The Reverend Ralph Wardlaw, D.D.

Doctor of Divinity

Doctor of Divinity is an advanced academic degree in divinity. Historically, it identified one who had been licensed by a university to teach Christian theology or related religious subjects....

(22 December 1779–15 December 1853) was a Scottish

Scottish people

The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...

 Presbyterian clergy

Clergy

Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....

man and writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

. He was born in Dalkeith

Dalkeith

Dalkeith is a town in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the River North Esk. It was granted a burgh of barony in 1401 and a burgh of regality in 1540...

, before his family moved to Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 when he was six months old. His father was a prosperous merchant and civic magistrate

Magistrate

A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...

, while his mother was the daughter of the Rev. James Fisher and the granddaughter of Ebenezer Erskine

Ebenezer Erskine

Ebenezer Erskine was a Scottish minister whose actions led to the establishment of the Secession Church ....

, two of the founding ministers of the United Secession Church

United Secession Church

The United Secession Church was a Scottish Presbyterian denomination. It was founded in 1820 by a union of various churches which had seceded from the established Church of Scotland and existed until 1847....

. At the age of eight he was enrolled at the High School of Glasgow

High School of Glasgow

The High School of Glasgow is an independent, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded as the Choir School of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, it is the oldest school in Scotland, and the twelfth oldest in the United Kingdom. It remained part of the Church as the city's grammar...

 for four years, before being accepted as a student of theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

 at the University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...

, aged twelve.

Despite his strong familial connections to the Secession Church, shortly after his University studies were complete he turned to Independent Congregationalism

Congregational church

Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

, as introduced from England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 by James

James Haldane

James Alexander Haldane was a Scottish independent church leader.- Biography :The younger son of Captain James Haldane of Airthrey House, in Stirlingshire, he was born at Dundee...

 and Robert Haldane

Robert Haldane

-Biography:Haldane was born in London, the son of James Haldane 2nd of Airthrey House, and his wife Katherine Duncan. His younger brother James Alexander Haldane was also a clergyman...

. He was ordained in 1803 by Rev. Greville Ewing

Greville Ewing

Greville Ewing , was a Scottish congregational minister.Ewing was the son of Alexander Ewing, a teacher of mathematics, was born in 1767 at Edinburgh, and studied with considerable distinction at the high school and university there. Of a deeply religious temperament, he decided to prepare for the...

, the popular minister of Lady Glenorchy's church, shortly after a chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 had been erected for him by his friends and family in Albion Street. Although his first congregation numbered only 61, his success as a preacher was sufficient that by 1811 he and Ewing founded Glasgow's first academy

Academy

An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and skill, north of Athens, Greece. In the western world academia is the...

 for congregationalist theology students.

In 1818 he moved his congregation to a new church in West George Street capable of holding more than 1,500 people, where he remained until the closure of his ministerial life.

Wardlaw strongly influenced David Livingstone

David Livingstone

David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...

, who attended his lectures in divinity, and was inspired by his campaigns against slavery to fight the African slave trade

African slave trade

Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...

 during his years as a missionary and explorer.

Wardlaw was married to his wife, his cousin Jane Smith, for almost fifty years until his death aged 74. He is buried on the brow of the hill at the Glasgow Necropolis

Glasgow Necropolis

The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral . Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typically for the period only a small percentage are named on monuments and not every grave has a stone...

, overlooking Glasgow Cathedral

Glasgow Cathedral

The church commonly known as Glasgow Cathedral is the Church of Scotland High Kirk of Glasgow otherwise known as St. Mungo's Cathedral.The other cathedrals in Glasgow are:* The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew...

.