gaelic reading material in those days, and certainly nothing that approached the Supplement in We its regularity and accessibility. enjoyed its mixture of sermons and news items, historical articles and biographical appreciations, some of which were contributed by other ministers, but many of which were written by the editor himself, who seemed to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the whole Highland area. Murchison wrote Gaelic as he spoke it, in a very concise, economical style, but with great clarity, and a vivid command of natural idiom and telling phrase. When I went to Oban High School in 1965, my mother would keep issues of the Supplement so that I could enjoy them in times of holiday. Often, on a Sunday afternoon, I would read through a stapled pack which I had gathered as a make-shift anthology, and which I still hold. I learned an immense amount of good, literary, mainstream Gaelic from the Supplement. Under Murchison’s unconscious tutelage, I also developed a deep and enduring interest in Highland church history.10 Editing the Gaelic Supplement each month was no small undertaking, but Murchison also contributed widely to other papers, and had a formidable journalistic “career” beyond church magazines. Under the pen-name of “Domhnall Donn”, he wrote a weekly Gaelic column in the Stornoway Gazette from 1955 to 1983, and also an English column, A Highland Causerie”, in the Perthshire Advertiser from 1946 to 1976. He was editor ofAn Gaidheal, the magazine of An Comunn Gaidhealach, from 1946 to 1958.11 All of this was sustained on top of M T. Murchison (ed.), The Prose Writings ofDonaldLamont, Scottish Gaelic Texts Society (Edinburgh, 1960). Murchison s papers on church history were particularly influential in my educational development, as they showed how the Gaelic language could be used effectively to offer a convincing analysis of an academic subject within an unquestionably Gaelic perspective. The magazine no longer exists. 10 Donald E. Meek his parish ministry and his unstinting service as chairman or convener ofseveral committees ofthe Church ofScotland, to say nothing ofother duties voluntarily undertaken on behalf of Gaelic. We will consider these in due course, but it is now appropriate to provide a brief biography ofTom Murchison himself. Early years The Very Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison was born in Govan, Glasgow, on 27 July 1907. His father, Malcolm Murchison (Calum Chaluim Mhurchaidh, to give him his Gaelic patronymic), was a native ofKylerhea in Sleat, Skye. His mother was a Moffat from Glenelg, who was descended from families of Border shepherds, Moffats from Dumfries and Fosters from Roxburghshire, who had come to the Highlands with the “great sheep”. The Murchisons of Kylerhea had close links with Glenelg, as they belonged to a wider kindred of Murchisons who were well known in Kintail and Lochalsh.12 In any case, Kylerhea and Glenelg were in close contact with one another, as they were separated only by a very narrow stretch ofwater, which was crossed regularly from both sides. Tom spent his first six years in Eaglesham Street, Govan, as his father was then a seaman on the Clyde. In 1913, however, Malcolm Murchison inherited the Kylerhea croft, and the family returned to Skye. To supplement his income from the croft, Malcolm obtained seasonal work as a sailor on large yachts, which, at that time, were often crewed by Highlanders. When the family returned to Kylerhea, Tom had no Gaelic, since the language ofhis home was English, even though both his parents were Gaelic speakers. He learned Gaelic fairly quickly because his grandmother, who lived in the other end of the house, had no English, and some form ofcommunication was essential.13 Kylerhea was thoroughly Gaelic-speaking at that time, and the community was a 12 T. M. Murchison, “Notes on the Murchisons”, Transactions of the Gaelic Society ofInverness, xxxix-xl (1942-50), 262-93. 13 OCGNS, item 6. Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison 11 natural place in which to practise the language. Tom was also fortunate enough to attend a Sunday School which was taught through the medium of Gaelic. In one of his essays, he tells how he was called An Gille Galicia (“The Lowland Lad”) because of his lack of Gaelic. Initially the lesson had to be translated into English for his benefit, sometimes with amusing mistranslations of certain words.14 Given Tom’s immense contribution to Gaelic literature, it is sobering to reflect on how much the Gaelic world would have missed if his father had not made the decision to return to the Kylerhea croft. The Murchisons were a very talented kindred, and Tom’s branch of the family had a capacity for skilful writing when opportunity was given. For example, Tom’s uncle, John Murchison (Seonaidh Chaluim Mhurchaidh, d. 1964), who was “acting missionary” at Kylerhea with the support of the Glasgow and West Coast Mission, wrote (at his nephew’s request for the Gaelic Supplement!) a fine account of the township as he knew it in boyhood, in the days when it was still an important transit-point for cattle on their way to the Falkirk Tryst.15 Tom’s father, Calum Murchison, was one ofthe last men to be engaged in the ferrying ofcattle across the strait to Glenelg in a big wooden boat known as the “gabbart”.16 In later years, Tom often reflected on the immense changes which had occurred in Kylerhea since his boyhood, with the dramatic decline of the community and the loss of Gaelic. In his political and social writings, a persistent worry about the depopulation ofthe islands is evident, and it seems likely that the fate of Kylerhea was important in shaping his broader perspectives.17 15 Ibid., item 9. 16 Murchison, “Glenelg, Inverness-shire: Notes for a Parish History”, TGSI, xxxix-xl, 333. Ibid. There he writes, Kylerhea, which had 140 residents sixty years ago, now has seven. The inn, once bustling with activity, stands empty and ruinous. My own father must have been among the last of the lads of Kylerhea, who in their teens made the longjourney on foot to Falkirk Tryst with a drove ofcattle”. 12 Donald E. Meek Tom Murchison was educated at Kylerhea primary school, and then at Portree High School, where he gained the Boy Dux medal. Unfortunately, however, he was never given the medal formally, because he had had an altercation with the Headmaster, a man by the name of Tait, who was prone to vent his wrath rather violently on his pupils. Tom had played a significant part in reporting Tait to the education authorities, and Tait had not forgotten the humiliation which he had justly endured. There was a streak of defiance in Tom Murchison, particularly when it came to challenging authority which had been misused. While at Portree, Tom attended the United Free Church, where he professed faith and entered into membership during the ministry of the Rev. Donald Morrison, who was latterly Church of Scotland minister in Croy, Inverness-shire.19 He also became closely acquainted with the Rev. Donald MacKinnon, the scholarly Free Church minister of Portree, who wrote a very useful book on The Gaelic Bible and Psalter, published in 1930.20 MacKinnon’s historical interests rubbed off on the young Murchison, who was soon to become 21 a distinguished historian ofthe Highland church. While at Portree High, Tom Murchison lodged with Alexander (Sandaidh Beag Nicolson, a Skyeman who was a veteran ofthe days of ) the Highland Land League in the 1880s, when crofters fought for security of tenure. From him, Tom received an introduction to crofter radicalism and its leading personalities, past and present. One of his most vivid recollections was of attending Portree Sheriff Court with Sandy Nicolson on the night in 1921 when the Raasay land-raiders, who had very poor crofts in the neighbouring island of Rona, and had appropriated land for themselves in the south of Raasay, stood trial. He heard the crofters’ lawyer and fellow Skyeman, Donald Shaw, 18 English-language video interview, T. M. Murchison with Finlay J. MacDonald (Glasgow University Television Service 1982). 19 OCGNS, item 5. 20 Donald MacKinnon, The Gaelic Bible andPsalter (Dingwall, 1930). 21 OCGNS, item 8. . Rev. Dr Thomas Moffat Murchison 13 mounting a stout defence on their behalf.22 As a result of Shaw’s powerful and relevant oratory, the harsh treatment of the Raasay men and his own experience of his father’s croft in Kylerhea, Tom determined to do all that he could to assist the crofting population ofthe Highlands and Islands. Indeed, he thought about becoming an advocate, 'yy but he did not have the money to pay for extensive legal training. Nevertheless, in a very real sense, Tom Murchison was destined to be exactly that - an advocate on behalf of the Highland people, their livelihood and their language, in addition to his calling as a minister. Because of financial difficulties, Tom Murchison had to proceed cautiously when he decided to go to university. He entered the University of Glasgow in 1926, with a view to becoming a teacher. It was only at the end of his second year that he decided to train for the ministry. On the advice ofProfessor William M. MacGregor, he entered Trinity College in 1929 on completion of his Arts degree.24 He was a very able student, and distinguished himself in several subjects. Among his class-mates was William Barclay, for example, but, when it came to prizes, Tom Murchison was at the very top of the list. He had a particularly fine record in Hebrew, which he had learned by correspondence course over a single summer. He won both the Scott Frieland prize and the Thomson Fellowship, and was given the duty of tutoring other students who had failed their examinations in Hebrew.25 During his years at university and college, Tom was active politically, being identified largely with the Labour club, though he had an interest in Scottish Nationalism for a brief period.'6 His later writings on the economic plight of the Highlands and Islands show a strong commitment to socialist principles. 22 Ibid., item 2 1 23 English-language video, Murchison and MacDonald. 24 OCGNS, item 6. 25 Scottish Biographies (London, 1935), 580. English-language video, Murchison and MacDonald. 14 Donald E. Meek Glenelg and crofting Tom Murchison completed his training at Trinity College in 1932, and he was called to the parish of Glenelg. In accepting the call, he was conscious ofreturning to a district in which he was already well known, and with which he had close family connections. His call was all but unanimous - only two voted against him.27 It was a challenging time to return. Two congregations in the parish had merged, and Tom gave leadership which helped to build a firm and united church. It is significant that, when the Right Rev. Dr Thomas Murchison gave his Moderatorial Address to the Fathers and Brethren in 1969, he chose to refer to his first charge in Glenelg as an example of what it meant for the Church of Scotland to be “a church for every time and occasion” (“eaglais airson gach am agus uair”). The parish church in Glenelg was symbolic ofthe wider church in Scotland. It had stood there across the centuries, ministering to successive generations, and defying the elements. Tom clearly saw himself as a minister who was called to be loyal to the principles which the Glenelg church represented, standing against hostile forces and bringing the empowering word ofGod to all people at all times and in all circumstances. Glenelg proved to be of foundational significance in other ways too. It was in Glenelg that Murchison first began to act as a spokesperson for oppressed crofters. He started what was to become a life-long interest by taking up the pen on behalfofGlenelg crofters who held “club farms” and who had got into debt with their repayments to the Board of Agriculture. He wrote to newspapers on their behalf, and attracted the attention of other crofters who were in similar difficulties elsewhere in the Highlands.29 In 1935 he presented to the Secretary of State for Scotland a petition on behalf of 693 smallholders in 27 Ibid. 28 Murchison translated his English address into Gaelic: see OCGNS. item 12. 29 English-language video, Murchison and MacDonald.